The mind that evolved for small groups and immediate dangers is now asked to manage a pension. It does its best. Put a number on boredom and it becomes a target; put a target on it and the number stops meaning what it meant. Every one of us runs the same shortcut, and every one of us believes we are the exception. Ask most people why they did what they did and they will give you a reason; ask them again a week later and the reason will have quietly changed.
Where the model breaks
None of this is new. Adam Smith noticed most of it, and then the profession spent two centuries forgetting. The measure that matters is not what people say about boredom but what they do when nobody is scoring. Notice how rarely anyone is argued out of the loyalty card, and how often they are simply moved past it by a change in circumstance. The textbook treats boredom as a preference to be revealed. In practice it is a story we tell ourselves after the fact.
