Scientist Explains Why He Bothered To Prove Humans Don’t Like Sitting Alone For 15 Minutes

“Just Think: The Challenges of a Disengaged Mind,” a social psychology study in the latest issue of Science Magazine, investigates this very quandry.

You are probably thinking it is not very fun to sit alone in a lab and do nothing. You would be correct! 49.3% of respondents reported “enjoyment that was at or below the midpoint.” While in the lab, 32% of participants reported that they had “cheated.” One thing that qualified as “cheating” in the study: “getting up out of their chair.” Researchers found that “participants reported that it was harder to concentrate on their thoughts when they were at home” (again, the reasons for this are myriad, obvious: while at home a person is surrounded by opportunities for actual things they could or should be doing, like laundry or cleaning or eating or showering or, best of all, napping). Participants who self-identified as people who “tend to be easily bored” were… bored.