Article

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

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Abstract

Curiosity, interest, and intrinsic motivation are critical to the development of competence, knowl- edge, 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 inter- est) and enduring traits (the character strength of curiosity). Recent theories in emotion psychol- ogy 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.

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... Najmočnejša povezava obstaja z osebnostno dimenzijo odprtosti. Psihološka fleksibilnost je pogojena s posameznikovo zmožnostjo odprtosti, dovzetnosti in radovednosti, ki posameznika do spodbujajo k odprtosti čutenja prijetnih in neprijetnih čustev (Kashdan, 2010;Silvia in Kashdan, 2009). Posameznik se neprijetnih čustev ne izogiba in jih bolj učinkovito konfrontira. ...
... Terapevti z višjo stopnjo čustvene uglašenosti in z večjim samozavedanjem so pri svojem delu bolj čuječi, zaradi česar so bolj odprti za izkušnje v psihoterapevtskem procesu. Bolj konstruktivistični terapevti so torej v večjem stiku s sedanjim trenutkom, saj so bolj odprti do čutenja prijetnih in neprijetnih čustev (Kashdan, 2010;Silvia in Kashdan, 2009). Sklepamo lahko, da večja konstruktivistična naravnanost terapevtu pomaga pri oblikovanju sistema vrednot in potreb, zaradi česar se lahko terapevt v večji meri odziva v skladu s svojimi vrednotami oziroma potrebami (Farber, 1983;Radeke in Mahoney, 2000;Šugman Bohinc, 2013). ...
... Ugotovitve so skladne z dejstvom, da so bolj konstruktivistično naravnani terapevti, v terapevtskem odnosu manj negotovi, kot bolj objektivistično naravnani terapevti (Aksoy, 2005;Šugman Bohinc, 2005). Sklepamo lahko, da se bolj objektivistično naravnani terapevti med terapevtskimi srečanji večkrat izogibajo naslavljanju lastnih čustev in čustev klienta (Kashdan, 2010;Silvia in Kashdan, 2009). Možno je, da je njihov sistem vrednot manj oblikovan, zaradi česar se redkeje odzivajo v skladu s svojimi vrednotami (Farber, 1983;Radeke in Mahoney, 2000). ...
Thesis
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The master's thesis focuses on the relationship between the therapist's personality traits, his objectivist or constructivist attitudes, psychological flexibility, and the therapist’s choice for a psychotherapeutic approach. The research was conducted on a sample of 92 psychotherapy students and certified psychotherapists, who were divided into five groups according to the chosen psychotherapeutic approach. The results showed that the therapists’ choices for psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic, and psychodynamic psychotherapy, behavioural and cognitive therapy, existential and humanistic psychotherapy, systemic psychotherapy, and integrative psychotherapy are statistically significantly correlated with therapists’ personality traits and their attitudes. The study also found statistically significant correlations between therapist’ attitudes and their psychological flexibility. The correlations between therapists’ choice for a psychotherapeutic approach and psychological flexibility were rare and weak. Logistic regression models revealed some significant predictors for the therapist’s choice for a therapeutic approach. The negative predictor for the therapist’s choice for psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic, and psychodynamic psychotherapy is conscientiousness. The negative predictor for the therapist’s choice for existential and humanistic psychotherapy is conscientiousness, and the positive predictors are openness and constructivism. The negative predictor for the therapist’s choice for systemic psychotherapy is agreeableness, and the positive predictors are extraversion and constructivism. The negative predictor for the therapist’s choice for integrative psychotherapy is extraversion, and the positive predictors are openness and conscientiousness. Research results open up new questions and research possibilities, and point to the existence of lesser-known psychological constructs that are related to psychotherapeutic approaches. This type of research opens up opportunities for the development of career counselling for future psychotherapists in Slovenia.
... Curiosity is an essential element of individuals' creativity, maturity and open-mindedness [1][2][3][4]. Children's tendency to ask questions, driven by their curiosity, shall be an initial step in building human relations and learning. In the literature, such a tendency is conceptualized as "inquisitiveness" representing curiosity about something and someone different [5,6]. ...
... The associated coefficients of β 0 , β 1 , β 2 , β 3 are the parameters to be estimated, and � i is an error term. In Eq 2, parameter β 1 is of particular interest to statistically examine question (2). For inquisitiveness of the participant i, the model is ...
Article
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Intergenerational exchange plays an increasing role in realizing sustainable societies. Question-answer exchanges are the trigger for individuals to initiate some intergenerational relations, and the literature has established that inquisitiveness (curiosity about something and someone different) contributes to people’s generativity and happiness. However, little is known about how children’s inquisitiveness influences their generative concern and happiness. We claim that inquisitiveness is essential for children to enhance their happiness and hypothesize that those who receive a positive response from adults tend to be inquisitive and express the signs of generativity. To empirically examine the hypothesis, we have statistically characterized inquisitiveness in relation to adult-child interaction, generativity (offering care for people and the natural environment) and happiness, using the data from a survey of 511 Japanese children between 9 and 14 years and by applying the revised generativity concern scale (GCS-R). The results show that inquisitiveness correlates with generativity and happiness, primarily that a positive response by adults to children’s inquiries promotes their inquisitiveness through adult-child interactions. Our analysis shows that children’s inquisitiveness, encouraged by adults’ positive responses, is more significant in happiness than the generativity concern during childhood. Overall, the results suggest that adults responding positively to children’s questions is essential for promoting inquisitiveness and increasing happiness.
... Curiosity and acceptance are important elements for one person to gain creativity, fulfillment and views [1][2][3][4]. A child's tendency to ask a question shall be an initial step of building human relations and learning various things. ...
... The coefficients, β 0 , β 1 , β 2 , β 3 , β 4 , are parameters to be estimated and ε i is a disturbance term. In Eq 2, parameters β 1 and β 2 are of particular interest to statistically test question (2). The median regression is used to statistically analyze the determinants of generativity and happiness in place of parametric mean-based regressions, when observations of generativity and happiness in the sample are considered to be non-normally distributed and/or skewed. ...
Article
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Inquisitiveness (curiosity & acceptance to something and someone different) is the main engine for one person to initiate some relation, and the literature has established that maintaining nice relationships with friends, family and general others contributes to generativity and happiness. However, little is known about how generativity and happiness are characterized by inquisitiveness. We hypothesize that inquisitiveness is a fundamental determinant for generativity and happiness, empirically examining the relationships along with cognitive, noncognitive and sociodemographic factors. We conduct questionnaire surveys with 400 Japanese subjects, applying quantile regression and structural equation modeling to the data. First, the analysis identifies the importance of inquisitiveness in characterizing generativity in that people with high inquisitiveness tend to be generative. Second, people are identified to be happy as they have high generativity and inquisitiveness, demonstrating two influential roles of inquisitiveness as direct and indirect determinants through a mediator of generativity. Overall, the results suggest that inquisitiveness shall be a key element of people’s happiness through intergenerational and intragenerational communications or relations.
... But some topics will still capture their attention more than others because certain topics will match their preexisting interests better (Ziegler et al., 2018). Whereas both curiosity and interest are essential for learning, there is an ongoing debate on their similarities and differences (Ainley, 2019;Alexander, 2019;Donnellan et al., 2022;Grossnickle, 2016;Murayama, 2022;Murayama et al., 2019;Pekrun, 2019;Peterson & Hidi, 2019;Schmidt & Rotgans, 2021;Shin & Kim, 2019;Silvia & Kashdan, 2009;Tang et al., 2022). On a state level (i.e., momentary experiences of curiosity or interest), it is difficult to distinguish whether someone engages with a piece of information because it sparked their momentary interest or their curiosity. ...
Preprint
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Intellectual curiosity and personal interest are both believed to spark information seeking and facilitate learning. In two preregistered studies (Study 1: exploratory lab study, N = 312; Study 2: online conceptual replication study, N = 960), we investigated effects of curiosity and interest on participants’ information seeking as they studied a hypertext on a historical topic. We captured their behavioral traces with log files. We also examined effects of curiosity, interest, and information-seeking behaviors on knowledge attainment. In both studies, latent profile analyses based on behavioral trace data revealed more adaptive information-seeking profiles (e.g., broad and deep-diving information searches, Study 1, or only broad information search, Study 2) and less adaptive (e.g., disengaged) information-seeking profiles. More adaptive profiles were consistently related to better knowledge test performance. Curiosity and interest positively predicted more adaptive information seeking (Study 1) and knowledge test performance (Study 2); however, these effects were inconsistent across study contexts. Furthermore, curiosity and interest did not interact in predicting information seeking and knowledge attainment (Studies 1 and 2). Overall, our work extends the understanding of how intellectually curious and interested individuals learn and attain knowledge and underscores the promise of using behavioral trace data to study interindividual differences.
... When the content is unique and presented in a novel way, individuals process information with curiosity (Kover and James, 1993). The psychological response of customers initially begins with curiosity, but it soon develops into enjoyment and immersion and encourages interaction as novel, and unusual shopping experiences stimulate positive cognitive processing (McLean and Wilson, 2019; Silvia and Kashdan, 2009). According to Li et al. (2021), novelty has a significant effect on perceived enjoyment. ...
Article
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Purpose Understanding how to retain users of augmented reality (AR) shopping apps and to motivate them to purchase is vital to the success of AR apps. This study assessed the chain effect of AR attributes on purchase intention and reuse intention through cognitive and affective factors. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected from Thai users of the IKEA Place app using an online survey. A link to the survey was posted on Thai furniture groups on social media platforms. The 439 responses were analysed using the partial least squares (PLS) approach. Findings The results revealed that all four AR attributes, namely interactivity, vividness, novelty and spatial presence, significantly influence perceived enjoyment, perceived diagnosticity and perceived value. Brand attitude, as a key driver of purchase intention, is influenced by perceived value. Attitude towards the app significantly affects reuse intention and is affected by affective and cognitive factors. Practical implications The findings enable shopping app designers and marketers to successfully promote the brand, retain users and boost sales by effectively incorporating AR. Originality/value The study extends the literature on the impacts of AR apps on customer behaviours by including affective factors in addition to cognitive factors to explain why AR attributes influence customer attitudes and behaviours. Furthermore, the study demonstrates the serial causal paths from AR attributes to customer behaviours.
