Curiosity

Question 1

Lowenstein 1994 - Information Gap Theory

Answer 1

• argues curiosity arises when attention becomes focused on a gap in one’s knowledge
• an information gap produces feelings of deprivation labelled curiosity
• curious individual is motivated to obtain the missing information to reduce or eliminate the feeling of deprivation
• information gathered with clear goal in mind
• according to this theory we have a desire to resolve uncertainty and aim to close our gap in knowledge by seeking out information
• focuses on state level curiosity
• builds on ideas from Berlyne 1950

Question 2

State level curiosity - Berlyne 1960

Answer 2

• focuses on why people are curious about certain stimuli as opposed to others
• perceptual > interest in novel stimuli
• epistemic > desire for knowledge

Question 3

Trait level curiosity - Berlyne 1960

Answer 3

• reflects individual differences in the potential for curiosity
• can be reflected in personality
• specific > desire for particular info
• diversive > general stimulation seeking

Question 4

Berlyne 1950 - Stimulation Theory

Answer 4

• argues that we seek a ‘sweet spot’ between two deeply uncomfortable states
• aim to moderate arousal levels so they are optimal > not as simple as trying to close a gap in our knowledge by obtaining info
• rather we mediate levels of information based on arousal levels
  explains why people are curious about novel situations > produces an information gap in the aim of reducing arousal when hyper stimulated
• in terms of information gap theory > we seek out information when we are underestimated to feel fulfilled
• under stimulation (uncertainty, novelty, complexity)
• overstimulation > not accounted for by information gap theory >

Question 5

Berlyne 1950 - Stimulation Theory

Answer 5

• argues that we seek a ‘sweet spot’ between two deeply uncomfortable states
• aim to moderate arousal levels so they are optimal > not as simple as trying to close a gap in our knowledge by obtaining info
• rather we mediate levels of information based on arousal levels
  explains why people are curious about novel situations > produces an information gap in the aim of reducing arousal when hyper stimulated
• in terms of information gap theory > we seek out information when we are underestimated to feel fulfilled
• under stimulation (uncertainty, novelty, complexity)
• overstimulation > not accounted for by information gap theory >

Question 6

Information Gap Theory - Criticisms

Answer 6

• there are established effects of novelty on curiosity that are difficult to explain in terms of an information gap
• doesn’t explain why people are not always curious even when surrounded by vast regions of ignorance ((Loewenstein, 1994) refutes this criticism by arguing that it is only when we are conscious of our gap in knowledge that we are active in trying to resolve said gap and/or when our attention is drawn to the gap)
• If curiosity is simply a process of aiming to close an information gap, we would expect people to be less curious if they receive more information about a given stimulus > not always the case

Question 7

Berlyne 1950 - Curiosity driven by preexposure

Answer 7

• gave ppts small amount of information about sea creatures > compared them to control group with no pre-information
• found that group with pre information were more curious and wanted to learn more
• showed increasing information can increase curiosity > perhaps due to increase in confidence or exposure to particular topic

Question 8

Bonawitz et al 2011 - Does closing an information gap reduce curiosity

Answer 8

• gave ppts new toy with various functions
• in one condition, a a pedagogical group was told the function of the object whereas the baseline condition was not told anything about the function of the toy
• found that pedagogical group spent less time playing with toy than baseline group > also made fewer unique actins and discovered fewer functions
• in line with IG theory > participants with larger IG more curious

Question 9

Jones 1979 - Curiosity increases with domain knowledge

Question 10

Wade & Kidd 2019 - Curiosity correlates with FOK

Answer 10

• suggests there is not a monoatomic relationship where the less information you know the more curious you are
• rather there seems to be a liminal space where curiosity is fostered inbetween

Question 11

Kang et al 2009 - U shaped function

Answer 11

• supported by Witherby and Carpenter 2022
• indicated background information can increase curiosity
• related confidence to curiosity
• demonstrated that curiosity was dependent on prior knowledge and suggested people were not curious when they were very certain or very uncertain about a topic implicating knowability in curiosity

Question 12

Witherby and Carpenter 2022

Answer 12

• highlighted the recusrive and iterative nature of curiosity implying that increased background knowledge led to increased curiosity resulting in participants learning more
• looked at individual differences in background knowledge and assessed people’s ability to learn both real and false information
• found a positive correlation between background knowledge and new learning and believed this effect was mediated by curiosity
• argue that if the gap in your information is too big, then you won’t feel curious

Question 13

Gruber et al 2014 - Optimal arousal theory

Answer 13

• explored conflicting idea that being in a state of curiosity can be both aversive and appealing
• If curiosity simply raises levels of aversiveness t would make sense for people to avoid exposure to situations that spark curiosity however this is not the case
• (Loewenstein, 1994) resolves this conflict by arguing that satisfying curiosity in itself is pleasurable, and this pleasure compensates for the aversiveness caused by being in a curious state

Question 14

Epistemic Curiosity

Answer 14

• knowledge based curiosity
  Can be specific (answer to particular equation)
  Or diversive (general curiosity about science )

Question 15

Perceptual curiosity

Answer 15

• visual curiosity
• can be specific (rubix cube)
  Or diversive (new environment )

Question 16

Diversive curiosity

Answer 16

• more general curiosity
  E.g exploring a new environment (perceptual)
  Or learning about cars in general (epistemic)

Question 17

Kang 2019 - Curiosity as a function of confidence

Answer 17

• reported that curiosity follows and inverted U-shape function of confidence
• highest curiosity on moderate levels of confidence of knowing informations
• found that willingness to spend resources to reveal information increased with increasing curiosity
• Spitzer et all replicated study using COVID related information > findings replicated previous results

Question 18

Lowry and Johnson 1981- Debate and Discuss - Curiosity in the classroom

Answer 18

• taught children about ecology - one group debated one discussed
• then given to option to forgo break to watch movie on topic
• kids who initially discussed more likely to forgo break
• kids who discussed and forwent break had best performance in later test
• implications for education, curiosity facilitated learning

Question 19

Nissan 1980 - Rat Curiosity and exploratory drive

Answer 19

• rats given novel maze
• willing to pass through shock on electrical plate to explore novel maze
• animals will face aversive risk to explore curiosity

Question 20

Blanchard 2015 - Paying for information

Answer 20

• measure of curiosity > animals interest in information in advance even if it doesn’t effect outcome
• information relates to reward but not rewarding
• animal given two options to choose from , one option > as soon as they choose colour indicates whether good or bad (will they learn outcome or not) - white bar indicates how much water on offer (stakes ) - find out how much they will win
• blue > find out reward value in advance
• magenta > will find out about reward at time of reward delivery
  Do animals choose blue to find out immediate outcome even if it is a worse gamble ? (Penalty to curiosity )
• found
  When equal amounts of water on offer animals more likely to choose info which will give outcome straight away
• animals like knowing early whether they will get reward

Question 21

Gruber et al 2014 - curiosity improves memory - generalises outside of task

Answer 21

• when people made curious they learn things better
• assesssed ppts curiosity for different types of information > questions
• asked ppts how confident they were about answer and how curious
• put in scanner > fmri > given question again > elicited curiosity in questions > measured how curious they are
• showed faces in between
• then given surprise memory test for faces and questions
• found that curiosity had a positive effect on learning which generalised to state level > better memory for faces shown in context of trials where question were rated for higher curiosity > benefit to learning generalised