Boredom can be caused by repetitive tasks (e.g., a tedious job at work), lack of sensory stimulation (e.g., eating a bland dish repeatedly without ever adding a bit of spice or sauce), unchanging environments (e.g., a room we spend too much time in and grow bored with/within), lack or perceived meaning or direction (e.g., playing a game we don't understand or working to solve a problem we don't care about.)

Some researchers, like Scitovsky (1992), suggest that we tend to avoid effort and may decide to engage in an activity that is less rewarding but requires less effort. However, more recent studies, such as the experiment conducted by Wu et al. in 2023, show that when faced with a choice between doing nothing or taking on an effortful task, we favor the more demanding but rewarding option.

To combat boredom, we may engage in positive or productive activities (e.g., offering more options or promoting better alignment around the goal of a task), but we sometimes instead adopt more negative or destructive behaviors (e.g., taking unnecessary risks or joining a group in search of stimulation, even if that group supports bad ideals.) For instance, a 2016 study by Wijnand A. P. van Tilburg Eric R. Igou found that "extreme political orientations are, in part, a function of boredom’s existential qualities."