... Finally, the observed curiosity in other pathological states among several students suggested the increased application of a more entrepreneurial mindset, a promising result of the study. It is possible that students viewed the minimal pathological state analysis as difficult yet doable sparking their curiosity, consistent to Kashdan and Silvia [39]. ...
... While extensive research has explored the broad trait of curiosity across different contexts (Silvia & Kashdan, 2009), less attention has been given to the experience of taskspecific curiosity. Few studies have investigated how curiosity about a particular task can enhance stress coping mechanisms, such as viewing stress as a challenge rather than a threat (Tomaka & Magoc, 2021). ...
Preprint
Full-text available
Research has shown that curiosity plays a crucial role in human performance and well-being. Based on multi-dimensional models of curiosity, we examined potential underlying mechanisms for this relationship. Extending prior research, we expected state and trait variants of curiosity to predict more challenge and less threat appraisals for novel tasks (i.e., joyous exploration dimension), stronger dissatisfaction when denied opportunities to do something interesting (i.e., deprivation sensitivity dimension), and persist longer under stress states (i.e., stress tolerance). We asked 123 participants to prepare and deliver a speech titled "Why are you a good friend?" After preparation, participants were informed that they were randomly selected not to perform the task. Throughout the experiment, we recorded heart rate reactivity as a physiological indicator of task engagement. We found that individuals curious about the upcoming task felt more challenged, less threatened, and presented longer physiological engagement than less curious individuals. Curious individuals expressed more disappointment about the missed opportunity to deliver the speech. In summary, this study revealed theoretically derived mechanisms that partially account for associations between curiosity and positive life outcomes while also indicating adverse effects.
... The valence of curiosity and interest is both relatively positive because people enjoy exploring and anticipating new information (Kashdan et al., 2018;Kashdan & Silvia, 2012;Peterson & Hidi, 2019;Silvia & Kashdan, 2009). However, because interest involves a more general exploratory state-rather than a focus on specific information that is missing, which can also feel like deprivation-interest is likely to feel more positive than curiosity (Noordewier & Van Dijk, 2017; see also Pekrun, 2019). ...
Article
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Epistemic emotions are hardly ever studied together, making it difficult to predict what features are shared versus unique to each emotion. To address this, we conducted two autobiographical recall experiments. We compared awe, surprise, curiosity, interest, confusion, and boredom in terms of elicitors, subjective experience components, and action tendencies. Ratings were analyzed using network analyses, to describe the central features for the whole group of epistemic emotions. In addition, ratings were compared per emotion, to identify key features for each individual emotion. Results showed that valence, arousal, coping potential, and avoidance are central features of all epistemic emotions. Awe, surprise, and interest were relatively positive emotions, which together with curiosity, were associated with arousal, high coping potential, and approach. Confusion and boredom were relatively negative emotions, which were associated with low arousal, low coping potential, and avoidance. Further analyses revealed unique features of (groups of) emotions. For example, awe was associated with exceeded expectancies, while surprise was associated with both exceeded and disconfirmed expectancies. Moreover, curiosity and confusion were associated with having (too) little information, while awe and interest were associated with having sufficient information. All emotions except boredom were associated with exploration, but this was particularly high for curiosity and interest.
... Ketertarikan pelanggan disebabkan oleh tingkat kepentingan dan makna pribadi terhadap suatu produk (Parihar et al., 2019) . Minat memotivasi pelanggan untuk mengetahui lebih banyak tentang produk dan melibatkan mereka dalam diskusi dengan karyawan dan pelanggan (Silvia & Kashdan, 2009) . Pelanggan X dengan tingkat ketertarikan yang tinggi terhadap produk X, kemungkinan besar akan lebih terlibat dengan produk X (Parihar et al., 2019). ...
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This research was conducted to analyze the Moderation Effects of Customer Innovativeness in increasing Phygital Retail Customer Loyalty in the Indonesian Culinary Industry. The purpose of this study is to analyze the application of the Phygital Retail concept in order to optimize Phygital Retail outlets in the Indonesian Culinary Industry. This research is a quantitative research with the PLS Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. Sources of data in this study were obtained by distributing online questionnaires to respondents who were customers of outlets or Resto Phygital Retail. The results of this study state that as a form of effort towards optimizing Phygital Retail outlets that implement the Phygital Retail concept, it is hoped that consumers can carry out innovations which are encouragement from the consumers themselves to become more involved and loyal to the company, hence consumer involvement and loyalty. This can be achieved by implementing strategies in the Phygital Retail sales system that bring pleasure to consumers.
... Curiosidad: La curiosidad se define como el deseo de saber (Silvia & Kashdan, 2009), o como un deseo de saber sobre el mundo, de sentir satisfacción al llevar a cabo dicha actividad y proyectar satisfacción. Ese deseo en las cosas que se proyectan a futuro, que refleja un estado en el que las personas carecen de información y están motivadas para descubrir qué es. ...
Chapter
El libro Investigación y Desarrollo volumen I, de la colección Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, compila el resultado del trabajo de investigadores asociados a Instituciones de Educación Superior de América Latina, producto del análisis de la percepción del nivel de desarrollo de las competencias orientadas a la creatividad, la innovación, el emprendimiento y la cultura solidaria en jóvenes de educación básica y media; que configuran las distintas realidades de estas variables en contextos diversos, además de propiciar el encuentro académico con profesionales de diversas áreas del conocimiento y comunidades participantes en el estudio.
... Curiosidad: La curiosidad se define como el deseo de saber (Silvia & Kashdan, 2009), o como un deseo de saber sobre el mundo, de sentir satisfacción al llevar a cabo dicha actividad y proyectar satisfacción. Ese deseo en las cosas que se proyectan a futuro, que refleja un estado en el que las personas carecen de información y están motivadas para descubrir qué es. ...
Book
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El libro Investigación y Desarrollo volumen I, de la colección Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, compila el resultado del trabajo de investigadores asociados a Instituciones de Educación Superior de América Latina, producto del análisis de la percepción del nivel de desarrollo de las competencias orientadas a la creatividad, la innovación, el emprendimiento y la cultura solidaria en jóvenes de educación básica y media; que configuran las distintas realidades de estas variables en contextos diversos, además de propiciar el encuentro académico con profesionales de diversas áreas del conocimiento y comunidades participantes en el estudio.
... Curiosidad: La curiosidad se define como el deseo de saber (Silvia & Kashdan, 2009), o como un deseo de saber sobre el mundo, de sentir satisfacción al llevar a cabo dicha actividad y proyectar satisfacción. Ese deseo en las cosas que se proyectan a futuro, que refleja un estado en el que las personas carecen de información y están motivadas para descubrir qué es. ...
Chapter
Full-text available
El libro Investigación y Desarrollo volumen I, de la colección Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, compila el resultado del trabajo de investigadores asociados a Instituciones de Educación Superior de América Latina, producto del análisis de la percepción del nivel de desarrollo de las competencias orientadas a la creatividad, la innovación, el emprendimiento y la cultura solidaria en jóvenes de educación básica y media; que configuran las distintas realidades de estas variables en contextos diversos, además de propiciar el encuentro académico con profesionales de diversas áreas del conocimiento y comunidades participantes en el estudio.
... Curiosity may be observed through the investigative approach to contentspecific knowledge or information-seeking behaviours (Litman 2010). Silvia and Kashdan (2009) find many behaviours closely associated with highly curious individuals, such as intense learning, asking questions, and examining closely and manipulating objects, are intrinsically linked to scientific inquiry objects (Weible and Zimmerman 2016). Student engagement in science draws on a more inquiry-based learning framework, as evidenced by its root in hypothesis testing (Jirout and Klahr 2012;Wu et al. 2018). ...
Article
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Curiosity has long been touted as important for the ability to learn and has been linked with innovation and entrepreneurship. It is also important that employers know how to identify curious potential employees in cost-effective ways during recruitment processes. This paper explores the association between curiosity and cognitive ability. Recruitment processes rely heavily on educational attainment, especially when recruiting young people with low labour market experience. This paper explores the association between curiosity and maths, science, and reading ability in youth. Using six waves of data from the 2003, 2006, and 2009 cohorts of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth, we examine the extent to which the curiosity of young adults is associated with their school-age cognition level. We find that curious individuals are more likely to have had higher levels of science and reading ability in school, yet curiosity is negatively associated with school-age mathematics ability. These findings provide clear strategies for employers wanting to recruit curious employees without access to expensive profiling techniques.
... So, when individuals finally get something they desire, the brain circuit is lighted up, resulting in positive feelings. Curious people pay more attention to various information processing activities and recalling information quickly and copiously (Fredrickson, 1998;Silvia and Kashdan, 2009;Silvia and Litman, 2006). A curious person is open to innovation, complexity and ambiguity (Litman, 2005). ...
Article
The crisis created by the pandemic severely disrupted the working patterns of employees, especially in the aviation industry. It is insufficient for workers to be satisfied – they have to be engaged in their work to deal with crises and situations never encountered before. Thus, investigating the antecedents of work engagement and their interactive effects is crucial to organizational survival. The paper examines the impact of the trait of curiosity on proactive personality, which ultimately leads to work engagement. The moderated-mediation model looks at the mediating effect of proactive personality on the relationship between curiosity and work engagement. It also examines the moderating effect of organizational culture perceptions on the relationship between curiosity and proactive personality. A sample of 327 respondents was collected from 32 organizations in the aviation industry in the United Arab Emirates through purposive sampling. The hypothesized associations were analyzed via structural equation modelling. As predicted, proactive personality is a mediator, and organizational culture moderates the said relationships. Managers desirous of improving employees’ work engagement will now understand how employees’ curiosity can enhance work engagement through proactive personality. Managers can also ensure that organizational culture can further strengthen the relationship between curiosity and proactive personality.
... One explanation for these results is that people are driven by morbid curiosity to close an information gap and acquire information about the world (Loewenstein, 1994). This drive to acquire information may be particularly strong for negative information because negative information is typically uniquely negative (e.g., deviations from social norms) and thus represents a strong gain in information, unlike positive information, which is mostly alike in that it conforms to socially constructed norms of positivity (Silvia & Kashdan, 2009). A second, more parsimonious explanation is that people may be driven by a desire to resolve curiosity and uncertainty and therefore sometimes seek unhelpful negative information that provides no long-term pleasure, benefits, or gains (Hsee & Ruan, 2016). ...
