What kind of curious are you?

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” — Albert Einstein

Much to my mother’s disappointment, “mamma” was not the first (nor second) word out of my mouth as a baby.? Instead I started pointing at everything in sight, demanding answers to two essential questions:? “whazzat?” and “why?”?

What is that? Why is that? Why not something else? These questions are not idle, but rather hardwired into the fabric of my identity.?

Two common themes of "O-Type " humans are Connection and Curiosity. We master complexity by connecting dots and synthesizing diverse information. We’re also relentlessly curious, which provides ample fodder for all those dots that we love to connect. Curious connectors make ideal employees for businesses that prioritize innovation, adaptation and resilience… or they leave to start their own disruptive shows. ?

So this week, let’s get curious about curiosity.?

• What is curiosity??
• Are curious people born or developed?
• What kind of curious are you??

What is curiosity??

Curiosity is commonly defined as having a strong desire to learn or know something. Philosopher and psychologist William James called curiosity “the impulse towards better cognition,” which starts in infancy (what’s that shiny thing?) and evolves to more intellectual strata over time.

George Loewenstein goes further, defining curiosity as “a cognitive induced deprivation that arises from the perception of a gap in knowledge and understanding.” This information gap theory says that curiosity is just like hunger or thirst -- the bigger the gap, the more intensely we feel it.?

Curiosity is an intrinsic motivator; the urge to learn or explore something can’t be bribed. And, as we’ll see later in this article, curiosity is a critical way of getting a range of other intrinsic needs met.?

Are curious people born or developed??

With a spectrum ranging from couch potatoes to Amelia Earhart and Nikola Tesla, it’s clear that curiosity isn’t distributed equally among humans. But why not? We’re all born curious. Infants must learn a massive amount about the world, fast, in order to survive and develop into functioning adults. ?

Curiosity taps the same neural pathways as other addictive pleasures like chocolate, sex or doom-scrolling. It’s all about the dopamine, baby! When we satisfy our cravings, including the craving for novelty or knowledge, we get a dose of this ooh-yeah brain crack.?

Neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp coined the term “seeking system” to describe this eager drive that fuels the growth and evolution of most intelligent life on earth. ?

So yes, we’re all curious… but intensity varies thanks to both nature and nurture.?

Born this way

Studies have shown that even infants show different levels of curiosity: “At age three, the babies who had reacted with the most curiosity were the ones most likely to be rated by their parents as information-seeking and problem-solving.”*?

Some of us have lower-than-average levels of dopamine, so we feel the curiosity gap more intensely. The need for dopamine drives riskier behavior, relentless quests for novelty, or the insatiable hunger to learn.

There's also a genetic component. Researchers have repeatedly tied the variant of a gene linked to dopamine, known as DRD4-7R, to curiosity and restlessness. About 20% of humans have this variant, including nomadic tribes.*?

People with ADD and ADHD have lower levels of dopamine and are more likely to have this particular genetic variant. We’re literally wired to explore: hunters in a farmers' world.?

But also nurtured

Brains get better and faster at whatever we do repeatedly, strengthening or even forming entirely new neural pathways. So when we indulge in following our curiosity and are rewarded by those delicious dopamine hits, we’re motivated to do it again… which then strengthens those neural pathways some more.?

Eventually we become habituated to easy risks, novelty and boundary-pushing, so we level up. Do more of it. Get rewarded for it. And the cycle continues.?

That means two things: first, those of us who are genetically wired to be curious from infancy are now masters at everything that’s bundled in the curiosity package: learning, innovating, risk-taking, dealing with change. Basically everything that’s needed in today’s highly VUCA environment.?

And it also means that curiosity can be developed. It must be developed for our very survival. No more resting on "this is how we've always done things."?

What kind of curious are you??

Curiosity doesn’t show up the same way for everyone.

As I’ve written about before, we all share common human needs — like Security, Belonging, Growth, Purpose, etc. — but we each prioritize them differently. Your top 3 - 4 needs strongly influence your behavior and choices, even subconsciously. They’re the gateway to truly knowing yourself, and designing life and work to fit you like a well-tailored suit.?

As I dug into the research on curiosity, I discovered linkages to 8 of the 13 core needs that I’ve identified in the past 3 decades of researching human behavior.? So voila — a unified view of the different “flavors” of curiosity (a perfect example of an O-Type skill!)

Most research links curiosity to:

• Knowledge, also called Epistemic curiosity
• Novelty, aka Diversive curiosity
• Connection or Belonging, also called Empathetic curiosity
• Aesthetics, or Perceptual curiosity (what you can perceive with your senses).?

I identified another four by tapping my own prior research and finding evidence to support the linkage with curiosity:?

• Control or Mastery?
• Security
• Autonomy?
• Self-actualization

This newsletter is long enough, so I’ll dive more deeply into each of these next week. But in the meantime, I hope this sparks enough curiosity to start thinking about how curiosity shows up for you. For me, curiosity is primarily in service of Aesthetics (I love wandering an unfamiliar place with my camera!), Knowledge and Actualization.

What about you? Share your insights or questions in the comments!?

PS. These core needs are the foundation of the Touchstone coaching program designed to help O-Types gain clarity of self and and intentionally design a future that fits. DM me for details or visit https://www.begroundbreaking.co/design .

Sources

James W. Talks to Teachers on Psychology: And to Students on Some of Life’s Ideals. New York: Henry Holt & Company; 1899.

Loewenstein G. The Psychology of Curiosity: A Review and Reintrepretation. Psychological Bulletin. 1994;116(1):75–98.

An Evolutionary Framework to Understand Foraging, Wanting, and Desire: The Neuropsychology of the SEEKING System Jason S. Wright & Jaak Panksepp (Pullman, WA)

The most curious babies become the most curious toddlers, Johns Hopkins, June 28 2021

Restless Genes, National Geographic, January 2013

Why are some people more curious than others? BigThink, Neuropsych, Dec 31, 2021

My article in Fast Company on need states: https://www.fastcompany.com/90625883/the-2-emotional-states-that-can-help-boost-productivity-and-self-awareness?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss