Transcending boredom in daily life: the impact of self-transcendent emotions and meaning in life

Abstract

Boredom is a pervasive emotion linked to various mental health and societal issues. Recent cross-sectional and experimental research suggests that self-transcendent emotions—a subcategory of positive emotions that decrease self-focus and increase feelings of connection—predict less boredom by increasing perceptions of meaning. We investigate for the first time (a) if the ability of self-transcendent emotions to ward off boredom materializes in day-to-day life, and (b) if these effects occur at the within-person level (day-to-day fluctuations within an individual). We conducted a preregistered 14-day diary study (N = 1,531 daily reports from 114 participants) to investigate this. On days that people experienced more awe, gratitude, compassion, and/or self-compassion than usual, they reported less daily boredom, even when controlling for other forms of affect, supporting our hypotheses. Further analyses showed that daily perceptions of meaning in life mediated the link between self-transcendent emotions and boredom. Our results have important theoretical and practical implications, suggesting that self-transcendent emotions promote a sense of meaning, thereby helping to counter boredom in everyday life.