Boredom can lead to more extreme political views

Boredom may be contributing to a widening of political views among voters, according to a new study by researchers from King's College London and the University of Limerick. Published in the European Journal of Social Psychology , the findings are based on one experiment and two scientific surveys carried out in the Republic of Ireland. In their initial experiment the researchers recruited 97 people from a university campus. The participants first indicated their political orientation (whether they considered themselves liberal or conservative) before being randomly assigned to complete either a task deemed to be highly boring or a comparatively less boring task. Those assigned to the high boredom group transcribed 10 references about concrete mixing, while those assigned to the low boredom group only had to transcribe two of these references. After completing the boring tasks, the researchers asked the participants to describe their political orientation once again. However, this time the participants indicated their political orientation on a seven-point scale.