An immediate big issue that presents itself when thinking about how boredom affects creativity is: “how do we measure creativity??”. After some research I can present you some approaches that seem sensible.
1. Divergent Thinking Tests
The most widely used creativity assessments are divergent thinking tasks.
Divergent thinking tasks are designed to push your brain beyond the obvious, encouraging you to come up with as many different ideas, uses, or solutions as possible. They’re the opposite of convergent thinking, which focuses on finding a single correct answer.
Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT)
In TTCT, participants might be asked to list uses for an ordinary object (fluency), switch categories (flexibility), come up with unusual ideas (originality), and flesh out details (elaboration). These scores have been shown to predict creative achievements decades later, with reliability ratings between .87 – .97 across diverse cultures.
Guildford’s Alternate Uses Task (AUT) is a classic measure which covers all these scores. Simply: given an everyday object, how many different uses can users think of? This one test scores on fluency, originality, flexibility and elaboration.
2. Convergent Thinking Tests
Creativity isn’t only about generating many ideas. It’s also about finding the right idea.
The Remote Associates Test (RAT) measures convergent thinking by asking participants to find a single word linking three unrelated cues (e.g. “Room-Blood-Salt” -> “Bath”). This captures associative and insight-based creativity.
3. Semantic-Distance & Novel AI Measures
Modern testing like the Divergent Association Task (DAT) and its AI-enhanced variant, S-DAT, ask for unrelated words or ideas and measure their semantic distance via algorithms. These tools offer scalability and objective measuring beyond manual scoring.
4. Process & Product Based Assessments
The Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT) involves expert judges evaluating creative products (stories, designs, etc.). Similarly domain specific tools like the Engineering Creativity Assessment Tool (ECAT) assess fluency, originality, flexibility, and technical depth in engineering contexts.
Useful Sources:
What do educators need to know about the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: A comprehensive review
Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking
The Convergent Validity of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking and Creativity Interest Inventories
What We Measure Matters
How Long to Be Bored? Timing & Incubation
Once we can measure creativity, we face more nuanced questions about practical timing:
- How long should boredom last for optimal creative priming?
Most lab studies (like Mann & Cadman from the previous blog post) used 15 minutes of boredom inducing tasks and find improved divergent output afterwards. Would shorter or longer periods produce stronger gains? We don’t know yet. It seems to be yet untested in real-world creative scenarios. - How long does the creativity boost last?
I couldn’t find any good answers for this question. Controlled studies are still necessary to see how long ideation remains elevated after a boredom bout. - How frequently should boredom pauses occur in heavy ideation sessions?
In the absence of precise guidelines, a plausible starting point is alternating focused ideation blocks (25-30min) with short boredom breaks (5-10min) where participants engage in minimal stimulation. A similar structure to a classic Pomodoro.
For the Reader
If you’re curious about how boredom might boost your creativity, here are a few small experiments that you can try at home:
- Schedule a Boredom Break
Set aside 10-15 minutes during your workday to deliberately do nothing stimulating.
No phone, no music, no reading, just stare out of the window, take a walk without headphones, or sit with a pen and blank paper. Then try a creative task (like brainstorming ideas or sketching concepts) and note any difference in how your ideas flow. - Swap Scrollign fro Staring
Next time you’re in a queue or on public transport and feel the urge to check your phone, resist it. Just be. Let your thoughts wander. You might be surprised what floats to the surface when you’re not trying to be entertained. - Keep a Post-Boredom Journal
After intentionally boring moments, note down how you felt and whether any interesting thoughts or ideas came to you. Over time, this could become a valuable creativity tracker and personal insight tool. - Read something
More specifically one of these:
– The Upside of Downtime by Sandi Mann
– Bored and Brilliant by Manoush Zomorodi
