5 types of curiosity and their characteristics

Before addressing the types of curiosity, it is advisable to define curiosity and identify the benefits it can have in your life.

We understand curiosity as the desire or willingness to recognize and seek new information and experience, including an intrinsic interest in learning and developing one’s knowledge (Kashdan et al., 2013). We can say that It is a natural interest in something that, by capturing our attention, attracts us and moves us towards it. It is the impulse that brings us closer to the unknown.

A curious person, according to Maw and Maw (as cited in Bernal and Román, 2016), is characterized by:

React positively to novel stimuli, approaching them, observing them and manipulating them. Express the desire to know more about oneself or one’s environment. Examine one’s environment in search of new experiences. Persist in the examination and exploration of stimuli, with the purpose of knowing more about them.

The curious person opens up to the world, its possibilities and its experiences.. She is a constant seeker of answers that bring her closer to the object or situation that stimulates her curiosity. She is active, and a born explorer of life.

Benefits of curiosity

Kashdan (2009), a student of curiosity, states that it can benefit people on different fronts. Thus, it would help us:

Reduce the risk of diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, and can even help reverse some of the natural degeneration that occurs. Obtain better grades and scores on achievement tests in school. In the classroom it is a predictor of students’ willingness to transfer learned knowledge to long-term interests and careers.Guarantee the continuous construction of a full life. Curiosity makes people more immersed in the present, feeling that their lives are imbued with meaning.Improve social interactions and intimacy.Reduce interpersonal aggression.

The 5 types of curiosity

Kashdan et al. (2018) managed to distinguish five dimensions or types of curiosity:

1. Joyful exploration

We tend to feel this type of curiosity when we become interested in search for new information or build new knowledge, motivated by joy and the desire to learn.

Joyful exploration is the classic conception we have of curiosity. You can demonstrate it when, for example, you want to know why an airplane can fly or why a ship does not sink in the sea.

If this form of curiosity predominates in your life, you are a person who is always motivated to learn, to know how things work and to know the reason for some events. You approach knowledge with passion and you like to find answers to those questions that pique your curiosity.

2. Sensitivity to lack

This type of curiosity is similar to the previous one, the difference is that You are not motivated from joy and joy, but from tension, stress or anxiety.

If you identify with this curiosity then you like to reflect, solve complex problems and reduce the knowledge gap. You seek relief from the tensions generated by the problematic situation through the investigation of new solutions.

3. Stress tolerance

This form of curiosity manifests itself when you are willing to accept the doubt, confusion, anxiety, and other forms of distress you feel when exploring new events.

Stress tolerance helps you cope with negative events in your life and to think about what lies beyond those emotions and changes that you are having. It moves you to seek answers, to open yourself to that experience and to bravely resist stressful situations.

4. Social curiosity

You feel the desire to know other people’s lives through the media, social networks, entertainment magazines, etc. You want to know what they think or what they do, the lifestyle they lead or the reasons that lead them to behave in a certain way.

With technological advancement, globalization and easy access to sources of information, it is increasingly easier to learn about people’s lives, especially those of celebrities. Social networks are the perfect window to peer into other lives and satisfy our social curiosity.

5. Thrill Seeking

This type of curiosity is what takes you to seek new experiences, regardless of the physical, social or financial risk. If you are a thrill seeker, you probably love extreme sports or traveling to unknown places in search of adventure. Fear or adrenaline are not a problem on your expeditions nor an impediment to enjoying such experiences.

Now that you know the types of curiosity, which one characterizes your life the most and which one characterizes your life the least? In what type of context do you think each one predominates? Do you like your typical way of being curious?

If you notice that there is a type of curiosity that you hardly experience, you can consider stimulating it in the situation that best suits it, paying attention to how it makes you feel. Remember that we are all curious and that we can be curious in different ways in different contexts..

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