The Principle Of Curiosity In The Human Mind, How Does It Work?

The principle of curiosity is deeply ingrained in the brain. It is true that it also appears in many animals, however, in humans this instinct is much more powerful and sophisticated. This is due to our natural selection, since this mechanism allows us to find new resources to adapt to any circumstance and get out of it successfully.

The writer Dorothy Parker said that boredom is cured with curiosity, but curiosity is not cured with anything. The fact that it is so is little more than a blessing as well as a necessity. Somehow, the person who stops experiencing interest in learning and even more so, wondering the reason, why and the origin of what surrounds him, turns off a little more every day.

The absence of curiosity weakens the brain and takes away our drive, energy, creativity … If people have an almost inherent desire to solve everyday uncertainties, mysteries and inconsistencies, it is because these processes generate research and learning. That imprint on our genomes has made it easier for us to be where we are now.

The human brain is moved by the sense of curiosity and this is what facilitates knowledge, motivation and even survival. Because although they continue to sell us the idea that curiosity killed the cat, what nobody tells us is that in reality, what happened is to make it wiser …

The principle of curiosity in the human mind, what does it consist of?

Curiosity is a basic element of our cognition ; However, the truth is that we continue to have many doubts about its neuronal mechanisms and even about its biological function. Research around this dimension has started very recently. All of them appeared in an attempt to understand the usefulness of this mechanism and individual differences.

In this way, the work of Dr. Todd Kashdan, from the University of Florida, stands out, who in 2004 developed a scale to explore curious behavior. Something striking that points out to us is the following: people spend more time letting ourselves be guided by the principle of curiosity than feeding ourselves .

Let’s think about it for a moment to understand it better. Simple things like reading books, listening to music, watching a movie, taking a look at our social networks or even chatting with ours, is guided by curious behavior. We have completely neglected a dimension that in a certain way guides a good part of our behavior.

Let us therefore delve a little more into the bases of the principle of curiosity.

Curiosity is a basic component of our nature

Research such as that carried out in the department of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, indicates something important to us. Curiosity is one of the most important human impulses and to this day we have not given it enough importance. Thanks to it , science is promoted, the world economy, learning is facilitated and even our personal development.

William James, one of the most prominent psychologists in our history, defined the principle of curiosity as the drive toward better cognition. In other words , this dimension defines the desire to know what we do not know. It is the highest way to develop our intelligence and also that value that children must cultivate.

Principle of curiosity and state of mind

The principle of curiosity also tells us that this dimension can decline at certain times. Psychological disorders such as depression turn off our curiosity as well as the cognitive decline associated with age or neurodegenerative diseases.

Likewise, from the field of neuroscience, they tell us that the simple fact of experiencing the prick of curiosity is an invigorating stimulus for the brain. This dimension encourages learning, understanding things, and knowledge. However, we only experience something like this when we are emotionally well.

Times of apathy, discouragement, and sadness dilute this mechanism.

Pleasure and stress tolerance

This data is interesting and it is also something that we have all felt on numerous occasions. Curiosity makes us learn to tolerate stress and anxiety. We achieve this by understanding that our reality is inhabited by uncertainty and that this is so, it is something common. We know that in our daily lives not everything follows a pattern or is predictable.

However, these dimensions, far from blocking us, encourage us to face them, to resolve them and to work to understand and even transform them. All this is what has, after all, facilitated our advancement and survival.

Being curious as a way to develop our brain

If there is one aspect in which it would benefit us to go back to childhood, it is precisely in relation to curiosity. This dimension, which somehow fades or weakens over the years, is one of the traits that best defines most children.

It is they who show a higher interest in situations marked by uncertainty. They love, for example, manipulating objects whose underlying mechanisms they don’t understand. While we take endless things for granted, they inquire and wonder why what they see cannot be otherwise.

His lateral thinking challenges our most logical and normative approach. In addition, children demonstrate social curiosity and perceptual curiosity, that is, they are intrigued by almost any stimulus and also by how our society is shaped and how we relate to each other. In their minds, there is an omnipresent component that is also part of the principle of curiosity: fascination.