Curiosity

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From A Cyclopedia of Education, edited by Paul Monroe, Ph.D. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1911, vol. II, pp. 2442).

Sometimes described as an instinct. Among animals, as, for example, in some of the monkeys, curiosity appears as a natural disposition to examine every accessible object. There is doubtless some justification for the description of curiosity as a natural instinct, as every animal is disposed to secure as complete stimulation for all of his senses as circumstances will permit. Thus, there is an inborn reflex tendency to look in the direction of any sound which is heard so as to add visual experience to auditory, as there is a natural reflex tendency to reach after objects that attract the visual attention so that there may be added to the visual impression a series of tactual sensations from the object. The higher an animal's senses and the more varied its activities, the larger the number of objects that will thus attract attention and arouse what may be legitimately regarded as natural sensory curiosity. After the analogy of these natural tendencies, it is possible to cultivate in children artificial interest in objects to which their attention is directed. Acquired curiosity follows in the train of acquired experience, for as soon as experience in any given line has accumulated, there is a disposition on the part of the individual to increase his information about the objects with which he has been in contact. The whole matter of curiosity belongs, accordingly, in the same general category as the same general problem of attention and interest.

See Attention; Interest; Instinct.

• Hall. G. S. Aspects of Child Life. (Boston, 1907.)
• Kirkpatrick, E. A. Fundamentals of Child Study. (New York, 1903.)