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It's not a bug, it's boredom: Effortful willpower balances exploitation and exploration
Maik Bieleke1, Wanja Wolff2,3
1Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, A-1010Vienna, Austriamaik.bieleke@univie.ac.at, https://bildung-psy.univie.ac.at/en/about-us/maik-bieleke/.
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|April 26, 2021
Summary
Boredom drives reward revaluation, requiring willpower to balance exploration and exploitation. This research reveals boredom
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Economics
- Psychology
Background:
- Ainslie's theory emphasizes continuous reward revaluation in willpower.
- Experiential mechanisms underlying this revaluation remain underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of boredom in reward revaluation.
- To elucidate the adaptive functions of willpower in managing exploration-exploitation trade-offs.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis of willpower.
- Review of neuroscientific evidence.
- Computational modeling of decision-making.
Main Results:
- Boredom was demonstrated to evoke reward revaluation.
- Boredom biases behavior towards exploration.
- Willpower is necessary to balance exploration with exploitation.
Conclusions:
- Suppression emerges as an adaptive function of willpower, particularly when managing boredom.
- Understanding boredom's role offers new insights into self-control and decision-making.
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