Boredom and creativity

Did you know that boredom can increase creativity? I carried out some groundbreaking research into this myself with my student Rebekah Cadman, at the University of Central Lancashire, UK.

 

Our research examined the relationship between boredom and creativity on a range of tasks and found that engaging in 'boring activities' such as tedious writing exercises before undertaking creative tasks results in more productive thinking. We believe that the reason for this was that boredom allows daydreaming, which is a key to creativity (since it provides the ability to re-evaluate information and mull over possible solutions).

 

To measure whether creativity was indeed a result of daydreaming, a subsequent study was conducted based on similar activities but instead focused on reading (which allows daydreaming more easily) instead of writing. 

 

The first study involved participants copying telephone numbers from a phone directory for 15 minutes so that we could explore the impact on subsequent levels of creativity shown in a divergent thinking task (which included coming up with as many uses for a pair of polystyrene cups as possible). Participants provided varied examples such as pencil pots, earrings, drums, and plant pots.

 

We found that the number of creative answers was higher for participants who completed a boredom task followed by the creative task than participants who completed the creative task in isolation. However, in the next study, we had people read the phone numbers and found that levels of creativity then to be even higher. This suggests that passive activities, like reading or attending meetings, can lead to more creativity whereas writing, which inherently reduces the scope for daydreaming, lessens the chance to be creative (97).

 

 

 

 

Mann, Dr Sandi. Psychology: A Complete Introduction: Teach Yourself. Hodder & Stoughton General Div, 2016.