Article
In an attempt to mitigate the negative impact of graphic online imagery, Instagram has introduced sensitive-content screens—graphic images are obfuscated with a blur and accompanied by a warning. Sensitive-content screens purportedly allow “vulnerable people” with mental-health concerns to avoid potentially distressing content. However, no research has assessed whether sensitive-content screens operate as intended. Here we examined whether people, including vulnerable users (operationalized as people with more severe psychopathological symptoms, e.g., depression), use the sensitive-content screens as a tool for avoidance. In two studies, we found that the majority of participants (80%–85%) indicated a desire (Study 1) or made a choice (Study 2) to uncover a screened image. Furthermore, we found no evidence that vulnerable users were any more likely to use the screens to avoid sensitive content. Therefore, warning screens appear to be an ineffective way to deter vulnerable users from viewing negative content.
... Curiosity and Self-Awareness. Curiosity involves being open to experiences that facilitate learning and growth and tolerating uncertainty to explore interests in more depth (Silvia & Kashdan, 2009). How an individual appraises and responds to situations plays an essential role in determining their motivation to explore interests in more depth (Berlyne, 1954). ...
Article
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This article proposes an integrative model for the psychological resources of grit. The growing body of work in nursing on the topic of grit indicates considerable interest in achieving long-term goals, especially amidst uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic. Motivational behaviors are thought to influence engagement in continuing education in nursing, thereby improving clinical practice and patient outcomes. The model was informed by a comprehensive review of the literature. Sixteen attributes for acquiring and strengthening four psychological resources of grit were identified. Each attribute is discussed along with interrelationships and implications for professional nursing development. Given the complex demands placed on health professionals, this model is both timely and relevant for all nurse and education providers interested in enhancing personal characteristics that may mitigate against stress and build capabilities for goal achievement.
... Furthermore, there might be situations where the knowledge gap is too small to elicit curiosity, because people do not notice that they can gain more information (Loewenstein 1994). Summarizing these theoretical considerations suggests that people become curious when they discover an information gap or when they are confronted with a stimulus that they do not immediately understand (Litman 2005;Silvia and Kashdan 2009). Both examples follow Berlyne's idea that cognitive conflict and the perception of uncertainty are the common ground of curiosity stimulation (Berlyne 1967). ...
Article
This review offers a framework of consumers’ situational curiosity by integrating research investigating the different stages of stimulating, experiencing, and resolving curiosity. Following this process perspective and focusing on marketing-relevant situations, it first provides an overview of triggers that have been used to stimulate curiosity and illustrates the implementation of these triggers in empirical studies. Subsequently, it synthesizes the key processes that are initiated when consumers sustain in the state of being curious and when they (presumably) have resolved their curiosity. These processes are assigned to affective consequences, cognitive consequences, or a third category, which includes the outcome variables of evaluation, decision making, and behavior. This article helps researchers and practitioners alike to gain a better overview of this fragmented research area and identifies research gaps and open questions for future research. Finally, recommendations for practitioners are given of how to effectively use curiosity-triggering stimuli in their marketing communication.
... Merak kişinin çevresini tanımasında ve ortama uyum sağlamasında kullandığı bir özelliğidir ve bireysel farklılıklar göstermektedir (Silvia ve Kashdan 2009). Meraklı kişiler etrafımızda gerçekleşen bizce sıradan birçok şey hakkından derinlemesine araştırma isteği duyabilen kişilerdir. ...
Article
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ABSTRACT: In this study, the Science Curiosity in Learning Environments (SCILE) scale, which was developed by Weible and Zimmerman (2016) to measure the scientific curiosity of young students in learning environments such as school, home, museum and society, was adapted into Turkish and its validity and reliability study was conducted. For a language validity study, the scale was translated into Turkish by the language and field experts. The Turkish form was translated into English again by a language specialist, compared to the original structure, and the scale was finalized. The data were collected from 284 students studying at two different high schools in a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The data were analyzed by Exploratory Factor Analysis. The exploratory factor analysis results demonstrated that the Turkish questionnaire has a two-dimensional structure and ten items. Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient of the scale was found in ,799. As a result, it was concluded that the scale adapted to Turkish is a valid and reliable measurement tool that can be used to measure high school students' scientific curiosity in learning environments such as schoola, homes, museums, and society in Turkey.
... Research on situational interest showed that making a lesson more interesting can improve students' learning outcomes and students tend to perform better on learning materials that interest them (35). Furthermore, researchers studied how learners appraised the "interestingness" of learning materials, particularly textbased reading materials (36)(37)(38)(39). They found three components in the "interestingness" appraisal model: novelty, complexity, and coping potential. ...
Article
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Background: Ample research evidence has demonstrated that Community Health Worker (CHW) programs are a cost-effective, culturally integrated, and impactful way to improve community health. Although most existing CHW programs recruit adults as CHWs, high school students, with their intellectual readiness and intimate community knowledge, also have great potential to be engaged as CHWs that impact community health. With this potential in mind, the High School Community Health Worker Curriculum (HSCHW), for face-to-face training, was created in 2016 at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) as an innovative solution to improve community health in underserved, urban neighborhoods. Sixteen Metro Atlanta high school students participated in the program's first cohort. The face-to-face HSCHW training program received very positive feedback from the students and community partners involved. Additionally, during the inaugural training, the program received more than 150 nationwide inquiries about an opportunity to either participate in the program or replicate its curriculum. Hence, in 2018, a corresponding online curriculum was created to meet these needs. The online HSCHW curriculum covers the roles and competencies described in the CHW Core Consensus (C3) Project and focuses on developing high school students' critical thinking, decision-making, and communication skills. As of February 2021, 346 high school community health workers have participated in this online curriculum. Purpose: This paper reports on the research study of the critical processes and strategies of transforming, engaging, and implementing the online HSCHW curriculum. Method: The project team conducted the research study to identify the key strategies to transform the face-to-face HSCHW curriculum, the engagement strategies embedded in the online curriculum's content development, and, ultimately, the curriculum's outcomes. Altogether, this mixed-method study analyzed and reported on the learning outcomes of 265 students', in tandem with 17 high school students' focused-group interviews and responses to online surveys. Results: The results showed that integrating instructional design processes is critical for the online curriculum's success. “Interestingness,” the latent concept embedded in the online HSCHW curriculum, engages high school students in learning about complex CHW skills, through digital content and activities. Furthermore, the successful implementation of the program and its student learning outcomes was assured by integrating the online curriculum with local schools and community resources, training the local community and school “trainers” to facilitate the curriculum online, and providing ongoing coaching support from the program team. Impacts: This paper provides a research report on the key strategies and processes of creating and implementing an online CHW curriculum for high school students. Its findings will inform future endeavors to develop an online CHW curriculum for lifelong learners and increase training effectiveness. The online HSCHW curriculum increases the national capacity of community health workers, whose work will increase community engagement and health equity. The curriculum also empowers high school students to acquire health knowledge that can bridge the educational gap between health knowledge acquisition and health knowledge application. Additionally, the online HSCHW curriculum presents a concrete example of leveraging digital platforms to teach complex public health competencies to young adults who can positively impact community health.
... We do not aim to provide an exhaustive review of this voluminous literature on curiosity in these various domains of psychology. Several reviews (Grossnickle, 2016;Litman, 2019;Shin & Kim, 2019;Silvia & Kashdan, 2009) have already synthesized that literature, and we leverage these reviews to provide a definitional springboard and conceptual foundation for reviewing and discussing curiosity at work. ...
Article
This paper focuses on the emergent importance of curiosity at work for individuals and organizations by reviewing management research on curiosity at work. We start by leveraging prior reviews on early and contemporary foundations of the curiosity construct in the larger psychological literature, with a focus on definitional clarity, dimen-sionality, and differences with other constructs in its nomological network. Next, we review different streams of management research on curiosity at work (i.e., broad generative and nongenerative effects, curiosity as a catalyst for personal action, curiosity as a catalyst for interpersonal action, curiosity as a catalyst for leadership, curiosity as an organizational or professional norm, and curiosity as a catalyst for organizing). Inter-weaving these diverse literatures and research streams gives us the wherewithal to provide conceptual clarity to curiosity research and highlight how curiosity not only has generative effects at the individual level but also acts as a more dynamic, interpersonal, and organizational property. In addition, our review brings attention to the potential dark side of curiosity. We end by outlining how the more nuanced insights of the role of curiosity at work generated by our review provide an impetus for future research.
Article
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Research has shown that curiosity plays a crucial role in human performance and well-being. Based on multi-dimensional models of curiosity, we examined potential underlying mechanisms for this relationship. Extending prior research, we expected state and trait variants of curiosity to predict more challenge and less threat appraisals for novel tasks (i.e., joyous exploration dimension), stronger dissatisfaction when denied opportunities to do something interesting (i.e., deprivation sensitivity dimension), and persist longer under stress states (i.e., stress tolerance). We asked 123 participants to prepare and deliver a speech titled "Why are you a good friend?" After preparation, participants were informed that they were randomly selected not to perform the task. Throughout the experiment, we recorded heart rate reactivity as a physiological indicator of task engagement. We found that individuals curious about the upcoming task felt more challenged, less threatened, and presented longer physiological engagement than less curious individuals. Curious individuals expressed more disappointment about the missed opportunity to deliver the speech. In summary, this study revealed theoretically derived mechanisms that partially account for associations between curiosity and positive life outcomes while also indicating adverse effects.
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Curiosity is a concept studied particularly in psychology. Today, it is used by practitioners in marketing to support strategies of attractiveness, motivation, or to capture attention. This article proposes a multidisciplinary synthesis of this concept through a bibliometric analysis and a literature review. A conceptual framework is proposed for marketing researchers interested in curiosity, offering a new definition of the concept, its antecedents, and its effects. A research agenda prioritized by practitioners can serve as the basis for future work. Curiosity, traditionally explored in psychology, has found its place in marketing as a means for enhancing appeal, motivation, and attention. This article offers a comprehensive multidisciplinary overview of curiosity by combining bibliometric analysis and literature review. It introduces a new framework for marketing researchers interested in curiosity, presenting a fresh definition, its precursors, and outcomes. It also outlines a research agenda shaped by practitioners to guide future inquiries.
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The unbridled positivity toward curiosity and creativity may be excessive. Both aid species survival through exploration and advancement. These beneficial effects are well documented. What remains is to understand their optimal levels and contexts for maximal achievement, health, and well-being. Every beneficial element to individuals and groups carries the potential for harm – curiosity and creativity included.
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Résumé La curiosité est un concept particulièrement étudié en psychologie. Elle est aujourd’hui utilisée en marketing pour soutenir une stratégie d’attraction, de motivation ou de captation de l’attention par les praticiens. Cet article propose une synthèse multidisciplinaire sur ce concept à travers une analyse bibliométrique et une analyse bibliographique. Un cadre conceptuel est proposé pour les chercheurs en marketing s’intéressant à la curiosité en proposant une nouvelle définition du concept, de ses antécédents et de ses effets. Un agenda de recherche priorisé par les praticiens peut servir de base à de futurs travaux.
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Background: Research suggests that curiosity is associated with many positive variables and that these may be benefits of curiosity, but researchers have scarcely considered (a) which types of curiosity these potential benefits pertain to and (b) the potential drawbacks of curiosity. The present study examined the relationships of interestand deprivation-type curiosity with four potential benefits that previous research has linked to curiosity (higher happiness, problem-solving confidence, open-mindedness, and empathic listening skills) and two potential drawbacks (higher distractibility and indecisiveness). Method: Adults from the United Kingdom (N = 393) of diverse ages and socio-economic backgrounds completed an online questionnaire measuring dispositional interest- and deprivation-type curiosity, happiness, problemsolving confidence, open-mindedness, empathic listening skills, distractibility, and indecisiveness. Findings: As predicted, interest-curiosity was positively associated with all benefit variables, and surprisingly was negatively associated with both drawback variables. Deprivation-curiosity was positively associated with only one benefit variable (empathic listening) and one drawback variable (indecisiveness). Conclusion: Findings suggest that different curiosity types do not necessarily share the same potential benefits and drawbacks, and that interest-curiosity may be associated with more benefits than deprivation-curiosity. Future research should investigate the type-specificity of other potential benefits of curiosity, as well as investigate more potential drawbacks of curiosity.
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Participatory arts engagement is argued to afford an array of prosocial and positive well-being outcomes across the lifespan. However, young people may face barriers to engagement that hinder access to the arts’ putative benefits. We explored the barriers to participatory arts engagement that early adolescents report facing and the extent to which well-being levels are associated with the perception of such barriers. We also explored associations between adolescents’ individual differences in personality, curiosity, and well-being and their relative interest in different types of art activities. Participants completed questionnaires that measured their perceived barriers to engagement and their individual differences in personality, curiosity, and well-being. They also completed items measuring their interest in taking up a list of arts opportunities that varied in terms of affordance for solitary creativity, performing to an audience, or working with others in a group. Results showed key barriers to arts engagement to be related to motivation (whereby participants reported relatively low levels of desire and drive to engage) and feelings of capability. Critically, however, we found a relationship between participants’ interest in taking up particular arts opportunities and their patterns of personality and curiosity. Finally, our data revealed low well-being to be associated with reduced interest in arts activities involving performing to an audience and working with others. Taken together, our results speak to the potential relevance—if art engagement’s putative benefits are to be exploited—of tailoring arts opportunities to young people’s personalities and interests and of facilitating entry points for young people with poorer well-being.
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Prior work has identified a resilient phenomenon that threatens the performance of human-AI decision-making teams: overreliance, when people agree with an AI, even when it is incorrect. Surprisingly, overreliance does not reduce when the AI produces explanations for its predictions, compared to only providing predictions. Some have argued that overreliance results from cognitive biases or uncalibrated trust, attributing overreliance to an inevitability of human cognition. By contrast, our paper argues that people strategically choose whether or not to engage with an AI explanation, demonstrating empirically that there are scenarios where AI explanations reduce overreliance. To achieve this, we formalize this strategic choice in a cost-benefit framework, where the costs and benefits of engaging with the task are weighed against the costs and benefits of relying on the AI. We manipulate the costs and benefits in a maze task, where participants collaborate with a simulated AI to find the exit of a maze. Through 5 studies (N = 731), we find that costs such as task difficulty (Study 1), explanation difficulty (Study 2, 3), and benefits such as monetary compensation (Study 4) affect overreliance. Finally, Study 5 adapts the Cognitive Effort Discounting paradigm to quantify the utility of different explanations, providing further support for our framework. Our results suggest that some of the null effects found in literature could be due in part to the explanation not sufficiently reducing the costs of verifying the AI's prediction.
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Curiosity motivates human inquisitiveness, teaches us new things, and encourages us to be open to new forms of creativity. The probing nature of a curious mind is often believed to enhance an individual's ability to generate new ideas and enhance creativity. Based on Self-determination theory, we examine the effect of work curiosity on employee creativity. Further, we studied the mediating role of linking ideas between work curiosity and employee creativity. In this study, mindfulness acts as a moderating variable between work curiosity and employee creativity. To examine the direct effect and the mediation purpose was used model 4 and for moderation we used model 1 from Process Hayes. The results shows that there is positive association between work curiosity and employee creativity and linking ideas mediates the relation. Mindfulness moderates the relation between work curiosity and employee creativity. Future research implications are discussed.
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This review adopts the conceptual framework of awe laid out by Keltner and Haidt (2003) to explore the relationship between awe and nature. It does so from two perspectives: awe as a self-transcendent emotion and awe as an epistemic emotion. In short, nature is a frequent elicitor of awe, and awe in turn motivates the exploration and explanation of the natural environment. The many benefits of being in nature to health and well-being may be, at least in part, attributable to the experience of awe.
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Introduction: Despite broad consensus about multicultural experience's benefits, there is a lack of research on the antecedents to multicultural experiences. Research has indicated that awe shifts attention away from the self towards larger entities, which could include elements of other cultures. Methods: Four studies (N = 2,915) tested whether trait, daily, and induced awe promoted multicultural experience. Results: Studies 1-2 (adolescents, young, middle, and older adults) showed that trait awe predicted greater multicultural identity and experience independent of other positive emotions and openness. Study 3 (students & adults in U.S. & Malaysia) demonstrated that daily awe predicted more daily multicultural experience independent of yesterday's multicultural experience. These results were explained by trait and daily curiosity. Study 4 (adults) found that induction of awe increased state multicultural identity and experience via state curious emotions and then state curious personality. Conclusion: We found that experiencing more awe can be a tool for enhancing the multicultural experience. The discussion focuses on the implications for future research on awe and multicultural experiences.
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The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between moral orientation types and the level of acceptance. Besides, the issue was to identify value systems on which moral types are built and their role in structuring acceptance. In the third part of the study, we describe a presumable mech- anism, which might affect the relationship between moral orientation types and level of acceptance. Data were obtained from 370 participants. Results indicated, that high level of moral absolutism (Situationism, Absolutism) related to self-transcendence and conservation value systems, while high moral relativism was associated to – openness to change. Logistic regression detected, that conser- vation value system is the strongest predictor of orientation type. Other than that, results suggest, that psychological flexibility closely relates to basic value systems. Multiple hierarchical regression demonstrated the role of self-transcendence and openness to change as for psychological flexibility, as well as for unconditional self-acceptance. Path analysis indicated that psychological flexibility acted as partial mediator between basic value systems and unconditional self-acceptance. However, there was no connection between moral orientation type and acceptance. The theoretical implication of this study is to support a newer vision of moral psychology and to help to identify the basics and outcomes of moral orientation. The practical implication concerns to almost all therapeutic processes, which are oriented on growth of unconditional self-acceptance, and as such, it is important to consider every aspect of its constitutive.
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The aim of this research is to determine the effects of teaching the "Solar System and Beyond" unit with learning technique-based activities at stations enriched with science toys on the academic achievement, motivational strategies for learning, reflective thinking, curiosity and interest levels about space sciences, and their views on scientific toys. The study group of this research consists of 72 students studying at the 7th grade level in a public secondary school in Istanbul in the 2019-2020 academic year. Quantitative data collection tools used in this study are "Solar System and Beyond Achievement Test", "Motivational Strategies for Learning Scale", "Reflective Thinking Scale", "Space Sciences Curiosity and Interest Scale" and "Science Toys Opinion Scale". The qualitative data collection tool used in this study is interview data. The application lasted for 12 lesson. As a result of this study, the teaching of the "Solar System and Beyond" unit with learning technique-based activities at stations enriched with science toys; It has been found that secondary school seventh grade students have a positive effect on academic achievement, motivational strategies for learning, reflective thinking, curiosity and interest levels about space sciences, and their views on science toys. In addition to this, it was determined that the qualitative data supported the quantitative data.
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Curiosity is associated with a number of beneficial outcomes, such as greater life satisfaction, more work engagement and better academic performance. The connection between curiosity and beneficial outcomes supports the importance of examining whether it is possible to increase curiosity and to investigate what approaches may be effective in facilitating curiosity. This meta-analysis consolidated the effects of curiosity-enhancing interventions. Across 41 randomized controlled trials, with a total of 4,496 participants, interventions significantly increased curiosity. The weighted effect size was Hedges' g = 0.57 [0.44, 0.70]. These results indicated that interventions were effective across a variety of intervention principles used, with participants in various age groups, across various measures, and over different time periods. Interventions aiming to increase general curiosity showed larger effect sizes than interventions aiming to increase realm-specific curiosity. Interventions incorporating mystery or game playing had especially high effect sizes. Because higher levels of curiosity tend to be associated with various beneficial outcomes, the finding that across studies interventions are effective in increasing curiosity holds promise for future efforts to increase curiosity to bring about additional benefits.
