Curiosity is multiple and/or mutable Sample Clauses

Curiosity is multiple and/or mutable. One of the most influential outcomes of Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxx’s seminal research in curiosity during the 1950s and ‘60s was the creation of a clear psychological taxonomy of curiosity.236 In Berlyene’s classificatory system, there are two distinct types of curiosity: perceptual and epistemic. Furthermore, there each type can operate in a way that can be categorized as specific or diversive.237 The first kind of curiosity, perceptual curiosity, is described as “a drive which is aroused by novel stimuli and reduced by continued exposure to these stimuli,”238 and is found in animals as well as humans. In humans, it is especially prominent in infants and young children. This type of curiosity increases our perceptive capacities; it is receptive and sensitive to strange or new information. Epistemic curiosity, on the other hand, is more of an active seeking out of information. It is therefore more targeted and results in the acquisition of knowledge. Finally, epistemic curiosity is described as a characteristic of humans in distinction from other animals due to its knowledge-imparting quality.239 235 Additionally, Xxxxxx Xxxxxx, “Curiosity and the Pleasures of Learning: Wanting and Liking New Information,” Cognition and Emotion 19:6 (2005), 793-814, proposes that “wanting” and “liking” undergird curiosity as an emotional and motivational state, and that these structures link curiosity with pleasure. 236 As an indication of just how influential Xxxxxxxx’s taxonomy was on future psychological research, all of the studies discussed in the previous section mentioned Xxxxxxxx’s curiosity types. The Xxxx et al. and Xxxxxx et al. studies both target specific epistemic curiosity, while the Xxxxx et al. study targeted specific perceptual curiosity. (Xxxxx et al., “Neural mechanisms,” 8). 237 Xxxxxxx, “A theory of human curiosity.” 238 Ibid., 180. 239 Berlyne does allow an important caveat to this distinction: “The curiosity which leads to increased perception of stimuli and the curiosity whose main fruits are knowledge may well turn out to be closely related. But, as we are using different defining operations for them, we shall have provisionally to use two different terms” (“A theory of human curiosity,” 180). The second difference, between specific and diversive curiosity,240 relates to the degree to which information is the target of a directed inquiry versus a more general, receptive desire for information. Specific curiosity actively seeks information, and that informati...