Interesting Things and Curious People: Exploration and Engagement as Transient States and Enduring Strengths

Curiosity, interest, and intrinsic motivation are critical to the development of competence, knowledge, and expertise. Without a mechanism of intrinsic motivation, people would rarely explore new things, learn for its own sake, or engage with uncertain tasks despite feelings of confusion and anxiety. This article explores two sides of interest: momentary feelings (the emotion of interest) and enduring traits (the character strength of curiosity). Recent theories in emotion psychology can explain why and when people experience feelings of interest; recent research has illuminated the role of curiosity in cultivating knowledge, meaning in life, close relationships, and physical and mental resilience. The problem for future research – and for social and personality psychology more generally – is how to bridge the dynamics of everyday experience with stable, lifespan aspects of personality. Interesting Things and Curious People: Exploration and Engagement as Transient States and Enduring Strengths All humans and many non-human animal species are hard-wired to be anxious and curious (Panksepp, 1998). When faced with new, unfamiliar, and challenging events, people have a classic approach-avoidance conflict. In hopes of preventing danger, death, and the exhaustion of limited energy, people often experience anxiety. Avoiding the new and unfamiliar allows us to survive. But those same events might offer knowledge, wisdom, and opportunities that can improve the quality and longevity of our lives. In hopes of learning more about ourselves, other people, and the world around us, people often experience more than anxiety – they experience curiosity. Curiosity motivates us to approach and explore new and uncertain things in greater depth. Anxiety might be essential for surviving our current situation, but situations change. Curiosity and exploration are essential to learn how to adapt to changing situational demands and capitalize on growth opportunities. Without curiosity, stagnation is inevitable. Psychology knows a lot about anxiety – the avoid portion of the approach-avoid conflict is well understood. But what about curiosity, the urge to explore new things, to learn for its own sake, to become immersed and fascinated? The approach side of the conflict remains mysterious. Not so long ago, we could complain about the lack of attention given to positive states like interest, curiosity, and engagement, but the kudzu growth of positive psychology has strangled that claim. Psychology now knows more about character strengths and the ingredients of a satisfying, meaningful life. But curiosity is a back-bench player in modern positive psychology research – it is hard to compete with happiness, after all. Nevertheless, curiosity is interesting: it plays a powerful role in Social and Personality Psychology Compass 3/5 (2009): 785–797, 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00210.x a 2009 The Authors Journal Compilation a 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd learning and development, and a motivational force like curiosity reveals much about human motivation and human nature. This article examines the two sides of interest: interest as a transient experience and interest as an enduring character strength. The division between states and traits is an old one in social-personality psychology, and it is just as old in the psychology of interest. Work on emotional feelings and on stable traits developed independently and followed different paths. We hope to bring together what is known about both areas. For the experience of interest, we consider the detailed, microlevel: what makes things interesting? What cognitive processes bring about feelings of interest? For the trait of curiosity, we consider the abstract, macrolevel: viewed broadly, what does curiosity do across the lifespan? Why is curiosity viewed as a character strength instead of just another trait? Momentary Feelings of Interest Our first level of analysis is momentary experience – the state of interest and curiosity. At this level, research explores the functions, causes, and consequences of feeling interested. These problems have been tackled in many ways over the years (see Silvia, 2006b; Silvia, 2008b). In this paper, we will discuss the most influential theories and consider recent evidence.