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Epistemic curiosity—the desire for knowledge—is typically thought to benefit learning. In four preregistered studies, we show that interest curiosity, a facet of epistemic curiosity characterized by joyful exploration, is indeed associated with traits and abilities that benefit learning. These include general knowledge, intellectual humility, and discernment of the quality of information. In contrast, deprivation curiosity, a facet motivated by uncertainty reduction, is associated with errors and confusion. Individuals high in deprivation curiosity claim familiarity with new information (Studies 1 & 3) and made-up concepts (Studies 1, 2 & 4). They find meaning in “bullshit” (Studies 3 & 4), believe disinformation (Study 4), and lack intellectually humility (Studies 1, 3 and 4). We theorize that deprivation curiosity is characterized by an indiscriminate openness to information.
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The aim of the research was to examine the moderating role of search for meaning in the relationship between loneliness and presence of meaning. The authors hypothesized that loneliness would be negatively associated with presence of meaning and that with an increase in search for meaning this relationship would weaken. To test these predictions adults from Poland were invited to participate in three cross-sectional studies: one paper-and-pencil study (Study 1, N = 563) and two online studies (Study 2, N = 306; Study 2, N = 206). In Studies 1 and 2 the moderating effect of search for meaning manifested itself in the case of general loneliness, and in Study 3 in the case of each of the three domains of loneliness (i.e., social, romantic, and family). The studies add to the large body of research on the interpersonal sources of meaning in life and provide preliminary evidence of the moderating role of motivation to seek meaning in the relationship between loneliness and presence of meaning. The results suggest that actively striving to augment one's sense of meaning may prevent the loss of meaning as a result of subjectively perceived social isolation.
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The study investigates cross-cultural similarities and differences in the expression and interpretation of attraction and interpersonal intimacy. Nonverbal behaviors of American (North America; NUS = 170) and Ukrainian (Eastern Europe; NUA = 173) women were compared. Nonverbal behaviour was coded with respect to speech-related gestures, self-focused/other person focused touching behaviour, eye behaviour, facial expressions, and posture. The results showed that women’s choice is motivated by their intentions of (1) expressing attraction, interest, seduction, flirtatiousness, and excitement, (2) conveying submissiveness, little self-confidence, coyness, and embarrassment, (3) promoting small talk by greeting/parting rituals, (4) communicating self-disclosure/self-presentation. Although these intentions are similar in both cultures, the choice of nonverbal cues is different. These findings have implications for theorizing on cultural norms/gender stereotypes in a contemporary context of flirtation, courtship, and seduction.
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The aim of the study was to critically analyse teachers pedagogical approaches and how voice technology was used by students as a more knowledgeable other and the extent to which it affected students’ epistemic curiosity. Using an exploratory ethnographic approach, Amazon’s Echo Dot voice technology was studied in lessons at Hillview School. Data was collected through participant observation, informal interviews and recordings of students’ interactions with ‘Alexa’. Students asked questions to Alexa in large numbers. Alexa was asked 87 questions during two lessons suggesting that Alexa was a digital more knowledgeable other. Types of questions asked to Alexa, such as ‘Can fish see water?’, were epistemic questions and suggestive of epistemic curiosity. Teachers used the Echo Dots infrequently and in a limited number of ways. Teachers relied upon a pedagogical approach and talk oriented around performance which overlooked students’ learning talk. The answer to why students might not be curious was not found. However, evidence to understand how and why they might appear not curious was revealed. The study makes contributions to knowledge through the novel use of the Echo Dots to collect data and through a new data visualisation technique called ‘heatmaps’. The study contributes to knowledge by proposing three tentative notions that emerged inductively from the research: ‘performance-oriented talk’, ‘metricalisation’ and ‘regulativity’. The study aims to make a further contribution to knowledge by suggesting evidence of a ‘pedagogy of performance’. The study recommends ‘learning-oriented talk’ and development of Alexa ‘Skills’ as a way to disrupt the pedagogy of performance and as an area for further research.
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Creativity has many benefits, such as workplace performance and life satisfaction. Three studies extended a small body of work to examine whether awe was associated with creative personality, convergent creativity, and everyday creative behaviors (N = 1,844). Study 1 demonstrated that trait awe was associated with a more creative personality among adolescents and adults in the U.S., Iran, and Malaysia. Study 2 showed that trait awe was associated with an increased likelihood of solving the Duncker’s Candle Problem. Finally, Study 3 found that on days when participants felt more daily awe than they typically do, they reported having done more everyday creative activities. The effects of awe were independent of amusement (Studies 1–3) and Big Five personality (Study 3). Moreover, we found that daily curiosity explained the link between daily awe and daily creativity in Study 3. These results are the first to demonstrate a consistent link between awe and complementary measures of creativity. The discussion focuses on the limitations of the present work as well as implications of the present results for future research on awe and creativity.
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English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in Japan and across the world are often faced with the problem of how to engage their students. One potential control lever to increase student engagement is through stimulating curiosity & interest. This study analyzed Likert-scale questionnaire data from 285 students at an all boys high school in Japan. It first examined through principal components analysis how a construct developed by Smith (2019a), labelled 'Curiosity in English Studies' (CiES), could be parsimoniously separated from Yashima's (2009) construct of 'International Posture’ (IP), with which it had overlapping variance. CiES was reduced from ten scale items down to seven. Then, through multiple regression analyses, CiES and IP were analyzed to see how much of their respective variances could be attributed to dimensions of trait curiosity from an adapted version of Kashdan, Disabato, Goodman, & Mcknight’s (2020) multi-dimensional curiosity scale, the 5DCR, which for CiES was 23% and for IP 29%. In a final regression model IP & CiES were assessed as to how much explanatory variance they provided together to an ‘intended learning effort’ scale, for which just over a majority of the variance was accounted for at 51%. These relationships suggest that both the CiES and IP constructs can be useful conceptual tools for setting up the conditions in EFL classrooms for the growth and flourishing of student curiosity, interest and engagement. http://hdl.handle.net/2065/00080672
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Current treatments for chronic pain have limited benefit. We describe a resilience intervention for individuals with chronic pain which is based on a model of viewing chronic pain as dysregulated homeostasis and which seeks to restore homeostatic self-regulation using strategies exemplified by survivors of extreme environments. The intervention is expected to have broad effects on well-being and positive emotional health, to improve cognitive functions, and to reduce pain symptoms thus helping to transform the suffering of pain into self-growth. A total of 88 Veterans completed the pre-assessment and were randomly assigned to either the treatment intervention (n = 38) or control (n = 37). Fifty-eight Veterans completed pre- and post-testing (intervention n = 31, control = 27). The intervention covered resilience strengths organized into four modules: (1) engagement, (2) social relatedness, (3) transformation of pain and (4) building a good life. A broad set of standardized, well validated measures were used to assess three domains of functioning: health and well-being, symptoms, and cognitive functions. Two-way Analysis of Variance was used to detect group and time differences. Broadly, results indicated significant intervention and time effects across multiple domains: (1) Pain decreased in present severity [F(1, 56) = 5.02, p < 0.05, η²p = 0.08], total pain over six domains [F(1, 56) = 14.52, p < 0.01, η²p = 0.21], and pain interference [F(1, 56) = 6.82, p < 0.05, η²p = 0.11]; (2) Affect improved in pain-related negative affect [F(1, 56) = 7.44, p < 0.01, η²p = 0.12], fear [F(1, 56) = 7.70, p < 0.01, η²p = 0.12], and distress [F(1, 56) = 10.87, p < 0.01, η²p = 0.16]; (3) Well-being increased in pain mobility [F(1, 56) = 5.45, p < 0.05, η²p = 0.09], vitality [F(1, 56) = 4.54, p < 0.05, η²p = 0.07], and emotional well-being [F(1, 56) = 5.53, p < 0.05, η²p = 0.09] Mental health symptoms and the cognitive functioning domain did not reveal significant effects. This resilience intervention based on homeostatic self-regulation and survival strategies of survivors of extreme external environments may provide additional sociopsychobiological tools for treating individuals with chronic pain that may extend beyond treating pain symptoms to improving emotional well-being and self-growth. Clinical Trial Registration: Registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04693728).
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The extent to which titles influence aesthetic experiences was examined in 3 experiments. Participants viewed and rated illustrations and photographs on understanding and qualities of the aesthetic experience (e.g., enjoyment, interest). The presence and type of title were manipulated across conditions and experiments. Metaphorical titles led to greater aesthetic experiences than either no title or descriptive titles (the elaboration effect). The elaboration effect occurred regardless of whether participants believed the titles to be true or false. It also occurred for art-experienced participants, but only for representational and not abstract illustrations. Random titles lowered understanding but not aesthetic experiences. Overall, titles increased aesthetic experiences only when they contributed to rich and coherent representations.
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There has long been interest in describing emotional experience in terms of underlying dimensions, but traditionally only two dimensions, pleasantness and arousal, have been reliably found. The reasons for these findings are reviewed, and integrating this review with two recent theories of emotions (Roseman, 1984; Scherer, 1982), we propose eight cognitive appraisal dimensions to differentiate emotional experience. In an investigation of this model, subjects recalled past experiences associated with each of 15 emotions, and rated them along the proposed dimensions. Six orthogonal dimensions, pleasantness, anticipated effort, certainty, attentional activity, self-other responsibility/control, and situational control, were recovered, and the emotions varied systematically along each of these dimensions, indicating a strong relation between the appraisal of one’s circumstances and one’s emotional state. The patterns of appraisal for the different emotions, and the role of each of the dimensions in differentiating emotional experience are discussed.
