The Routledge International Handbook of Boredom - Paperback

by Maik Bieleke (Editor), Wanja Wolff (Editor), Corinna Martarelli (Editor)

This comprehensive text is a unique handbook dedicated to research on boredom. The book brings together leading contributors from across three continents and numerous fields to provide an interdisciplinary exploration of boredom, its theoretical underpinnings, its experiential properties, and the applied contexts in which it occurs.

Boredom is often viewed as a mental state with little utility, though recent research suggests that it can be a powerful motivator of human behavior that shapes our actions in many ways. The book examines boredom from a range of perspectives and is comprised of three parts. Part I delves into the theoretical approaches to boredom, presenting methods for its measurement, explaining when and why boredom occurs, and scrutinizing the impact it has on our behavior. Part II focuses on the psychological and neural properties of boredom and its associations with a multitude of mental and interpersonal processes, such as self-control, mind-wandering, flow, and aggression. Part III presents boredom in practical contexts like school and work, and sheds light on its role for health-related behaviors, psychosocial well-being, and aesthetic experiences. The book concludes by summarizing the state of boredom research, identifying promising areas for future research, and providing directions for how research on boredom can be advanced.

As the authoritative book on boredom, this handbook is an essential resource for students and researchers of psychology, sociology, education, sport science, and computer science.

Author Biography

Maik Bieleke received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Konstanz (Germany), where he currently works as a senior researcher. He focuses on motivation, effort, and performance, with an emphasis on the interplay of self-control and boredom as guiding signals of human behavior.

Dr. Wanja Wolff studied psychology at the University of Konstanz, earned his doctoral degree in psychology from the University of Potsdam, and has then worked as a senior researcher at the University of Konstanz. Since 2024, he is a Professor for Sport Psychology at the University of Hamburg where he heads the Dynamics of Human Performance Regulation Laboratory (DHPRL). The DHPRL uses psychological, neuroscientific, and physiological methods to investigate how people regulate performance in different contexts.

Corinna S. Martarelli received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Bern (Switzerland). She is currently Associate Professor for Methods and Statistics at the Faculty of Psychology of UniDistance Suisse. She carries out research in the field of cognitive psychology in the areas of memory and learning, with a focus on boredom and mind-wandering.