Four Factors that Diminish Human Curiosity
Beyond any physical or health-related factors that can dampen our curiosity, such as stress, dementia, or drugs, research leads to four major factors that impede or diminish this quality in humans.
I’ve labeled these factors FATE (fear, assumptions, technology, and environment).
Fear
Based on testing, fear is the most predominant factor that influences our curiosity. It may be fear of the unknown, fear of what we might find, fear of the uncomfortable, or fear that the results of our exploration might challenge our current beliefs.
Fears are sometimes disguised as false bravado or ego. Fear of failure tends to be major. How many times have we threatened to quit our jobs or wanted to start a business fearing what will happen if it doesn’t work out?
Our curiosity rarely gets the chance to explore the options of a new job or how to start a new business before the dreaded “yeah, buts” shut it down. Our fear overtakes our courage and curiosity.
The desire to try something new or different is fruitful only when our determination or motivation to explore further or learn more mitigates the risks we feel anxious about.
The more curious we are, the more we come to know. The more we know, the less fearful we become. The inverse of that is also true. The less we know, the more fearful we are and the less we come to know.
How does fear inhibit your curiosity?
Assumptions (the way things have always been done)
What assumptions do you hold that might be preventing curiosity and innovation?
Technology
Can you look past answers to find more questions that may lead to breakthroughs?
Parental, family, teacher, and peer influence (our environment)
Were you taught only answers or also taught to question?
Discussion
I researched thousands of people over many years to determine the factors that inhibit curiosity. One of the best articles on curiosity was published in HBR from Harvard researcher, Francesca Gino. In her article she shares some insight regarding the case for curiosity. I was fortunate to have her join me on my show where we got into collaboration.How does curiosity improve collaboration?Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
References
1. Robinson S. Do schools kill creativity? [Internet]. Ted.com. 2006 [cited 11 September 2020]. Available from: https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity?language=en
Innovative Leadership: Developing Curiosity
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Innovative Leadership: Developing Curiosity
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