We try to avoid people with these stereotypically boring traits

By Matthew Warren Picture a boring person in your mind. What are they like? If you’re imagining someone who loves watching TV, has no sense of humour, and works in finance, your stereotype of a boring person is similar to those described in a recent study in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. But whether or not these kinds of stereotypes are accurate, the researchers behind the paper find that they can have damaging social implications: people have a low opinion of those with “boring” traits, and will try to actively avoid them. The researchers, led by Wijnand A. P. van Tilburg from the University of Essex, began by asking online participants to note down “typical features” of a boring person, as well as occupations and hobbies they associated with being boring. They then grouped responses into categories: 45 pertaining to personal characteristics (e.g. “no sense of humour”); 19 relating to hobbies (e.g. “collecting”); and 28 relating to occupations (e.g. “banking and finance”). Three further groups of participants then rated how boring a person with each of these characteristics, hobbies, or jobs seemed. The features most stereotypical of boring people included “not interesting”, “dull”, and “no opinions”. Occupations most associated with boring people included “data analysis”, “accounting”, and “tax/insurance”, while hobbies included “sleeping”, “religion”, and “watching TV”. Th...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Occupational Personality Social Source Type: blogs