Curiosity is the desire to collect information that is novel to oneself. Psychologist William James described curiosity as “an impulse towards better cognition,” viewing it as an instinct that motivates approach and exploration of novel objects while counteracting anxiety that motivates avoidance of novel objects. He also asserted that there exists curiosity as a motivating factor that seeks to resolve differences or contradictions in scientific and philosophical knowledge, not merely responses to novel stimuli. Daniel Berlyne categorized curiosity into perceptual curiosity, which is motivation toward novel sensory stimuli, and epistemic curiosity, related to intellectual activities, such as the desire to understand objects. Perceptual curiosity is a primary motivation for exploratory behavior in organisms and serves as the driving force for exploratory behavior not only in adults but also in infants. Conversely, epistemic curiosity is explained as not only collecting stimuli with information to eliminate uncertainty but also as the driving force for acquiring knowledge. Berlyne further divides this epistemic curiosity into diversive curiosity and specific curiosity. Diversive curiosity is a motivation that supports the exploration of novel information to gain various knowledge. In contrast, specific curiosity motivates exploration of specific information to resolve contradictions or inconsistencies in knowledge. Figure 1 shows a scene from a video of an infant exploring the environment based on its curiosity. In the video, the infant can be seen approaching novel objects around it, grasping them, and playing with them. However, the infant does not continue playing with the same object; after playing and gaining knowledge to some extent, it shifts its interest to other objects. This demonstrates how curiosity constantly changes according to previous experiences and knowledge.

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Curiosity and Exploration: Why Do We Want to Learn?

  • Takato Horii

摘要

Curiosity is the desire to collect information that is novel to oneself. Psychologist William James described curiosity as “an impulse towards better cognition,” viewing it as an instinct that motivates approach and exploration of novel objects while counteracting anxiety that motivates avoidance of novel objects. He also asserted that there exists curiosity as a motivating factor that seeks to resolve differences or contradictions in scientific and philosophical knowledge, not merely responses to novel stimuli. Daniel Berlyne categorized curiosity into perceptual curiosity, which is motivation toward novel sensory stimuli, and epistemic curiosity, related to intellectual activities, such as the desire to understand objects. Perceptual curiosity is a primary motivation for exploratory behavior in organisms and serves as the driving force for exploratory behavior not only in adults but also in infants. Conversely, epistemic curiosity is explained as not only collecting stimuli with information to eliminate uncertainty but also as the driving force for acquiring knowledge. Berlyne further divides this epistemic curiosity into diversive curiosity and specific curiosity. Diversive curiosity is a motivation that supports the exploration of novel information to gain various knowledge. In contrast, specific curiosity motivates exploration of specific information to resolve contradictions or inconsistencies in knowledge. Figure 1 shows a scene from a video of an infant exploring the environment based on its curiosity. In the video, the infant can be seen approaching novel objects around it, grasping them, and playing with them. However, the infant does not continue playing with the same object; after playing and gaining knowledge to some extent, it shifts its interest to other objects. This demonstrates how curiosity constantly changes according to previous experiences and knowledge.