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Since Berlyne's seminal research, the study of experimental aesthetics has examined interest as a response to art. The present research explores the implications of appraisal theories of emotion for the study of interest as an emotion relevant to aesthetics. Participants viewed pictures of modern experimental visual art and rated each picture for interest and for appraisals of complexity and comprehensibility. Multilevel modeling assessed the within-person effects of appraisals on interest. As predicted by appraisal theories, both appraisals significantly and strongly predicted interest at the within-person level. The within-person relationships were not moderated by individual-differences relevant to interest in art (e.g., trait curiosity). Theories of "aesthetic response" should capitalize on modern theories and findings in emotion psychology. In the decades following Berlyne's (1971, 1974) seminal research on "the new experimental aesthetics," a large literature has accumulated on people's subjec- tive reactions to art. Much of this research has been guided by Berlyne's theor- izing about the role of collative variables and arousal in determining the reward value of artistic stimuli. The collative-arousal theory of motivation that underlies Berlyne's research has proved surprisingly resilient, given that psychology has moved away from arousal models of reward and from the concept of "arousal" itself (e.g., Neiss, 1988). Modern research on experimental aesthetics still takes inspiration from Berlyne's ideas about how collative variables affect arousal, interest, and preference. The influence of the Berlyne tradition may be best seen in
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Art experts find art more interesting, particularly when it is abstract or complex. These findings are explored in light of a model of aesthetic emotions rooted in appraisal theories (Silvia, 2005b, 2005d). This model attributes emotional responses to art to cognitive appraisal processes (as opposed to collative motivation, prototypicality, or processing fluency). Two experiments examined whether art experts and novices differed in the appraisals that make art interesting. In Experiment 1, people with art training found complex pictures more interesting, and they appraised them as easier to understand. Using multilevel modeling, Experiment 2 explored whether art training involved a qualitative shift in the appraisals that cause interest. Within-person effects of appraisals on emotions were essentially independent of between-person differences in training. People high and low in training make the same emotional appraisals of art, but they reach different answers to the appraisal questions.
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How does personality influence the relationship between appraisals and emotions? Recent research suggests individual differences in appraisal structures: people may differ in an emotion's appraisal pattern. We explored individual differences in interest's appraisal structure, assessed as the within-person covariance of appraisals with interest. People viewed images of abstract visual art and provided ratings of interest and of interest's appraisals (novelty–complexity and coping potential) for each picture. A multilevel mixture model found two between-person classes that reflected distinct within-person appraisal styles. For people in the larger class (68%), the novelty–complexity appraisal had a stronger effect on interest; for people in the smaller class (32%), the coping potential appraisal had a stronger effect. People in the larger class were significantly higher in appetitive traits related to novelty seeking (e.g., sensation seeking, openness to experience, and trait curiosity), suggesting that the appraisal classes have substantive meaning. We conclude by discussing the value of within-person mixture models for the study of personality and appraisal.
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This article introduces some applications of multilevel modeling for research on art and creativity. Researchers often collect nested, hierarchical data— such as multiple assessments per person—but they typically ignore the nested data structure by averaging across a level of data. Multilevel modeling, also known as hierarchical linear modeling and random coefficient modeling, enables researchers to test old hypotheses more powerfully and to ask new research questions. After describing the logic of multilevel analysis, the article illustrates three practical uses of multilevel modeling: (1) estimating within-person relationships, (2) examining between-person differences in within-person processes, and (3) comparing people's judgments to a criterion. The breadth, flexibility, and power of multilevel modeling make it a useful analytic tool for the multilevel data that researchers have been collecting all along. Statistical methods can open new doors by enabling new kinds of hypotheses to be developed and tested. This article describes the usefulness of multilevel modeling—sometimes known as hierarchical linear modeling or random coeffi- cient modeling—for empirical research on art and creativity (Hox, 2002; Luke, 2004). Although it sounds exotic, multilevel modeling is a straightforward exten- sion of conventional regression analyses. Because it is more general, multilevel modeling enables researchers to test hypotheses that cannot be tested with conventional regression or ANOVA models.
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Individual differences related to emotions are typically represented as emotion traits. Although important, these descriptive models often do not address the psychological dynamics that underlie the trait. Appraisal theories of emotion assume that individual differences in emotions can be traced to differences in patterns of appraisal, but this hypothesis has largely gone untested. The present research explored whether individual differences in the emotion of interest, known as trait curiosity, consist of patterns of appraisal. After completing several measures of trait curiosity, participants read complex poems (Experiment 1) or viewed simple and complex pictures (Experiment 2) and then gave ratings of interest and interest's appraisal components. The effect of trait curiosity on interest was fully mediated by appraisals. Multilevel analyses suggested that curious people differ in the amount of appraisal rather than in the kinds of appraisals relevant to interest. Appraisal theories can offer a process-oriented explanation of emotion traits that bridges state and trait emotional experience.
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Pleasant experience appears to be less emotionally differentiated than unpleasant experience. For instance, theories of emotion typically posit the existence of six or seven unpleasant emotions but often posit only one or two pleasant emotions. The present study is an attempt to systematically examine the differentiation of pleasant emotional experience. Subjects were asked to recall pleasant experiences that were associated with particular situational appraisals—appraisals of effort, agency, and certainty were systematically manipulated—and to describe their appraisals and emotions during these experiences. The results indicated that positive emotions, and their associated appraisals, are somewhat less differentiated than negative emotions, but nonetheless provided evidence of considerable differentiation among six pleasantly toned emotions (interest, hope/confidence, challenge, tranquillity, playfulness, and love). Each of these latter emotions was experienced differentially across the appraisal conditions, and was characterised by a distinct pattern of appraisal.
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According to appraisal theory, emotions result from an individual's meaning analysis of the implications of his/her circumstances for personal well-being, and individual differences in emotion arise when individuals appraise similar situations differently. Relational models of appraisal attempt to describe the situational and dispositional antecedents of appraisals, and should allow one to predict such individual differences. In this article, we review three examples of our efforts toward developing relational appraisal models. In two, we start with a particular appraisal component, motivational relevance and problem-focused coping potential (Smith & Lazarus, 1990), respectively, and describe and test the relational model proposed for that component. In the third, as a precursor to developing a true relational model, we examine another appraisal component, emotion-focused coping potential, from a more dispositional perspective. We conclude by considering both the potential value of relational appraisal models, and future directions in the development of these models.
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The research presented in this article integrates 3 theoretical perspectives in the field of motivation: expectancy-value, achievement goals, and interest. The authors examined the antecedents (initial interest, achievement goals) and consequences (interest, performance) of task value judgments in 2 learning contexts: a college classroom and a high school sports camp. The pattern of findings was consistent across both learning contexts. Initial interest and mastery goals predicted subsequent interest, and task values mediated these relationships. Performance-approach goals and utility value predicted actual performance as indexed by final course grade (classroom) and coach ratings of performance (sports camp). Implications for theories of motivation are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Because coping with uncertainty is an important aspect of close relationships and is critical to issues of trust, the authors expected individual differences in uncertainty orientation to play a central role in shaping people's representations of their relationships. For a 3-week period, 77 couples completed a series of questionnaires and kept diaries on their interactions. As expected, certainty-oriented persons' need for cognitive closure resulted in either high or low trust for their partners, whereas uncertainty-oriented persons typically attained only a moderate level of trust. Several other measures indicated that certainty-oriented partners found their relationships most aversive under moderate trust. Memory data indicated that certainty-oriented individuals, but not uncertainty-oriented individuals, used conclusions about trust as a heuristic for reconstructing the past in ways that maintained cognitive clarity. Uncertainty orientation also combined with gender in many interesting ways. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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What makes something confusing? Confusion is a common response to challenging, abstract, and complex works, but it has received little attention in psychology. On the basis of appraisal theories of emotion, I suggest that confusion and interest have different positions in a 2-dimensional appraisal space: Interesting things stem from appraisals of high novelty and high comprehensibility, and confusing things stem from appraisals of high novelty and low comprehensibility. Two studies—a multilevel correlational study and an experiment that manipulated comprehensibility—found support for this appraisal model. Confusion and interest are thus close relatives in the family of knowledge emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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In this study, I investigated some of the cognitive and affective causes of interest and liking. In Experiment 1, 240 undergraduates read stories with endings that varied in the degree of surprise, outcome valence (i.e., goodness or badness of outcome), and incongruity resolution. The results did not support the hypothesis that degree of surprise per se causes interest (Schank, 1979). Instead, as suggested by Kintsch (1980), subjects rated high-surprise story endings as more interesting than low-surprise story endings for those conditions in which the postsurprise incongruity was resolved ( p 
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A developmental trajectory describes the course of a behavior over age or time. A group-based method for identifying distinctive groups of individual trajectories within the population and for profiling the characteristics of group members is demonstrated. Such clusters might include groups of "increasers," "decreasers," and "no changers." Suitably defined probability distributions are used to handle 3 data types—count, binary, and psychometric scale data. Four capabilities are demonstrated: (a) the capability to identify rather than assume distinctive groups of trajectories, (b) the capability to estimate the proportion of the population following each such trajectory group, (c) the capability to relate group membership probability to individual characteristics and circumstances, and (d) the capability to use the group membership probabilities for various other purposes such as creating profiles of group members. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Concreteness was investigated as a text feature that engaged readers' comprehension, interest, and learning in 4 text types: persuasion, exposition, literary stories, and narratives. Three concrete and 3 abstract texts were selected in each text type. Concrete and abstract titles served as recall cues and to investigate title concreteness effects. In 2 experiments, undergraduates read the texts and either provided written recalls or rated them for familiarity, concreteness, interestingness, and comprehensibility. Concrete texts were recalled better than abstract texts, although the magnitude of the advantage varied across text types. Concreteness was overwhelmingly the best predictor of overall comprehensibility, interest, and recall. Effects of title concreteness varied across text types. Results extend the findings of M. Sadoski, E. T. Goetz, and J. B. Fritz (see records 1993-36182-001 and 1993-32227-001) and are consistent with dual coding theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Research on curiosity has undergone 2 waves of intense activity. The 1st, in the 1960s, focused mainly on curiosity's psychological underpinnings. The 2nd, in the 1970s and 1980s, was characterized by attempts to measure curiosity and assess its dimensionality. This article reviews these contributions with a concentration on the 1st wave. It is argued that theoretical accounts of curiosity proposed during the 1st period fell short in 2 areas: They did not offer an adequate explanation for why people voluntarily seek out curiosity, and they failed to delineate situational determinants of curiosity. Furthermore, these accounts did not draw attention to, and thus did not explain, certain salient characteristics of curiosity: its intensity, transience, association with impulsivity, and tendency to disappoint when satisfied. A new account of curiosity is offered that attempts to address these shortcomings. The new account interprets curiosity as a form of cognitively induced deprivation that arises from the perception of a gap in knowledge or understanding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Multilevel modeling is a technique that has numerous potential applications for social and personality psychology. To help realize this potential, this article provides an introduction to multilevel modeling with an emphasis on some of its applications in social and personality psychology. This introduction includes a description of multilevel modeling, a rationale for this technique, and a discussion of applications of multilevel modeling in social and personality psychological research. Some of the subtleties of setting up multilevel analyses and interpreting results are presented, and software options are discussed.
