Foraging in internal and external environments: developing behavioural assays for boredom proneness.
Abstract
Previous research has shown that boredom proneness is associated with failures of self-regulation. As yet few studies have directly explored the behavioural consequences of this relationship. The goal of this study was to examine the behavioural constituents of boredom proneness and various self-regulatory traits. Foraging represents a common goal directed behaviour that emphasises exploration and attainment of valued outcomes. As such, foraging tasks were used as behavioural assays of self-regulatory behaviour. Foraging can be thought of as either internal or external: an internal forging task, emphasizes exploration of problem spaces with a goal of determining as many solutions as possible. The Boggle game, in which participants made as many words as possible from a grid of 9 letters, was used as an internal foraging task. An external foraging task, on the other hand, emphasizes exploration of physical or virtual environments, with a goal of maximizing provisions. A spatial foraging task, in which participants explored a virtual environment collecting as many red “berries” as possible, served as an external foraging task. Results suggest that although each self-regulatory trait was associated with a specific set of behaviors, self-regulatory traits seem to be better characterized as behavioral preferences. When individuals behaved contrary to what would be preferred under a given self-regulatory trait, it reflects a recurrent lack of regulatory fit. Instances of non-fit in the current study were associated with increased trait boredom proneness. These findings suggest that how goals are pursued may be an important determinant of boredom proneness.
Collections
Cite this version of the work
Jhotisha Mugon
(2016).
Foraging in internal and external environments: developing behavioural assays for boredom proneness.. UWSpace.
http://hdl.handle.net/10012/10730
Other formats