I'd take the electric shock. I get bored easily and hate being bored. It takes a lot of mental effort to maintain my sanity. And the electric shock is over in an instant. I'm not very surprised by the stark difference between men and women, but it's hard to put the reasons into words. I think women are more passive, being and feeling oriented while men are more active, thinking and doing oriented, so men may be more likely to get more bored in that situation. Also men are more likely to go out on a limb and do something dangerous or hardcore/extreme (such as receiving an electric shock), which is why we have the whole "Why Women Live Longer" meme. https://twitter.com/search?q=why%20women%20live%20longer&src=typed_query&f=user . I guess this makes sense from an evolutionary-psychological viewpoint, with men being historically the ones who go out in the wild and hun and gather, which is dangerous and active/adventurous, while women stay in and housekeep and take care of the kids. It may also be a factor that men are always the ones vying for women's affections, so they have to accomplish feats to impress them.