Definition of Curiosity
Children are often thought of as curious and the whole world is an “open book” to their discoveries. We smile at this thought; however, it may be more than just a good thing to stay curious throughout our lives. According to research, curiosity is not only a personality state measured by behavior but, it is a valuable tool used in motivating one to further seek experience and knowledge of a particular subject or event (Langevin, 1971). Curiosity, is, by the way, considered to be a personality trait that is evaluated by a person’s personality observances. Hence, curiosity is a state of motivation that induces interest and motivates.
Types of Curiosity
There are two kinds of curiosity that stimulate one’s interest and motivation:
1)-Epistemic Curiosity points to the yearning for facts and information on an intellectual basis.
2)-Perceptual Curiosity denotes an aspiration to collect experiences aided by one’s senses (Zuckerman, 1994).
Generally speaking, the epistemic and the perceptual curiosity serves as an all-enveloping asset in demonstrating and acquiring knowledge, experience, skillful competence, and relationships.
From a basic standpoint, the two most prominent definitions of a healthy curiosity are:
a)-diverse curiosity, a striving for challenging or unique interests
b)-specific curiosity, striving for a deeper understanding of a specific incitement or action (Berlyne, 1971).
Moreover, we can derive the conclusion that curiosity is a relentless desire to encompass knowledge and experiences that influence or occur in one’s surroundings.
Emphasizing Your Curiosity
The main point of this article is to emphasize that your curiosity is an essential part of your personality in how you view opportunities, challenges, and accomplishments during the course of your life. A desire to acquire and perform new activities and knowledge is an asset, not a liability. On a practical level, having curiosity with an intensity to investigate new ideas and challenging activity, is a motivation tool within itself. Having the ability to indulge oneself to think and act in new and inventive ways, results in an unlimited accumulation of facts, knowledge, and skills demonstrated by one’s self-growth and overall development (Kashdan et. al., 2009). Therefore, a higher trait of curiosity is supposed to indicate a more meaningful life, which translates into a life filled with satisfying and challenging opportunities.
How 6 Simple Rules Can Transfer Your Curiosity Into Valuable Actions That Re-Define Your Life
According to research, you already have an innate curious ability to want to improve your state of being. This is good news. Because now you only have to allow it (curiosity), to be your motivation for something you want or need to learn. Taking action is the final step. It is that simple!
1-Don’t simply pass over reoccurring desires of wanting to start a new hobby such as dance, art, hiking, biking, a new business, or a passion for teaching others about a skill you already possess.
2-Give weight to your thoughts and curiosity by making a thorough list of curious topics and begin to research them.
3-Beware of procrastination.
4-List your curious topics according to priority. For example, put those with immediate interest at the top of your list. Check them off as you acquire knowledge and experience with each and take stock of your list at the end of 6 months to a year.
5-If you notice that you have lost interest on some, remove them from your priority list. You do not want them hanging around in the back of your head, continually. Why? Because it creates guilt and stress of not producing what you set out to do for yourself, initially.
6-And finally, after you have taken stock of your priority list, congratulate yourself for what you have accomplished and even for what you had the courage to eliminate from your desires. You can always re-write a new priority list to continue or start again.
Concluding Points on Curious Minds
Remember, self-growth and development should be continuous throughout your life. Once you lose that special gift of curiosity, life has the opportunity to become boring, uneventful, and even depressing. Besides, depression can bring about additional problems, along your journey. Give respect to your desires in life and honor them because they are an inherent part of your personality and your entire being. Your being cannot be replaced by anyone or anything…in other words, you are unique!
References
Jena, L., Mohanty, A., Pradhan, R. (2015). Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology. Vol. 41, No. 2. Retrieved from http://jiaap.org/Sample.aspx?Sub=JIAAP%20July%202015
