Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind
- Timothy D. Wilson1,*,
- David A. Reinhard1,
- Erin C. Westgate1,
- Daniel T. Gilbert2,
- Nicole Ellerbeck1,
- Cheryl Hahn1,
- Casey L. Brown1,
- Adi Shaked1
- 1Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
- 2Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- ↵*Corresponding author. E-mail: tdw{at}virginia.edu
Don't leave me alone with my thoughts
Nowadays, we enjoy any number of inexpensive and readily accessible stimuli, be they books, videos, or social media. We need never be alone, with no one to talk to and nothing to do. Wilson et al. explored the state of being alone with one's thoughts and found that it appears to be an unpleasant experience. In fact, many of the people studied, particularly the men, chose to give themselves a mild electric shock rather than be deprived of external sensory stimuli.
Science, this issue p. 75
Abstract
In 11 studies, we found that participants typically did not enjoy spending 6 to 15 minutes in a room by themselves with nothing to do but think, that they enjoyed doing mundane external activities much more, and that many preferred to administer electric shocks to themselves instead of being left alone with their thoughts. Most people seem to prefer to be doing something rather than nothing, even if that something is negative.
- Received for publication 14 January 2014.
- Accepted for publication 10 June 2014.
