Boredom can actually make some people more productive, according to newly published research.
Psychology professor Tara McAuley and colleagues at the University of Waterloo, Canada, conducted research on how people deal with daily demands and stressors when their moods change.
Some people are actually more productive when they’re bored. (Illustration).
The team focused on the emotional responses (including emotional sensitivity, intensity and duration) of 95 volunteers when their moods changed.
The volunteers were divided into two groups: those with strong emotional responses and those with weak emotional responses.
Scientists found that people with strong emotional responses performed better on management-related tasks when they were in a depressed mood. Meanwhile, the other group showed the opposite effect: Their performance decreased by 50% when they were in a bad mood.
“Our results show that some people are actually more productive when they’re bored ,” says Dr. McAuley.
However, Professor McAuley cautioned people not to interpret the study results as implying that the time to solve a problem is when emotions are not stable.