We Underestimate the Enjoyment of 'Just Thinking'
Jonathan Firth's Memory & Metacognition Updates #108
I’m sure we’ve all noticed how people pull their phones out to occupy even a small amount of down time.
People seem very averse to just sitting and thinking.
In my reading lately, I came across a paper that explored students’ thoughts and beliefs about this. How unpleasant did they believe it would be to sit and do nothing, and did this match with their actual experiences?
The study, by Hatano, Ogulmus, Shigemasu and Murayama (2022), recruited students in the UK and Japan. They were asked to sit around in a waiting room for 20 minutes. Before doing so, participants had to estimate how (un)pleasant they would find the task, and then afterwards completed a scale indicating how engaging or boring they found it.
The researchers hypothesised that students’ estimates would be inaccurate, and this is indeed what they found; waiting was, in reality, much less unpleasant than they typically expected.
Read more about the study below:
Ogulmus, C., Shigemasu, H. and Murayama, K. (2022) Thinking about thinking: people underestimate how enjoyable and engaging just waiting is. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 151(12), 3213–3229. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001255
Broader context
There is an argument that the valuable process of thinking and reflecting will be lost somewhere along the way if we always look for something to fill the time.
This doesn’t just apply to kids, but it’s certainly interesting in terms of the broader context of tech and social media which is being discussed so much. A lot of educators are very concerned about how much children and teens are using their devices. Perhaps if learners were more comfortable with the idea of down time, they wouldn’t feel the need to always be checking for updates…?
I’m quite enthusiastic about the idea of more research on beliefs about motivation. With this, as with other aspects of learning, there’s a need to discuss what learners think and believe (including myths that they subscribe to), rather than just the processes themselves.
It’s highly relevant to students’ self-regulation and decision making.
Finally, just to mention that I won’t send another update for a little while due to taking some leave over Easter.
I hope you get a break as well 😎
Jonathan
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