Nature adds color to life: Less boredom in natural versus artificial environments.

Abstract

Boredom is a common and unpleasant experience associated with a range of problematic correlates and consequences. We examine a catalyst and its putative remedy all but neglected in the psychological science of emotion, and boredom in particular: the living environment. Specifically, we proposed and tested that "artificial" (e.g., urban) environments elicit boredom and that natural environments may counter it. Study 1, a field experiment, showed that people placed in natural versus artificial surroundings experienced less boredom. In Study 2, we found that the more prominently regions were characterized by natural (vs. artificial) geography, the less boredom was expressed on social media in the region. Study 3 showed experimentally that images of natural environments elicited less boredom than artificial ones, and Study 4 found that this effect is partly due to the vividness of colors in nature. Study 5 established that higher boredom in artificial versus natural environments can be attributed especially to the increase in boredom that artificial environments bring about. These findings provide the first systematic evidence of the importance of the environment on boredom and illustrate the cumulative effects that changes in one's environment can have on emotion experiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).