If you’re a curious person, then you ought to also be curious about curiosity itself.

So says Mario Livio, astrophysicist and author of Why? What Makes Us Curious.

Since linking up “You Might Be a Late Bloomer” last week, the phrase “Diversive Curiosity” has stuck with me. David Brooks described it in his piece thusly—

During these early periods, late bloomers try and then quit so many jobs that the people around them might conclude that they lack resilience. But these are exactly the years when the late bloomers are developing what psychologists call “diversive curiosity”—the ability to wander into a broad range of interests in a manner that seems to have no rhyme or reason.

That inline link takes you to an academic paper, “The psychology and neuroscience of curiosity” which, honestly, was a challenge to get through (and I tried).

I searched for the phrase, and found several fascinating discussions.

First was a transcript for a Knowledge at Wharton podcast: “The ‘Why’ Behind Asking Why: The Science of Curiosity”. The interview was with Mario Livio, he of the opening quote, who defined four types of curiosity: perceptual, epistemic, specific, and diversive—and made diversive curiosity out to be a negative:

There is also something that has been dubbed diversive curiosity. That’s the thing when you see young people constantly on their smartphone, looking for text messages to ward off boredom, I think.

I thought it sounded a bit too “these kids with their rock-and-roll” to me. The podcast host offered a course correction, which Livio acknowledged:

Knowledge at Wharton: Curiosity has always been seen as a very good thing because you’re trying to gain knowledge. There is a negative to diversive curiosity because your attention is turned away. But there is the element of searching or looking for information. It’s kind of walking a fine line there.

Livio: You’re absolutely right. They’re also looking for information, and also it serves as a social element. They connect with friends. They connect with people, sometimes across countries. It isn’t all negative.

Still, that left me unsatisfied—that would be perceptual curiosity, by Livio’s definition:

That’s the curiosity we feel when something surprises us or when something doesn’t quite agree with what we know or think we know. That is felt as an unpleasant state, as an adversity state. It’s a bit like an itch that we need to scratch. That’s why we try to find out the information in order to relieve that type of curiosity.

Being “curious about curiosity,” I kept reading. Next up was an article on Why Curiosity “a publication dedicated to the inquisitive spirit in all of us.” The author, neuroscientist Dr. Suzi Travis asked “What Type of Curious Are You?” She starts by describing a two-axis model that categorizes curiosity: Perceptual ⭤ Epistemic and Diversive ⭤ Specific. For the latter:

Specific curiosity aims to resolve a particular question or problem. It guides targeted information-seeking behaviors and often comes into play when one requires a missing piece of information.

Diversive curiosity fuels a broader, more generalized interest in the world. Rather than focusing on a singular question or issue, it drives individuals to explore new experiences or environments without a specific end goal in mind.

She offers an example of two individuals visiting a museum. The person with specific curiosity is there to learn details about, say, a particular artist, and goes directly to that gallery and studies each piece. They are focused.

For someone with diversive curiosity, on the other hand:

Upon entering the museum, they feel excited by the wealth of opportunities for discovery. They wander from gallery to gallery, spending a little time with modern art, dabbling in the historical section, examining fossils in the science area, and even participating in a hands-on physics experiment. Their curiosity lacks a specific goal; rather, they are hungry for a range of new experiences and knowledge.

She adds:

Diversive curiosity energizes individuals to seek a wide array of experiences, often leading them to explore new environments, cultures, or fields of knowledge. In the context of entertainment, it draws people to sample diverse genres of music, films, or books, enriching their palate for artistic and creative works. In daily life, it nudges people to take different routes to work, try new foods, or engage in spontaneous social interactions. Through this form of curiosity, individuals embrace a broad spectrum of experiences, satisfying their innate desire for novelty and variety.

Ah, yes, that is much more satisfying! I love to jump in my car and point it in a direction without a destination, just to see where the road takes me. While on vacation, I prefer the flexibility to wander over a fixed itinerary. My musical and media tastes are quite eclectic.

(Let’s ignore the new food and spontaneous social interactions bits, shall we?)

My curiosity has been with me since I was old enough to babble “wha da?” and “why” (a fact my mother and aunts remind me of whenever I question anything today).

In NeuroLaunch (The Free Mental Health Library Where Grey Matter Matters), they describe this trait shared by most children as “a powerful cognitive mechanism that fuels innovation, creativity, and personal growth throughout our lives”. In their article, titled “Curiosity Psychology: Unraveling the Human Drive to Explore and Learn,” they describe how the brain processes curiosity:

It turns out that curiosity isn’t just a metaphorical itch – it actually lights up specific regions of our brains!

When we’re curious, several key brain areas spring into action. The striatum, a part of the brain associated with reward processing, becomes active. This suggests that curiosity itself is inherently rewarding – we literally get a little hit of pleasure just from wondering about something new!

But that’s not all. The hippocampus, crucial for memory formation, also perks up when we’re curious. This helps explain why we tend to remember information better when we’re genuinely interested in it. It’s as if curiosity primes our brains for learning, creating the perfect conditions for new knowledge to take root.

Perhaps most intriguingly, curiosity activates the prefrontal cortex, an area associated with higher-order thinking and decision-making. This suggests that curiosity isn’t just a passive state of wonder, but an active, goal-directed process of exploration and discovery.

And let’s not forget about dopamine, the brain’s feel-good chemical. When we satisfy our curiosity by learning something new, we get a surge of dopamine. This creates a positive feedback loop, encouraging us to keep exploring and learning. It’s nature’s way of saying, “Good job! Keep asking questions!”

Later, they provide seven ways to nurture our curious nature, including staying open-minded, asking questions, and exploring diverse topics.

Finally, Psychology Today brings everything together to answer “What Are the Five Dimensions of Curiosity?”. According to Todd B. Kashdan, Ph.D., those five dimensions are:

1. Joyous Exploration. This is the prototype of curiosity—the recognition and desire to seek out new knowledge and information, and the subsequent joy of learning and growing.
2. Deprivation Sensitivity. This dimension has a distinct emotional tone, with anxiety and tension being more prominent than joy—pondering abstract or complex ideas, trying to solve problems, and seeking to reduce gaps in knowledge.
3. Stress Tolerance. This dimension is about the willingness to embrace the doubt, confusion, anxiety, and other forms of distress that arise from exploring new, unexpected, complex, mysterious, or obscure events.
4. Social Curiosity. Wanting to know what other people are thinking and doing by observing, talking, or listening in to conversations.
5. Thrill Seeking. The willingness to take physical, social, and financial risks to acquire varied, complex, and intense experiences.

He then describes “four types of curious people”:

1. The Fascinated: high on all dimensions of curiosity, particularly Joyous Exploration
2. Problem Solvers: high on Deprivation Sensitivity, medium on other dimensions
3. Empathizers: high on Social Curiosity, medium on other dimensions
4. Avoiders: low on all dimensions, particularly Stress Tolerance

I have a theory that to be a good programmer you must be willing to suffer the pain of being wrong often, and that you find breaking things to be a source of fascination, rather than frustration—high Stress Tolerance and Deprivation Sensitivity. Likewise, in the world of technical support (developer or otherwise), the best people would additionally show at least a medium level of Social Curiosity.

Unsurprisingly, I would describe myself as part of The Fascinated—probably highest on Joyous Exploration, Deprivation Sensitivity, and Stress Tolerance—though considering my career, Problem Solvers would absolutely work for me, too.

If you’ve read to the end, you too must be a curious person! What’s your curiosity type? Hit me up on Mastodon or email—I’m curious.