On the interplay of curiosity, confidence, and importance in knowing information

Abstract

Curiosity appears to be the driving force for humans to find new information, but despite its general relevance, only a few studies investigated the underlying mechanisms of curiosity. Kang et al. (Psychol Sci 20(8):963–973, 2009) and Dubey and Griffiths (Psychol Rev 127(3):455–476, 2020) reported a relation between curiosity and confidence such that curiosity follows an inverted U-shaped function of confidence, with the highest curiosity on moderate confidence levels of knowing information. Given that replications of findings on curiosity are rare, this study sought to replicate these previous findings in two experiments, with the same stimulus material (Experiment 1) and new stimulus material using COVID-19-related information (Experiment 2). Based on theoretical predictions by Dubey and Griffiths (2020), we extended previous findings assessing the effect of the importance of information for the participant on the relationship between curiosity and confidence. Our findings replicated previous results in both experiments with the highest curiosity regarding information about which participants were moderately confident in knowing. Our extended analyses suggest that if information can be considered as important, then people are most curious about information when having very low-to-moderate confidence in knowing this information. However, if information is rated as rather not important, then curiosity is highest for information with moderate confidence in knowing the information. Together, these results emphasize the modulatory effect of perceived importance on the interplay between curiosity and confidence in knowing information.

Curiosity and reward after unsuccessful memory recall

“…For example, we can ask whether states of curiosity are subjectively experienced in such situations. Subjective ratings have been used in many other studies on curiosity (Dubey & Griffiths, 2020;Gruber et al, 2014;Kang et al, 2009;Litman, 2005;Spitzer et al, 2023;Wade & Kidd, 2019). Such an approach leverages the fact that curiosity has experiential qualities like those of other motivational states (Lau et al, 2020).…”

The Role of Curiosity to Study Engagement of Students in Gymnastics: Extrapolating Reciprocity

“…The natural propensity of individuals toward curiosity serves as a powerful driver of motivation (Mahama et al, 2023;Shah et al, 2023), forming a crucial area of investigation for psychologists and educational researchers exploring fundamental traits and personal attributes (Evans et al, 2023;Spitzer et al, 2023). However, curiosity research faces challenges arising from diverse vocabulary, operational definitions, and measuring methods, which have hindered its progress despite its widespread recognition among academic communities.…”