RELATED: Doing This With Your Hands Makes People Not Trust You, Experts Say. A new study into the science of boredom conducted at the University of Essex and published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin has just revealed the jobs, characteristics, and hobbies that are generally considered to be the most boring among all professions, qualities, and pastimes. With feedback from 500 people across five experiments, researchers found that people overall thought the most boring hobbies were going to church, watching TV, and bird watching. Further, the paper found that respondents perceived people who live in small cities and towns to be more boring compared with people who live in large urban environments. And it found the jobs considered to be most boring are those in data analysis, accounting, cleaning, and banking. So taken together, that means that the results of the survey reflected the sentiment that an overall boring person would be a religious data-entry worker who lives in a small town and likes watching TV. RELATED: The 4 Questions You Should Never Ask Your Server, Experts Warn. Wijnand Van Tilburg, PhD, lecturer in the department of psychology at the University, initiated the study as a way to look into the stigma of perceived boredom and how it can impact people in meaningful ways. Indeed, the research revealed that stereotypically boring people are generally disliked; people want to avoid them due to preconceptions about their personality and the energy they bring to a social environment.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb “This paper shows how persuasive perceptions of boredom are and what an impact this can have on people,” he wrote. “Perceptions can change but people may not take time to speak to those with ‘boring’ jobs and hobbies, instead choosing to avoid them. They don’t get a chance to prove people wrong and break these negative stereotypes.” He added, “The very fact that people choose to avoid them can lead to social ostracization and increase loneliness leading to a really negative impact on their lives.” RELATED: Never Say These 4 Words to the Person Next to You on a Plane, Expert Warns. The study also showed that being a person perceived as boring consequentially face even more challenges: People tend to think stereotypically boring people are also less competent with a low degree of interpersonal warmth. As a result, people thought to be boring may be at greater risk of harm, addiction, and mental health issues due to their marginalization. “It was interesting to me to see the study showed that boring people were not seen as competent,” Dr. Van Tilburg wrote. “The truth of the matter is people like bankers and accountants are highly capable and have power in society—perhaps we should try not to upset them and stereotype them as boring!” RELATED:For more relationship advice, sign up for our daily newsletter. On the flip side, the survey also assessed the top five most exciting jobs according to common perception. The first most exciting job, it found, was in the performing arts. The next most exciting jobs, in order, were in the fields of science, journalism, health, and teaching. RELATED: If You and Your Spouse Do This Together, You’re 3.5 Times More Likely to Divorce.
