Epistemic curiosity and related constructs: Lacking evidence of discriminant validity (2023)

Domain-specific knowledge (Gkn) has been theoretically discussed and empirically proven to be a useful broad indicator of crystallized intelligence (Gc) beyond vocabulary. Based on this, the present study aimed to explore the complex interplay between selected investment traits such as personality and interests, operationalised on different hierarchical levels, and Gkn across the life span based on process models integrated into the recent Cattell-Horn-Carroll model. Divided into an online study and a laboratory study, various tests measuring constructs in the nomological net of Gkn including cognitive abilities, personality, and interests were presented along with a Gkn test to a total of N=477 participants. Aspects of openness and interests showed varying latent correlations with Gkn depending on the knowledge domain. In addition, various linear and complex non-linear relations between different investment traits and specific knowledge domains became evident in response surface analyses. Results also suggest curvilinear age-associated changes of Gkn regarding the Humanities and Civics knowledge domains. In contrast, Science knowledge appeared to be unrelated to age. Overall, age-associated findings need to be interpreted with caution due to the cross-sectional nature of this study. Implications of the findings for a better understanding of the development of Gkn are discussed.

The interest/deprivation model of trait curiosity contrasts curiosity as a feeling of interest versus a feeling of deprivation. In two studies, we explored (N=324), then confirmed (N=397) relations that curiosity-as-interest and curiosity-as-deprivation had with anticipatory affect and information seeking behaviour during a trivia task. We found that (1) curiosity-as-interest predicted feeling curious/interested, whereas curiosity-as-deprivation predicted feeling both curious/interested and frustrated/bothered, when anticipating trivia answers; (2) curiosity-as-interest was the more robust trait predictor of information seeking (i.e., paying a cost to view trivia answers), and (3) anticipatory affect mediated the relations that both curiosity traits had with information seeking. These findings suggest that both traits in the I/D model of curiosity predict their definitional epistemic experiences.

The present study investigates how Need for Cognition (NFC), an individual's tendency to engage in and enjoy thinking, relates to academic achievement in 9th grade students (N=3.355) attending different school tracks to understand whether school track moderates this relation when controlling for student background variables. Using structural regression analyses, our findings revealed small and significant positive relations between NFC and academic achievement in German, French and Math. Relations were strongest in the highest and weakest in the lowest track. No significant track difference between the highest and the intermediary track could be identified; significant differences of small effect size between the intermediary and the lowest track were found in favor of the intermediary track in the relation between NFC and academic achievement in German and Math. These findings underpin the importance of NFC in academic settings, while highlighting that the relation between NFC and achievement varies with the characteristics of different learning environments.

Infants look longer and explore more following violations-of-expectation, but the reasons for these surprise-induced behaviors are unclear. One possibility is that expectancy violations heighten arousal generally, thereby increasing infants’ post-surprise activity. Another possibility is that infants’ exploration reflects the search for an explanation for the surprising event. We tested these alternatives in three experiments. First in Experiment 1 we confirmed that seeing an object violate expectations (by passing through a solid wall) increased infants’ exploration of the surprising object, relative to when no expectancy violation was seen. Then in Experiment 2 we measured infants’ exploration after they had seen the same violation event, but then an explanation for the event was provided (the wall was revealed to have a large hole in it). We found that providing this explanation abolished infants’ surprise-induced exploration. In Experiment 3 we replicated this effect. Furthermore, we found that the longer infants looked at the explanation, the greater their reversal in exploratory preference (i.e., the more they ignored the surprising object). These findings demonstrate that preverbal infants both seek and recognize explanations for surprising events.

While a long history of research in crisis communication has suggested sex differences in information seeking, little has addressed the underlying reasons why this may be the case. The current study examines information seeking behaviors in the time leading up to Hurricane Dorian, and suggests that these differences may be a function of ruminative processing tendencies. Sex differences in information seeking are moderated such that they attenuate at higher levels of rumination. Implications for our understanding of audience responses and emergency management are discussed, along with differences in sex role normalization that may play a factor in the observed data.

Anthropomorphism describes the tendency to attribute human characteristics to non-human agents such as robots. These attributions could depend on some dispositional factors such as the individuals' will to engage in reflective processes (need for cognition), to predict their environment (need for closure). Indeed, these traits may moderate how we explain artificial agents’ behavior that is our motivation to use cognitively more effortful reasoning about artificial agents against easily accessible anthropomorphic explanations. In the present study, we measured participants (n=1141) need for cognition and closure in order to predict attitudes toward robots and anthropomorphic attributions on various robots which differed in terms of human-like characteristics. We found that both dimensions of personality influenced attitudes and anthropomorphism. In addition, these effects were emphasized by the human-like characteristics of the robots. In addition, we used a novel approach of clustering and machine-learning validation to delineate personality profiles based on the need for cognition and need for closure as most predictive variables to provide a first predictive categorization of tendency to anthropomorphize and attitudes toward robots. Our results argue for the importance of considering the interaction between the dispositional traits on the one hand and the design of robots on the other for anthropomorphism.

Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 29, Issue 1, 2013, pp. 293-303

Prior research has repeatedly found that lurkers, the passive members of online communities, dominate such communities in terms of membership. Yet lurking in online communities reflects a phenomenon largely neglected by contemporary information systems theory and research. This study starts by reviewing existing literature on lurking behavior in online communities and identifies an unexplored opportunity related to the nature and origins of lurkers’ behavior, the individual propensity to de-lurk, and the dynamic interplay between lurking and de-lurking behavior. A theoretical process-based framework linking epistemic curiosity to lurking and de-lurking behavior in online communities is presented. This framework links prior academic work on epistemic curiosity as personality trait and emotional–motivational state to lurkers’ contribution behavior in online communities. The article concludes by proposing that the psychology of curiosity in general holds great promise for research on online communities in information systems.

Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 101, 2016, pp. 177-184

Curiosity has usually been seen as a multidimensional concept. The aim of the present study was to verify the factor structure of the 40-item trait scale developed by Olson (1986), who conceptualized exploration aroused by curiosity in terms of four distinct dimensions: Exploration of the Complex or Ambiguous, Manipulatory Exploration, Conceptual Exploration, and Perceptual Exploration. However, the reported high homogeneity of the total trait scale suggested item redundancy and overlapping subscales. There were also some doubts that at least the Manipulatory Exploration factor may be gender-related. Using hand rotation it was possible to combine both exploratory and more confirmatory factor analysis in the same analysis. The purpose of the exploratory factor analysis was to find out the gender-related items of the scale. The results showed that the scale contained only 17 reliable and unambiguous items which formed a highly correlating gender-free four-factor structure. An interpretationally meaningful second-order structure explained the intercorrelations of the first-order factors very well. The models were cross-validated using confirmatory factor analysis.

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Volume 150, 2019, pp. 1-13

The present research examines the causal relationship between specific curiosity and creativity. To explicate this relationship, we introduce the concept of idea linking, a cognitive process that entails using aspects of early ideas as input for subsequent ideas in a sequential manner, such that one idea is a stepping stone to the next. Study 1 demonstrated the causal effect of specific curiosity on creativity. Study 2, a field study of artisans selling handmade goods online, found that experiencing specific curiosity predicts greater next-day creativity. Study 3 demonstrated idea linking as a mechanism for the effect of specific curiosity on creativity. Study 4 further established the impact of idea linking on creativity, finding that it boosted creativity beyond the well-established intervention of brainstorming. We discuss specific curiosity as a state that fuels creativity through idea linking and idea linking as a novel technique for creative idea generation.

Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 149, 2019, pp. 57-65

The five-dimensional curiosity construct, recently advanced by Kashdan and his colleagues (2018a), was examined using open-ended and Likert type questionnaires to further understand the nomological network and correlates of the five curiosity dimensions. The nature of each dimension (Joyous Exploration, Deprivation Sensitivity, Stress Tolerance, Social curiosity, and Thrill-Seeking) and of profiles based on those dimensions were examined as well as their relationships with value-driven actions (Personal Well-being, Moral values, Religious values, Social Ideology, and Environment.) Results of qualitative and quantitative analyses shed light on the role of positive uncertainty (stress tolerance) and of thrill-seeking in shaping epistemic and social curiosity; on authentic descriptions of reactions to curiosity-related objects or situations; on types of questions of interest that are more likely to be posed by curious people, and on values that drive their actions. The findings were discussed from an educative perspective.

Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 77, 2017, pp. 32-46

Thanks to the proliferation of smartphones, most people can access mobile game easily. But they play it very differently. This research focus on the gamer's attributes, not the game attributes as the cause of the behavioral difference. Authors suggested a research model in which perceptual game switching costs precede the continuous play intention, and personal attributes affect also the switching costs and the intention at the same time. To test the model and the research hypotheses, authors used the structural equation modeling method and multiple linear regression analysis. As results, the personal I-typed, and D-typed epistemic curiosity could account for gamers' perceptual switching costs and the play intent well. The continuity cost and the sunk cost positively affected the retention intent, but there was no significant effect from learning cost. Focusing the gamer into as the male gamer, the learning cost was significant but negatively to the intent. Gamer group in high I-typed and low D-typed curiosity showed the highest retention intent, and the lowest retention intent took place in the group of low I-typed and high D-typed. The combinations of epistemic curiosity gave new insights on the playing intent for mobile game. The personal epistemic curiosity is an effective instrument for building a consumer clustering framework for mobile gamer.

Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 64, 2014, pp. 7-11

Participants were 160 (50 males) young adults aged 17–32years, predominantly first-year university undergraduates who completed online questionnaires measuring fluid ability (Gf: Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices-Short Form [APM-SF]), Conscientiousness, and four tests of intellectual curiosity (Openness to Ideas [OI], Need for Cognition [NFC], Typical Intellectual Engagement [TIE], Epistemic Curiosity [EC]). All study variables correlated substantially with final school grades (Tertiary Entrance Rank [TER] or Australian Tertiary Admission Rank [ATAR]), confirming that educational outcome may reflect fluid ability, Conscientiousness and intellectual curiosity. Exploratory factor analysis found a strong general intellectual curiosity factor but, after controlling for APM-SF and Conscientiousness, this did not improve prediction of TER/ATAR. TIE explained additional 1.8% of variance in TER/ATAR (p<.05) but neither NFC, EC, nor OI explained additional variance. Relative importance regression showed that Conscientiousness and TIE contributed equally to explaining TER/ATAR variance. The incremental validity of TIE may reflect unique content.