Curiosity: A conceptual re-analysis for improved measurement.

Decades of curiosity research point to its importance as a psychological construct in many significant life domains—including cognitively, emotionally, socially, and physically. However, accurate measurement of the curiosity construct remains an issue. This paper attempts to fill the theoretical void by re-analyzing the seminal research on curiosity. Grounding curiosity in the work of Berlyne, this paper shows how curiosity conceptually morphed over time to include flawed interpretations of Berlyne's work, which are the basis for the current psychometric issues. Since Berlyne's research is foundational to current curiosity research, precisely operationalizing his conception of curiosity is required to resolve the measurement problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]