Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemExplorations in curiosity: breadth and depth of interest curiosity styles( 1985)Educational writers have often extolled the "natural curiosity" of the young child and then lamented its demise as the child has proceeded through formal schooling. Some writers have suggested programmes whereby that natural curiosity can be nurtured and ripened rather than allowed to die. This thesis explores the construct of curiosity isolating those elements which both provide a fruitful synthesis of current knowledge, and also generate further understanding of human curiosity. Examination of the ways in which the term curiosity has been used in the research literature indicates that a construct of curiosity subsuming two distinct styles has the potential to integrate what is currently known and also to provide direction for further research. The two styles suggested by review of the literature are breadth of interest curiosity, an orientation towards seeking varied and changing experience, and, depth of interest curiosity, an orientation towards investigating new ideas, events and puzzling phenomena. Prominent among theories which have attempted to explain the processes which occur when curiosity is aroused, are the "optimal arousal" and "cognitive" theories. One representative of each is examined in detail with particular attention given to isolating the essential differences between them. A third theory considered, and one not usually linked with theories of curiosity, is "differential emotions" theory. With its emphasis on emotion processes as key motivational variables, and its notion of affective-cognitive structures, this theory provides a comprehensive framework which when applied to an analysis of curiosity, offers important insights into the processes operating when curiosity is aroused. Within this framework the two curiosity styles represent the operation of different affective-cognitive structures. In order to establish the validity of these proposals as to the nature of curiosity a number of empirical studies was undertaken. The factorial structure of current measures of curiosity for adults was examined, and using the results of that examination a new scale, the Two Factor Curiosity Scale, was constructed specifically designed to measure the two factors of breadth of interest and depth of interest curiosity. A number of validation studies for this scale are reported. The internal structure of the Two Factor Curiosity Scale was examined through the application of factor analytic techniques and the factor structure of the scale was found to match the predicted structure. In a further study the scale's construct validity was assessed by investigating the relationships between scores on the breadth and depth components, and scores on a widely used occupational interest inventory. The Two Factor Curiosity Scale was shown to have construct validity. The nature of the two curiosity styles as affective-cognitive structures was also investigated through examining the pattern of basic emotions reported in situations representing both breadth and depth of interest curiosity. Important similarities and differences in the pattern of emotions associated with each curiosity style further confirmed the validity of this two factor formulation of curiosity.