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The five-dimensional curiosity scale: Capturing the bandwidth of curiosity and identifying four unique subgroups of curious people
- Source :
- Journal of Research in Personality. 73:130-149
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Since the origins of psychology, curiosity has occupied a pivotal position in the study of motivation, emotion, and cognition; and disciplines as far-ranging as biology, economics, robotics, and leadership. Theorists have disagreed about the basic tenets of curiosity; some researchers contend that the rewards arise when resolving ambiguity and uncertainty whereas others argue that being curious is an intrinsically pleasurable experience. Three studies were conducted to consolidate competing theories and isolated bodies of research. Using data from a community survey of 508 adults (Study 1), 403 adults on MTurk (Study 2), and a nationally representative household survey of 3,000 adults (Study 3), we found evidence for five distinct factors: Joyous Exploration, Deprivation Sensitivity, Stress Tolerance, Social Curiosity, and Thrill Seeking - forming The Five-Dimensional Curiosity Scale (5DC). Each factor had substantive relations with a battery of personality, emotion, and well-being measures. Taking advantage of this multidimensional model, we found evidence for four distinct types of curious people in Study 3 referred to as The Fascinated (28% of sample), Problem Solvers (28%), Empathizers (25%), and Avoiders (19%). Subgroups differed in their passionate interests, areas of expertise, consumer behavior, and social media use; challenging an assumption that there is a homogenous population to be discriminated on a single dimension from incurious to very curious. With greater bandwidth and predictive power, the 5DC offers new opportunities for research on origins, consequences, life outcomes, and intervention strategies to enhance curiosity.
- Subjects :
- education.field_of_study
Social Psychology
media_common.quotation_subject
05 social sciences
Population
050109 social psychology
Cognition
Ambiguity
050105 experimental psychology
Well-being
Curiosity
Personality
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Social media
education
Psychology
Social psychology
General Psychology
Consumer behaviour
media_common
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00926566
- Volume :
- 73
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Research in Personality
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........cfb14738cf8627d972ea0077a8362afd