Curiosity About People: The Development of a Social Curiosity Measure in Adults

Abstract

Curiosity refers to the desire for acquiring new information. The aim of this study was to develop a questionnaire to assess social curiosity, that is, interest in how other people think, feel, and behave. The questionnaire was administered to 312 participants. Factor analyses of the 10-item Social Curiosity Scale (SCS) yielded 2 factors: General Social Curiosity and Covert Social Curiosity. Evidence of convergent validity was provided by moderately high correlations of the SCS with other measures of curiosity and self-perceived curiosity, whereas discriminant validity was demonstrated by low correlations of the SCS with other personality traits, such as neuroticism and agreeableness. Of interest, social interaction anxiety was observed to facilitate covert social curiosity while inhibiting general social curiosity.

The Relationship between Optimism, Pre-Entrepreneurial Curiosity and Entrepreneurial Curiosity

“…On the one hand, researchers in psychology have investigated optimism as an attribute of individuals that governs positive thinking and the outlook of the future, and perhaps relates to better outcomes, better performance, better personal well-being, and coping strategy (Liang and Dunn, 2010). On the other hand, Renner (2006) claimed curiosity refers to the desire to acquire new information. Thus, to be successful, entrepreneurs must be curious about different specific entrepreneurial-related topics (Jeraj and Antončič, 2013).…”

Attitudes to Sharing Personal Health Information in Living Kidney Donation

“…Before the main four-question survey, demographic data and relationship information between potential donors and recipients were recorded, as well as an assessment of "curiosity" and "willingness to self-disclose" using validated scales to understand generic preferences toward knowing and disclosing information, respectively. The Social Curiosity Scale (19) assessed general and covert curiosity on the basis of a questionnaire that contained 10 items, on which participants indicated how much they agreed or disagreed with each statement on a four-point scale (1 ϭ strongly disagree to 4 ϭ strongly agree). The scale demonstrates high construct and convergent validity with other measures of curiosity (19).…”

“…The Social Curiosity Scale (19) assessed general and covert curiosity on the basis of a questionnaire that contained 10 items, on which participants indicated how much they agreed or disagreed with each statement on a four-point scale (1 ϭ strongly disagree to 4 ϭ strongly agree). The scale demonstrates high construct and convergent validity with other measures of curiosity (19). The Self-Disclosure Situations Survey (revised version) (20) consists of six items.…”

Proakti̇f Ki̇şi̇li̇ği̇n Öznel Zi̇ndeli̇k İle Merak Arasindaki̇ İlişki̇de Aracilik Etki̇si̇

“…Kashdan, Rose ve Fincham, 2004;Kashdan ve Silvia, 2009). Renner (2006) ise merakı tanımlarken var olan bilgiyle, merak edilen bilgiyi elde etme arasındaki boşluk, yeni bilgiye ulaşmamaktan kaynaklanan bir yoksunluk duygusu olarak ifade etmiştir. Carlin (1999) ise meraklı olmanın bilginin inşası için bir ön koşul olduğunu söylemiştir.…”

“…Algısal merak; koku ve ses gibi duyuların uyarımı ile yeni bilgiler edinmeyle açıklanırken; uyarıcıların algılanmasının artmasına önderlik etmektedir. Epistemik merak ise bilgi, fikir ve gerçeklere ulaşmak amacıyla fırsatları elde etme eğilimidir (Renner, 2006). Bu tip merakın, ana ürünü bilgi olup kavramsal çelişki ve bilgi eksikliği ile harekete geçmektedir (Litman ve Spielberg, 2003).…”