Dimensions, Measures, and Contexts in Psychological Investigations of Curiosity: A Scoping Review

Abstract

The study of curiosity as a construct has led to many conceptualisations, comprising of different dimensions. Due to this, various scales of curiosity have also been developed. Moreover, some researchers have conceived of curiosity as a general trait-like, while others have included contexts, such as the workplace, or education when investigating curiosity. This scoping review aims to scope the extant psychological literature on curiosity in order to better understand how it has been studied, specifically with regard to its dimensions, measures, and contexts. A total of 1194 records were identified, with 245 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. Results suggest that the majority of curiosity research examined curiosity as having multiple dimensions and analysed the dimensions individually, with a deprivation-type curiosity playing the biggest role. The measure most commonly used was the Epistemic Curiosity Scale, which also consisted of a deprivation-type curiosity as one of the dimensions. Findings also implied that curiosity was most studied in the context of the workplace. Supplementary findings included a lack of representation of non-Western countries, as well as needing to cross-validate a recently developed curiosity scale. This scoping review represents a consolidation of the curiosity literature and how it can further prosper.

Validation of the I- and D-type Epistemic Curiosity scale among Young Chinese Children and Implications on Early Curiosity Nurture

“…The validation of the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory-II with a sample of Chinese university students did not support the original two-factor structure, but instead suggested that the instrument had a single-factor structure (Ye et al, 2015). Given the emphasis on collectivism and stress tolerance in Chinese culture (Yow et al, 2022), Chinese children may face more pressure to come out of their comfort zone to become curious and insist guring out their confusions. So they may tend to ask fewer questions and prefer independent exploration.…”

“…Curiosity is the innate and universal desire to seek out new information and experiences to close a gap in knowledge (Jirout et al, 2022;Jirout & Klahr, 2012), and it is considered by psychologists, philosophers, and physicists to be a vital aspect of personality (Yow et al, 2022;Zurn & Bassett, 2018). De ned as an adaptive attraction to novel stimulus which facilitated survival (Spielberger & Reheiser, 2009), curiosity also helped people cope with potential risks by accumulating novel experience with non-instant feedback and was believed to enhance well-being(Lydon-Staley et al, 2020).…”

Development and Validation of the Curiosity of Climate Changes Scale

“…Also from a psychological perspective curiosity is an intriguing phenomenon because individuals are intrinsically interested in issues which are very important not only for them but also for future generations. 16 , 17 Curiosity is an intrinsic need to seek out new information and sensory experiences. It motivates exploratory behaviour.…”