Every philosopher has said that learning is a natural joy. Yet human nature is notoriously non-intellectual. Only a small percentage of the population, for example, read books. Many students dislike school and complain that the curriculum is boring.
Philosophers have overlooked the fact that curiosity satiates. Everybody has periods when they want to think, and periods when they do not want to think at all. The motive turns "on" and turns "off."
Eating is an example of another motive that turns on and off. We become hungry, we eat, hunger satiates, and we stop eating; later we become hungry again. How much must we eat to satiate hunger? Well, individuals vary significantly in how much they usually eat.
Like eating, I think curiosity (need for cognition) turns on and off. People become curious, they think, their curiosity satiates, and they stop thinking; later they become curious again.
Imagine we ask 20 randomly selected children or adults to think about anything that interests them. How long will they go before they become "tired." Do people like to think for three hours without rest? I sometimes do, but I drive others nuts by seeking long intellectual conversations. Some people hate thinking for longer than a few minutes. They say they devalue intellectual activities.
Instead of asking, "Are intellectual activities natural joys?" we need to ask, "For how long can people usually participate in intellectual activity before they tire?" Say, for example, that the average individual tires of intellectual activity after 30 minutes and needs a rest of at least three hours. Under such assumptions, teachers could not stimulate the "natural curiosity" of students because of the likelihood such curiosity has temporarily satiated.
The need for cognition is a proven personality trait. Individuals show stable differences in how much cognition they seek to experience. Further, I have conducted psychometric studies on intrinsic motives, asking thousands of people from many walks of life and countries what they enjoy doing. Based on what people say about what motivates them, I have concluded that individuals seem to vary enormously in satiation rates for universal human needs. Intellectual curiosity satiates much more quickly in some people than in others.
People seem to regulate how much thinking they do. Some people need to think a lot. These individuals need many interests to satisfy their "high" need for cognition. Others aim to think very little. It is not just one or two topics they hate thinking about, they just don't like to think for any length of time. At least, that is what they say and how they behave. These individuals need many practical activities to gratify their need to minimize thinking. They hate school because it makes them do something [think] they don't want to do for longer than a few minutes at a time.
Teachers need a general sense of how long each individual student needs to think versus how long he/she needs to rest from thinking. Compared to age-appropriate norms, curious students enjoy thinking for above-average periods of time and tend to need less rest. Teachers need to challenge these students and focus on theoretical ideas. Incurious students enjoy thinking for below-average periods of time and need long periods of rest. Teachers need to break down the material into small bites and to give emphasis to the practical relevance of the curriculum for the individual's life. Knowing the student's degree of curiosity is very helpful in the classroom.
For a more detailed explanation of curiosity/incuriosity and other paired human needs, read my book, The Normal Personality (Cambridge University Press) or the less technical version, Who am I (Tarcher/Putnam).
