Following the Traces of Curious Minds: Intellectual Curiosity and its Behavioral Manifestations Across Learning Contexts

Abstract

Intellectual curiosity is a desire for information and knowledge that drives individuals to seek intellectually stimulating activities and environments (Litman & Spielberger, 2003; Mussel, 2013a; von Stumm & Ackerman, 2013). It plays a central role in how humans learn and develop, both in everyday life and formal education (Grossnickle, 2016; von Stumm et al., 2011). Curiosity-driven learning has been widely studied, from basic cognitive mechanisms to its function in classrooms. However, research across disciplines often focuses on different aspects, making it difficult to form a comprehensive understanding of the curiosity-driven learning process (Hassin & Shohamy, 2020). Moreover, although information-seeking and learning behaviors are seen as central expressions of curiosity, the behavioral mechanisms underlying knowledge acquisition have received limited attention so far. To address these gaps, this dissertation investigated curiosity-driven learning as a multi-level process shaped by state-level dynamics, person characteristics, and the learning context. Each of these levels play an important role but they also interact to influence how we seek and acquire knowledge. Two key objectives guided this dissertation: (1) to integrate disciplinary perspectives by examining intellectual curiosity across states, traits, and learning contexts; and (2) to enrich our understanding of intellectual curiosity by focusing on its behavioral expressions. To this end, the dissertation introduced behavioral trace data as a promising method for capturing curiosity-driven learning behaviors across varied settings. Three empirical studies were conducted to address these objectives, each exploring different facets of curiosity. These studies investigated intellectual curiosity at different degrees of granularity, moving from cognitive mechanisms captured by basic metrics of information seeking to linking students’ trait curiosity to their real-world learning behaviors. Collectively, this dissertation contributes to a richer and behaviorally grounded account of intellectual curiosity, deepening our understanding of how intellectual curiosity supports human learning.

Die Dissertation ist gesperrt bis zum 19. September 2027 !