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Within the last few years, researchers have shown a renewed interest in "interest". Especially in the field of educational psychology many studies have been conducted to analyze how learning and achievement are influenced by motivational and cognitive factors, which are connected with individual and/or situational interests. In this paper, results from empirical research will be presented besides theoretical considerations concerning the interest-construct. Interest has typically been studied as an independent variable. Dependent variables have been either some aspects of learning outcome (knowledge structure, academic achievement) or hypothetical mediators, which probably can be used to explain the interest effects (e.g., learning strategies, attention, emotional experiences). There is also a growing number of studies which try to explore the conditions of interest development within educational settings. Future lines of research will be discussed in light of the demands of educational theory and practice.
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This paper reviews research suggesting that interest and importance are separate constructs mediated by concreteness and mental imagery, especially in expository text or other genres where concreteness and importance often diverge. Important expository material can be relatively more interesting or less interesting. If important expository material is concrete it tends to be interesting and well recalled. If important expository material is abstract and not well linked to concrete elaboration or examples it tends to be less interesting and less well recalled. Concrete elaboration of abstract ideas tends to improve students' recall. There appears to be no harm in adding concrete detail to well structured, coherent text to promote interest unless enough is added so that a new text with a different coherence emerges. Making already concrete text more emotionally interesting may have little effect. Using a coherent text structure that adequately implies or signals importance and supporting important information with concrete explanation are key text design implications. Dual Coding Theory provides a systematic theoretical account of the findings in this area.
Conference Paper
The objective was to study the associations between participation in different types of mentally stimulating leisure activities and status as Alzheimer's disease (AD) case or normal control. Research suggests that participation in leisure activities, especially mentally stimulating activities, is associated with a lower risk for AD. However, no study has yet evaluated associations between AD and different types of mental leisure activities, especially those involving "novelty seeking." The authors used a case-control design to compare participation in activities across the life span in persons with AD and normal controls. Cases (n = 264) were recruited from clinical settings and from the community. Controls were drawn from 2 populations. Control group A members (n = 364) were the friends or neighbors of the cases or members of the same organizations to which the cases belonged. Control group B members (n = 181) were randomly drawn from the community. The 2 control groups did not differ in their responses to most activity questions, so they were combined. Factor analysis of activity questions identified 3 activity factors: (1) novelty seeking; (2) exchange of ideas; and (3) social. Logistic regression analysis indicated that, adjusting for control variables, greater participation in novelty-seeking and exchange-of-ideas activities was significantly associated with decreased odds of AD. The odds of AD were lower among those who more often participated in activities involving exchange of ideas and were lower yet for those who more frequently participated in novelty-seeking activities. We conclude that participation in a variety of mental activities across the life span may lower one's chances of developing AD.
Book
Some investigators have argued that emotions, especially animal emotions, are illusory concepts outside the realm of scientific inquiry. With advances in neurobiology and neuroscience, however, researchers are proving this position wrong while moving closer to understanding the biology and psychology of emotion. In Affective Neuroscience, Jaak Panksepp argues that emotional systems in humans, as well as other animals, are necessarily combinations of innate and learned tendencies; there are no routine and credible ways to really separate the influences of nature and nurture in the control of behavior. The book shows how to move toward a new understanding by taking a psychobiological approach to the subject, examining how the neurobiology and neurochemistry of the mammalian brain shape the psychological experience of emotion. It includes chapters on sleep and arousal, pleasure and pain systems, the sources of rage and anger, and the neural control of sexuality. The book will appeal to researchers and professors in the field of emotion.
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A theoretical framework is outlined in which the key construct is the need for(nonspecific) cognitive closure. The need for closure is a desire for definite knowledge on some issue. It represents a dimension of stable individual differences as well as a situationally evocable state. The need for closure has widely ramifying consequences for social-cognitive phenomena at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and group levels of analysis. Those consequences derive from 2 general tendencies, those of urgency and permanence. The urgency tendency represents an individual's inclination to attain closure as soon as possible, and the permanence tendency represents an individual's inclination to maintain it for as long as possible. Empirical evidence for present theory attests to diverse need for closure effects on fundamental social psychological phenomena, including impression formation, stereotyping, attribution, persuasion, group decision making, and language use in intergroup contexts.
Book
Psychologists have always been intrigued in interest, and modern research on interest can be found in nearly every area of the field: researchers studying emotions, cognition, development, education, aesthetics, personality, motivation, and vocations have developed intriguing ideas about what interest is and how it works. This book presents an integrated picture of how interest has been studied in all of the wide-ranging areas of psychology. Using modern theories of cognition and emotion as an integrative framework, it examines the nature of interest, what makes things interesting, the role of interest in personality, and the development of people's idiosyncratic interests, hobbies, and avocations. The examination reveals deep similarities between seemingly different fields of psychology and illustrates the profound importance of interest, curiosity, and intrinsic motivation for understanding why people do what they do. A comprehensive work devoted to interest, this book reviews the history of psychological thought on interest, presents classic and modern research, and suggests fruitful directions for future work.
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Three feature articles from popular magazines were read by 54 college students. Each article was rated by paragraph according to the degree of mental imagery evoked, the degree of affect evoked, or the degree of importance to the article as a whole, in a methodology comparable to that used by Sadoski, Goetz, and Kangiser (1988). Sixteen days later, readers were given a surprise recall task in which they were asked to write recalls of the most memorable parts of the texts (titles were used as cues). The structure of reader response and relations between imagery, affect, and importance in feature journalism were found to be different from those found previously for stories, although imagery and affect were persistently and significantly correlated as with stories. Imagery ratings, affect ratings, and paragraph length were significant overall predictors for long-term paragraph recall, whereas importance was not. Imagery was consistently the highest rating for the six most frequently recalled paragraphs, closely followed by affect. Students spontaneously mentioned affect as the predominant subjective reason for their recall. The authors interpret these findings as suggesting that readers may be more likely to remember content that is subjectively important (reflected in imagery and affect ratings) than content viewed as objectively important (reflected in importance ratings). /// [French] Trois articles de faits divers extraits de magasines populaires ont été lus par 54 étudiants de niveau collégial. En appliquant la méthode de Sadoski, Goetz et Kangiser (1988), chaque paragraphe de chacun des articles ont été cotés selon le degré d'imagerie mentale évoquée, le degré d'affectivité suscitée ou le degré d'importance par rapport à l'ensemble du texte. Seize jours plus tard, sans que les lecteurs ne s'y attendent, on leur demanda de produire un rappel des éléments les plus importants du texte en s'appuyant sur les titres comme indices. Les relations entre la structure des rappels, le degré d'imagerie, le degré d'affectivité et l'importance relative sont apparues différentes pour les faits divers que pour les récits bien que l'on ait retrouvé, comme dans les récits, des corrélations significatives entre les rappels, le degré d'imagerie et le degré d'émotion. Le degré d'imagerie et d'émotion ainsi que la longueur des paragraphes sont ressortis comme de bons prédicteurs de la mémoire à long terme mais pas l'importance relative des informations. Le facteur imagerie obtint les coefficients les plus élevés pour les six paragraphes les mieux rappelés, suivi de près par le facteur émotion. Spontanément, les étudiants ont identifié le facteur affectivité comme le facteur subjectif le plus important pour le rappel. Dans la discussion, les auteurs élaborent sur le rôle de l'imagerie, de l'affectivité et de l'importance relative sur le rappel de textes informatifs. /// [Spanish] Tres artículos centrales de revistas populares fueron leídos por 54 estudiantes universitarios. Cada artículo fue calificado por párrafo: de acuerdo al grado de imaginación mental evocado, el grado de emoción evocada, o el grado de importancia asignado al artículo en general; en una metodología comparable a la de Sadoski, Goetz, y Kangiser (1988). Despues de 16 días, se les dió a los lectores una tarea de reconocimiento, administrada por sorpresa, en la que se les pidió que escribieran lo que recordaban de las partes más memorables de los textos (se usaron los títulos como claves de recuperación). Se encontró que la estructura de la respuesta del lector y las relaciones entre imaginación, emoción e importancia en los artículos periodísticos era diferente a los encontrados en historias; aún cuando se encontró que la imaginación y la emoción estaban correlacionadas significativamente al igual que en las historias. Se encontró que las calificaciones de imaginación y emoción, y la longitud del párrafo fueron predictores generales de una manera significativa para el recuerdo de los párrafos a largo plazo; mientras que la importancia no fue significativa. La imaginación obtuvo consistentemente las calificaciones más altas como responsable de los seis párrafos mas frecuentemente recordados, seguida muy cercanamente de la emoción. Los estudiantes mencionaron de una manera espontánea, la emoción como la razón subjetiva predominante para su recuerdo. Se discute el papel que juegan la imaginación, la emoción y la importancia en la manera en que afectan las calificaciones de los textos expositorios y el recuerdo de esos textos. /// [German] Drei besondere Textbeiträge aus populären Zeitschriften wurden von 54 Studenten gelesen. Jeder Beitrag wurde Abschnitt für Abschnitt ausgewertet und entsprechend einer der folgenden Kriterien eingestuft: Grad der hervorgerufenen geistigen Bilder, Grad des hervorgerufenen Affekts und Grad der Wichtigkeit des Abschnitts zum gesamten Beitrag. Diese Einstufung entspricht methodologisch der von Sadoski, Goetz und Kangiser (1988). Sechzehn Tage später wurde den Lesern eine überraschende Nacherzählungsaufgabe gegeben, wobei sie gebeten wurden, Nacherzählungen von den bedeutendsten Teilen der Texte zu schreiben (Titel wurden als Hilfestellung gegeben). Es stellte sich dabei heraus, daß die Struktur der Leserreaktionen und die Beziehungen zwischen geistigen Bildern, Affekt und Wichtigkeit bei diesen journalistischen Sonderbeiträgen sich von denen bei Geschichten unterschieden, obwohl geistige Bilder und Affekt nachhaltig und statistisch erheblich mit denen von Geschichten übereinstimmten. Gleichzeitig erwies sich, daß die Einstufungen für die geistigen Bilder, die Affekteinstufungen und die Länge der Abschnitte insgesamt bedeutende Vorhersagen in bezug auf langfristig versetzte Nacherzählungen der Abschnitte machen konnten, wobei Wichtigkeit jedoch nichts vorhersagen konnte. Der Faktor geistige Bilder zeigte fortlaufend die höchste Einstufung für die sechs Abschnitte, die von den meisten nacherzählt wurden, wobei die Einstufung des Affekts nur wesentlich geringer war. Die Studenten gaben spontan an, daß Affekt der ausschlaggebende subjektive Grund für die Nacherzählung gewesen war. Die abschließende Diskussion befaßt sich u. a. damit, auf welche Weise die Rollen von geistigen Bildern, Affekt und Wichtigkeit die Einstufungen der Erörterungstexte und die Erinnerung an diese Texte beeinflussen.
