Unravel the intriguing world of curiosity, a fundamental human trait that drives innovation and discovery. Explore the science behind the 'why', as we delve into the psychological and neurological aspects that fuel our innate desire to question and learn.
Curiosity is a fundamental human trait. Everyone is curious, but the object and degree of that curiosity is different depending on the person and the situation.
Curiosity has several kinds or flavors, and they are not driven by the same things
- perceptual curiosity: the curiosity we feel when something surprises us or when something doesn’t quite agree with what we know or think we know
- epistemic curiosity: pleasurable state associated with an anticipation of reward
- It drives all kinds of knowledge, including science, art, and education
It’s not just leaders.
The Taliban destroyed works of art in Afghanistan
- ISIS is destroying art in Palmyra, Syria
- There have been book burnings and art exhibits where Nazis tried to deface modern art
- Some ideologies try to stifle curiosity
Curiosity has been seen as a very good thing because you’re trying to gain knowledge.
You can enhance curiosity by doing certain things, by asking questions, by encouraging people to be curious about things, or you can suppress curiosity by trying to suppress it
- Most psychological traits, and curiosity is no exception, have a genetic component to them. People have something in them which they are born with, but the environment can help or be against enhancing it.
Curiosity
There’s a basic difference between being unpleasant or unhappy and being happy.
- When you see something that you completely did not expect or is very ambiguous, and you feel somewhat unpleasant about this, you also experience a pleasurable state of being happy
- The internet allows us to satisfy specific curiosity, which is the desire to know a very particular detail
- In the digital age, we can find information, and that may drive us to look for something else about this information
Help spread knowledge.. Knowledge
When you think historically, there have been world leaders who have wanted to ***** out curiosity
- Fidel Castro, Trump, and even Pope Francis have all tried to do this
- In the Middle Ages, curiosity was almost taken out of existence
- The church wanted to convey to the masses the feeling that everything worth knowing is already known
