The curiosity and exploration inventory-II: Development, factor structure, and psychometrics

Abstract

Given curiosity's fundamental role in motivation, learning, and well-being, we sought to refine the measurement of trait curiosity with an improved version of the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory (CEI; Kashdan, Rose, & Fincham, 2004). A preliminary pool of 36 items was administered to 311 undergraduate students, who also completed measures of emotion, emotion regulation, personality, and well-being. Factor analyses indicated a two factor model-motivation to seek out knowledge and new experiences (Stretching; 5 items) and a willingness to embrace the novel, uncertain, and unpredictable nature of everyday life (Embracing; 5 items). In two additional samples (ns = 150 and 119), we cross-validated this factor structure and provided initial evidence for construct validity. This includes positive correlations with personal growth, openness to experience, autonomy, purpose in life, self-acceptance, psychological flexibility, positive affect, and positive social relations, among others. Applying item response theory (IRT) to these samples (n = 578), we showed that the items have good discrimination and a desirable breadth of difficulty. The item information functions and test information function were centered near zero, indicating that the scale assesses the mid-range of the latent curiosity trait most reliably. The findings thus far provide good evidence for the psychometric properties of the 10-item CEI-II.Corresponding Author: Todd B. Kashdan, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, MS 3F5, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, Email: tkashdan@gmu.edu, Phone: 703-993-9486, Fax: 703-993-1359; website: http://mason.gmu.edu/~tkashdan. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Curiosity is a powerful facet of human motivation (Berlyne, 1960(Berlyne, , 1971Izard, 1977) and one of the fundamental strengths and personality traits studied by psychologists (Peterson & Seligman, 2004;Reiss, 2000). Out of 24 fundamental strengths studied by psychologists, curiosity was the most commonly endorsed by 12,439 adults in the United States and 445 adults in Switzerland (Peterson, Ruch, Beermann, Park, & Seligman, 2007). Sylvan Tomkins (1962), a seminal researcher of positive emotions, believed curiosity had benefits of profound evolutionary significance: "The importance of curiosity to thought and memory are so extensive that the absence…would jeopardize intellectual development no less than the destruction of brain tissue…there is no human competence which can be achieved in the absence of a sustaining interest" (p. 347). NIH Public AccessDespite being interesting to research...

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