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by Steven Reiss, Ph.D.

Steven Reiss is Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at The Ohio State University. See full bio

June 20, 2009, Child Development

Comments on "Two Kinds of Curiosity"

Two Kinds of Curiosity

By Steven Reiss, Ph.D. on June 20, 2009 in Who We Are

Boone, Newton, and Spock Read More

the beauty of curiosity in all its complexity

Submitted by Todd B. Kashdan, Ph.D. on June 22, 2009 - 11:03am.

Hi Steven,

As a curiosity researcher, I appreciated your post. Perhaps it can described more succinctly and broadly. If you are curious in one topic, it doesn't mean you are necessarily curious in another topic.
Why limit it to intellectual curiosity? The same could be said about baseball, fashion, cars, snack foods, and other people.

But there are other ways to divide curiosity that are more interesting to me. Depth vs. breadth.
Depth- profound penetration and exploration into a topic of interest
Breadth- general awareness of and searching for novelty, oddities, mysteries, and intrigue

Then there is exploring vs. embracing.
Exploring- showing a preference to seek out new knowledge and experiences
Embracing- being more open and receptive to uncertainty

I talk about these and other in-depth ways of describing curiosity and why this motive is particularly important to well-being. The research shows it is not equal to other motives and strengths, it has even more weight.

cheers,
Todd

Its a fantastic definition of happiness (and one of the greatest written works in history).

Now if only people used this description of happiness when they define and measure it. If only the happiness interventions that positive psychologists are using was based on this description.

The best work that relates to this definition is the work on mindfulness.

cheers,
Todd

Interested in my book, Curious? Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life, visit: http://toddkashdan.com/

All is curiosity, all is exploration.

Submitted by Elle on June 23, 2009 - 12:54am.

I can only agree with Tod B. Kashdan. I've always seen curiosity as intellectual exploration; exploring history, exploring the English language and it's uses, exploring the complexities of mathematics (often harder to see as exploration), psychology is exploring the mind, both our own and those of others, and philosophy is exploring the world and the mind in a whole new way. Just because literally exploring the playground might appeal more to some, these people may also go on to explore the biology of the plants and trees, if their desire is strong enough.