Curious about being curious
What makes a person curious?
Motivation, drive? If curiosity is defined as a need or thirst for knowledge, then are we motivated to be curious and need the drive to satisfy the desire? Or, are we driven, which motivates us to be curious? Or, are we first curious, which motivates us to search and drives us to reach the goal. A bit circular.
Much has been written about how curiosity works. In his new book Curious?, Dr. Todd Kashdan defines curiosity as “recognizing and seeking out new knowledge and experiences. It’s about possessing an open and receptive attitude toward whatever it is you attend to.” He coins the term “curious explorer”– as a person who’s comfortable with risk and challenge and who functions optimally in an unstable, unpredictable world.” That sounds like a person who is motivated and driven.
Scientifically, proving the existence of personality genes in humans is difficult. But researchers have found evidence of the existence of a “curiosity gene” in a songbird, the Great Tit. Songbirds with a specific variant of a dopamine receptor gene show stronger exploratory behavior than birds with other variants.*
I like the “curiosity gene” theory even though there’s no evidence it applies to humans. Some of us might have the specific receptors for it.
That’s my take – but I’m open to other theories.
*Proceedings of the Royal Society London B, 2 May 2007.
Photo: ©2008 Luc Viatour from Wikipedia Commons, The Great Tit
