雙語閱讀：無聊感可以激發人的創造力

摘要:最近的研究發現，無聊可以激發人們的創造力，從而在一定程度上逃離可怕的，令人沮喪的，無意義的無聊感。

Being bored can spur people’s creativity — partly to escape the horrible, frustrated, and meaningless feeLing of boredom — recent studies find.

It could even be true at work.

最近的研究發現，無聊可以激發人們的創造力，從而在一定程度上逃離可怕的，令人沮喪的，無意義的無聊感。

工作中甚至也是如此。

Psychologists at the University of Central Lancashire had participants copy numbers out of the telephone book for 15 minutes, while others went straight into a standard creativity task (Mann & Cadman, 2013).

無聊感可以激發人的創造力

中央蘭開夏大學的心理學家們讓參與者連續15分鐘抄寫電話本中的號碼，而其他人直接進入標準的創造力測試。(曼恩 & 卡德曼, 2013)

Both groups were asked to come up with as many different uses as they could for a polystyrene cup. The group that were more bored came up with the most uses.

兩組參與者都被要求儘可能多地想出塑料杯的不同用法，而更無聊的那一組想出的辦法更多。

Dr Sandi Mann, one of the study’s authors said:

此篇研究文章的作者之一，桑迪-曼恩博士說：

“Boredom at work has always been seen as something to be eliminated, but perhaps we should be embracing it in order to enhance our creativity. What we want to do next is to see what the practical implications of this finding are. Do people who are bored at work become more creative in other areas of their work — or do they go home and write novels?”

“工作中的無聊情緒經常是被看做不可取的，但爲了提高創造力，或許我們應該接受它。接下來我們要做的是看看這次發現會產生什麼實際影響。在工作中感到無聊的人會在其他領域更具有創造性嗎?---或者說他們會回家寫小說嗎?”

In a subsequent study they found that creativity was reduced when people were still bored but didn’t have the chance to daydream.

在接下來的研究中他們發現，當人們一直感到無聊而沒有機會做白日夢的時候，他們的創造力會下降。

The purpose of boredom

無聊感的用途

While we tend to think of boredom as something that inevitably leads to trouble — drinking, gambling, antisocial behaviour — this research suggests different possibilities.

雖然無聊感容易被我們當成導致酗酒，賭博以及反社會行爲等問題的罪魁禍首，但這個調查向我們展示了它的其他可能性。

More than anything, the feeling of boredom is a strong signal that we are stuck in some kind of rut and we need to seek out new goals.

作爲一個信號，無聊感比其他任何事情都更能提醒我們，現在我們陷入了一成不變的生活中，需要尋求新的目標。

In the study above, this search led participants to new ideas.

在上面的研究中，這種嘗試幫助參與者們產生了新的想法。

Usually people will do anything to avoid being bored, as it’s such an aversive experience. But creative people, like writers, sometimes talk about seeking out boredom.

通常人們會做各種事情去避免無聊，因爲這是一種非常糟糕的體驗。但是有創造力的人們，比如作家，有時候會說起想要尋求無聊感。

Here is the comedy writer Graham Linehan talking about boredom to The Guardian:

喜劇作家格雷厄姆-萊恩漢在對衛報談起無聊時這樣說道：

“I have to use all these programs that cut off the internet, force me to be bored, because being bored is an essential part of writing, and the internet has made it very hard to be creative process requires a period of boredom, of being stuck. That’s actually a very uncomfortable period that a lot of people mistake for writer’s block, but it’s actually just part one of a long process.”

“我會嘗試各種辦法遠離網絡，強迫自己感到無聊，因爲無聊感是寫作很重要的一部分，而網絡使人很難感到無聊。創作的過程中會有一段時間感到無聊並停滯不前，事實上這是一段很不舒服的時期，因爲人們往往會誤解認爲作家遇到了瓶頸，但它其實只是漫長的創作過程中很平常的一部分。”

So, when you start to feel bored, instead of glancing at your smartphone, try being bored for a bit.

所以，當你開始感到無聊，停止瀏覽你的智能手機，嘗試着讓這種無聊保持一段時間。

Who knows what creative thought might come of it?

誰知道會有怎樣的奇思妙想噴薄而出呢?