During the past two decades, self-control research has been dominated by the strength model of self-control, which is built on the premise that the capacity for self-control is a limited global resource that can become temporarily depleted, resulting in a state called ego depletion. The foundations of ego depletion have recently been questioned. Thus, although self-control is among the most researched psychological concepts with high societal relevance, an inconsistent body of literature limits our understanding of how self-control operates. Here, we propose that the inconsistencies are partly due to a confound that has unknowingly and systematically been introduced into the ego-depletion research: boredom. We propose that boredom might affect results of self-control research by placing an unwanted demand on self-control and signaling that one should explore behavioral alternatives. To account for boredom in self-controlled behavior, we provide a working model that integrates evidence from reward-based models of self-control and recent theorizing on boredom to explain the effects of both self-control exertion and boredom on subsequent self-control performance. We propose that task-induced boredom should be systematically monitored in self-control research to assess the validity of the ego-depletion effect.

Social distancing during the coronavirus-disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is crucial to reduce the spread of the virus. However, its effectiveness hinges on adherence by individuals who face substantial burdens from the required behavioral restrictions. Here, we investigate sources of individual variation in adhering to social distancing guidelines. In a high-powered study (N = 895), we tested direct and indirect effects of boredom and self-control on adherence. The results showed that both traits were important predictors of adherence but the underlying mechanisms differed. Specifically, individuals high in boredom perceived social distancing as more difficult, which in turn reduced their adherence (i.e., a mediated effect). In contrast, individuals high in self-control adhered more to the guidelines without perceiving them as more or less difficult; however, self-control moderated the effect of difficulty on adherence. Our results are immediately relevant to improve the efficacy of social distancing guidelines in the COVID-19 response.

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Social distancing during the coronavirus-disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is crucial to reduce the spread of the virus. However, its effectiveness hinges on adherence by individuals who face substantial burdens from the required behavioral restrictions. Here, we investigate sources of individual variation in adhering to social distancing guidelines. In a high-powered study (N = 895), we tested direct and indirect effects of boredom and self-control on adherence. The results showed that both traits were important predictors of adherence but the underlying mechanisms differed. Specifically, individuals high in boredom perceived social distancing as more difficult, which in turn reduced their adherence (i.e., a mediated effect). In contrast, individuals high in self-control adhered more to the guidelines without perceiving them as more or less difficult; however, self-control moderated the effect of difficulty on adherence. Our results are immediately relevant to improve the efficacy of social distancing guidelines in the COVID-19 response.

We investigated eye movements during long-term pictorial recall. Participants performed a perceptual encoding task, in which they memorized 16 stimuli that were displayed in different areas on a computer screen. After the encoding phase the participants had to recall and visualize the images and answer to specific questions about visual details of the stimuli. One week later the participants repeated the pictorial recall task. Interestingly, not only in the immediate recall task but also 1 week later participants looked longer at the areas where the stimuli were encoded. The major contribution of this study is that memory for pictorial objects, including their spatial location, is stable and robust over time.

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This article reports the translation into German and validation of two self-report measures of mind-wandering and boredom (the Spontaneous and Deliberate Mind-Wandering Scales and the Short Boredom Proneness Scale). Confirmatory factor analyses provided support for the original conceptualization of the constructs. To evaluate measurement invariance across samples, data were collected in a German-speaking sample ( n = 418) and an English-speaking sample ( n = 364). The results indicated weak measurement invariance. To explore the interplay between mind-wandering and boredom, we performed an exploratory graph analysis in the entire sample ( N = 782), which revealed the structure of relationships between boredom and the two facets of mind-wandering. The results are discussed in the context of theoretical accounts of boredom and mind-wandering.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by coronavirus (SARS-nCoV2) is currently spreading across the world. In response, different sets of pandemic containment measures have been employed by several countries. The effectiveness of non-pharmacological measures such as home confinement hinges on adherence by the population. While adherence to these social distancing measures appears to be high in general, adherence might be more challenging for some individuals and complying with these measures might become more difficult the longer they last. Here, we suggest that boredom and self-control are two important psychological concepts for understanding the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic containment measures pose to individuals. To maximize adherence to these measures, we propose to consider the specific and combined effects of boredom and self-control demands elicited by this situation on subsequent behavior.