We all can encounter difficulties in our social relationships from time to time. But there is some evidence that being curious helps you to deal better with those negative situations. In a study conducted in Japan , researchers surveyed year olds on their overall curiosity as well as their life satisfaction, sensitivity to social rejection, and experiences with social rejection and social inclusion.
To measure sensitivity to rejection, the participants were asked to read nine hypothetical situations and report how much anxiety or concern they would feel in them, and how likely it was that the other person in the scenario would be accepting of them. For social inclusion and exclusion, participants reported how often they experienced things like receiving invitations or having friends deny their requests. Analyses showed that, even when they faced social rejection, curious participants were less likely than their less-curious peers to experience reductions in life satisfaction or increases in depression.
In the case of life satisfaction, this was true even for those who were more socially anxious. In other words, something about staying curious might allow us to recover more quickly from social rejection—an experience that can feel devastating.
Besides rejection, aggression is another behavior that can be destructive to relationships—and curiosity may help with that, too. Another study compared how curious people behaved in various emotionally charged situations.
In one two-week experiment, participants were measured on personality traits including curiosity and asked to report daily on any social experiences that provoked feelings of hurt, how they responded to the hurt, and how close they felt to the person who hurt them. More curious participants reported less aggressive responses toward those who caused hurt feelings than participants who were low in curiosity, while other personality factors like openness and conscientiousness did not impact aggression levels.
In another experiment, romantic partners performed a competitive task that involved seeing who could push a button faster. The winner was then told to choose the length and intensity of a loud blast of noise that the loser would suffer.
The researchers found that more curious partners were less likely to choose to aggressively punish the loser—meaning, they chose shorter and less intense noise blasts—than those who were less curious. He suggests that because curious people are motivated to learn and understand different viewpoints, rather than judging others, being curious may help in conflict situations.
Learn the six surprising benefits of curiosity. Explore how curiosity can make life more meaningful. Discover how to be a lifelong learner. Not only might being curious help us recover from negative social experiences, it seems to foster more positive ones, as well. In a series of experiments , participants high or low in social anxiety were paired with same-sex partners confederates to engage in conversations designed to build intimacy, or paired with opposite-sex partners also confederates for intimacy-building conversations or small talk.
When most babies are just a few months old, they start making vowel and repetitive, speech-like sounds as they learn how to speak. Babbling demonstrates the utility of perceptual curiosity. It begins as a completely random exploration of what their vocal anatomy can do. Eventually "they'll hit on something and think 'That sounds like something my mum or dad would do,'" she said.
And then they do it again. And again. But it isn't just infants. Crows are famous for using perceptual curiosity as a means of learning. For instance, the drive to explore their environment probably helps crows learn to fashion the simple tools they use to fish larvae out of hard-to-reach crevices.
Moreover, experiments with robots programmed to be curious have shown that exploration is a powerful way to adapt to a new environment.
Another kind of curiosity is distinctively human. Psychologists call it epistemic curiosity, and it's about seeking knowledge and eliminating uncertainty. Epistemic curiosity emerges later in life and might require complex language, Twomey said. Related: Can you learn anything while you sleep? But curiosity comes with a cost. Just because humans can imagine something doesn't mean it will work, at least not at first.
And that would drive perhaps epistemic curiosity, which is this love of knowledge and wanting to learn new things. Knowledge Wharton: Do you think love of knowledge is truly the driving force behind curiosity and the other pieces are part of the spider web off the core? Livio: Not necessarily. There have been all kinds of experiments in neuroscience with functional MRI, where they make people curious then put them in these MRI machines and see which parts of their brains are activated.
Knowledge Wharton: When you think historically, there have been world leaders who have wanted to snuff out curiosity. Some people would say President Trump is trying to do that. Have you seen that as a component in the world?
Livio: Of course. We all know about the Middle Ages, the medieval times when curiosity was almost taken out of existence. It was mostly the church that wanted to convey to the masses the feeling that everything worth knowing is already known. They built walls around all types of knowledge and really oppressed curiosity in this way.
The Taliban destroyed works of art. There have been book burnings over the years. The Nazis made a degenerate art exhibit where they tried to deface all the modern painters.
There definitely have been oppressive regimes and ideologies that try to stifle curiosity. Livio: Yes. I mentioned already two of those types of curiosity: perceptual and epistemic. There is also something that has been dubbed diversive curiosity. There is a negative to diversive curiosity because your attention is turned away. But there is the element of searching or looking for information. They connect with friends. They connect with people, sometimes across countries.
Knowledge Wharton: Do you think it affects curiosity in general because it has become such an attractive piece to our society? Livio: That may have eventually some negative consequences if people just stay at home and connect through all kinds of digital devices.
I can see all kinds of shortcomings for that type of a society. But at the same time, the really important questions like advances in science and so on cannot be found through digital devices. Knowledge Wharton: You take time in the book to really delve into the science of this. Tell us what you found and why science has been so intrigued by this.
This has been research by psychologists, cognitive scientists and neuroscientists. There are two parts to this. One is to understand our state of mind when we are curious. I alluded to that in that one type of curiosity creates an unpleasant sensation and another creates an anticipation of reward. It was found that especially the epistemic curiosity, when we try to learn new things, it really follows the paths of reward of dopamine, which is this neural transmitter that is associated with reward in our brains.
Knowledge Wharton: I think there are people who are naturally curious. It almost is ingrained in their personality as they come into the world. Is that the case? Most psychological traits, and curiosity is no exception, have a genetic component to them. The fact that some people are much more curious than others largely has to do with their genetics. But, as in all cases, genetics is never the whole story.
In the same way as nature versus nurture question, the two of them play a role. You can enhance curiosity by doing certain things, by asking questions, by encouraging people to be curious about things.
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