Article
Building on and extending existing research, this article proposes a 4-phase model of interest development. The model describes 4 phases in the development and deepening of learner interest: triggered situational interest, maintained situational interest, emerging (less-developed) individual interest, and well-developed individual interest. Affective as well as cognitive factors are considered. Educational implications of the proposed model are identified.
Article
Cognitive aging is often characterized as a process in which two competing forces determine individual development: a genetically driven senescence process that engenders declines in mental mechanics; and an accumulation of life experience that augments cultural, pragmatic, and knowledge-based competence. The considerable variability in the level and rate of change in complex intellectual activities (e.g., language understanding) is often accounted for in terms of individual differences in abilities associated with these forces. I argue that choice in how effort is allocated may be an essential determinant of cognitive change over the life span—both directly, in the form of attentional engagement, and indirectly, as it sculpts neural substrates that give rise to component abilities.
Article
We examined the roles of curiosity, social anxiety, and positive affect (PA) and neg- ative affect (NA) in the development of interpersonal closeness. A reciprocal self-disclosure task was used wherein participants and trained confederates asked and answered questions escalating in personal and emotional depth (mimicking closeness-development). Relationships between curiosity and relationship out- comes were examined using regression analyses. Controlling for trait measures of social anxiety, PA, and NA, trait curiosity predicted greater partner ratings of attrac- tion and closeness. Social anxiety moderated the relationship between trait curios- ity and self-ratings of attraction such that curiosity was associated with greater attraction among those low in social anxiety compared to those high in social anxi- ety. In contrast, trait PA was related to greater self-ratings of attraction but had no relationship with partners' ratings. Trait curiosity predicted positive relationship outcomes as a function of state curiosity generated during the interaction, even after controlling for state PA.
Article
We investigated the relationship between various character strengths and life satisfaction among 5,299 adults from three Internet samples using the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths. Consistently and robustly associated with life satisfaction were hope, zest, gratitude, love, and curiosity. Only weakly associated with life satisfaction, in contrast, were modesty and the intellectual strengths of appreciation of beauty, creativity, judgment, and love of learning. In general, the relationship between character strengths and life satisfaction was monotonic, indicating that excess on any one character strength does not diminish life satisfaction.
Article
Includes 14 papers which review and present new findings on reactions to art and the psychological processes which operate in aesthetic appreciation. Topics include verbal and exploratory responses to visual and auditory patterns varying in uncertainty level; the measurement of novelty, complexity, and interestingness; hedonic tone and reward value of exposure to paintings; and correlates of humor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
AN ATTEMPT TO ARRIVE AT A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF REINFORCEMENT BY STUDYING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AROUSAL AND REINFORCEMENT. EFFECTS OF AROUSAL LEVEL AND THE INTERACTION OF AROUSAL LEVEL AND AROUSAL POTENTIAL ARE DISCUSSED USING FINDINGS FROM HUMAN AND ANIMAL, VERBAL LEARNING, AND NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL STUDIES. PSYCHOPHYSICAL, ECOLOGICAL, AND COLLATIVE STIMULUS PROPERTIES ARE FOUND TO "AFFECT REWARD VALUE AND, MORE GENERALLY, REINFORCEMENT VALUE IN SIMILAR WAYS." AROUSAL REDUCTION IS REJECTED AS NECESSARY FOR PRODUCING REINFORCEMENT. (322 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
The topics that are to be treated in this book were unduly neglected by psychology for many years but are now beginning to come to the fore. My own researches into attention and exploratory behavior began in 1947, and at about the same time several other psychologists became independently impressed with the importance of these matters and started to study them experimentally. It is interesting that those were also the years when information theory was making its appearance and when the reticular formation of the brain stem was first attracting the notice of neurophysiologists. During the last ten years, the tempo of research into exploratory behavior and related phenomena has been steadily quickening. The book is prompted by the feeling that it is now time to pause and take stock: to review relevant data contributed by several different specialties, to consider what conclusions, whether firm or tentative, are justified at the present juncture, and to clarify what remains to be done. The primary aim of the book is, in fact, to raise problems. The book is intended as a contribution to behavior theory, i.e., to psychology conceived as a branch of science with the circumscribed objective of explaining and predicting behavior. But interest in attention and exploratory behavior and in other topics indissociably bound up with them, such as art, humor and thinking, has by no means been confined to professional psychologists. The book has two features that would have surprised me when I first set out to plan it. One is that it ends up sketching a highly modified form of drive-reduction theory. Drive-reduction theory has appeared more and more to be full of shortcomings, even for the phenomena that it was originally designed to handle. The second surprising feature is the prominence of neurophysiology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Despite their interest in why people do what they do, psychologists typically overlook interest itself as a facet of human motivation and emotion. In recent years, however, researchers from diverse areas of psychology have turned their attention to the role of interest in learning, motivation, and development. This article reviews the emerging body of work on the psychology of interest, with an emphasis on what contemporary emotion research has learned about the subject. After considering four central questions—Is interest like other emotions? What functions does interest serve? What makes something interesting? Is interest merely another label for happiness?—the article considers unanswered questions and fruitful applications. Given interest's central role in cultivating knowledge and expertise, psychologists should apply research on interest to practical problems of learning, education, and motivation.
Article
In recent years, there has been a growing interest among researchers in the use of latent class and growth mixture modeling techniques for applications in the social and psychological sciences, in part due to advances in and availability of computer software designed for this purpose (e.g., Mplus and SAS Proc Traj). Latent growth modeling approaches, such as latent class growth analysis (LCGA) and growth mixture modeling (GMM), have been increasingly recognized for their usefulness for identifying homogeneous subpopulations within the larger heterogeneous population and for the identification of meaningful groups or classes of individuals. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of LCGA and GMM, compare the different techniques of latent growth modeling, discuss current debates and issues, and provide readers with a practical guide for conducting LCGA and GMM using the Mplus software.
Article
This paper reviews theoretical and empirical research on situational interest. A distinction is made between situational and personal interest. The former is spontaneous and context-specific, whereas the latter is enduring and context-general. We summarize historical perspectives and recent empirical findings on situational interest. Five emergent themes are identified that focus on relationships among situational interest, information processing, and affective engagement. We also discuss important topics for future research.
Article
This study examined curiosity as a mechanism for achieving and maintaining high levels of well-being and meaning in life. Of primary interest was whether people high in trait curiosity derive greater well-being on days when they are more curious. We also tested whether trait and daily curiosity led to greater, sustainable well-being. Predictions were tested using trait measures and 21 daily diary reports from 97 college students. We found that on days when they are more curious, people high in trait curiosity reported more frequent growth-oriented behaviors, and greater presence of meaning, search for meaning, and life satisfaction. Greater trait curiosity and greater curiosity on a given day also predicted greater persistence of meaning in life from one day into the next. People with greater trait curiosity reported more frequent hedonistic events but they were associated with less pleasure compared to the experiences of people with less trait curiosity. The benefits of hedonistic events did not last beyond the day of their occurrence. As evidence of construct specificity, curiosity effects were not attributable to Big Five personality traits or daily positive or negative mood. Our results provide support for curiosity as an ingredient in the development of well-being and meaning in life. The pattern of findings casts doubt on some distinctions drawn between eudaimonia and hedonic well-being traditions.
Article
After a brief historical overview of how interest and its role in learning had been conceptualized, the focus of the paper shifts to the specific relationship between interest and reading. The issues considered are the effect of interest on readers' comprehension and learning, the variables that determine readers' interests, and the specific processes such as attention that may mediate the effect of interest on learning. It is suggested that to allow researchers a better understanding of the mediating variables, dynamic measures of interest are needed in addition to the more traditional self-reports and questionnaires. In the final section of the paper the author discusses the importance of utilizing students' interest in classrooms.
Article
Research has found that interest is related to attention, deeper processing, the use of effortful strategies, feelings of enjoyment, and learning. However, some strategies for creating interest in text materials may interfere with the learning of important information. In this paper, I describe results of a study that used qualitative verbal report measures to identify text characteristics that are most positively and most negatively associated with interest, as well as quantitative measures to investigate how those characteristics are related to learning. Results have implications for curriculum development by contributing to our understanding of how writers of informational text can make important information interesting. The paper concludes with suggestions for pedagogical practice and for future research that may further our understanding of interest and how it might be enhanced in classrooms.
Article
We examined the roles of trait curiosity and social anxiety (and the contributions of the behavioral inhibition and activation systems; BIS, BAS) in predicting positive and negative affect (PA; NA) during social interactions. In Study 1, individuals interacted with same-sex confederates on topics that gradually escalated in emotional self-disclosure. In Study 2, cross-sex pairs of students were randomly assigned to a closeness-generating or small-talk interaction. There were several consistent findings across studies. Higher curiosity uniquely predicted greater interpersonally generated PA. Higher social anxiety uniquely predicted greater interpersonally generated NA in Study 1, and in Study 2, this relationship varied by social context. Specifically, high compared to low socially anxious individuals reported greater NA during small-talk, with no differences during intimate interactions. Furthermore, Study 2 demonstrated that individuals with stronger BAS’s experienced greater PA in the intimate compared to small-talk condition. There appear to be important traits that differentially contribute to appetitive and aversive interpersonal experiences.