Curiosity is a trait that we share with animals, so there must have been a strong reason from an evolutionary perspective for trait to be selected times and times again among various species. It’s obvious that the most common manifestation of curiosity is something that can be observed in one’s behavior, most of the time it’s similar to a spontaneous action – triggered by stimuli that do not match with a familiar context. Obviously, there are many other different manifestations of curiosity, such as interest and attention. But the most interesting manifestation of curiosity – from my point of view – is ambition.
I do not go into arguing about the distinction between personality traits (curiosity) and character traits (ambition) – which are more refined by cultural influences throughout one’s life. I assume that the spectrum of a person individuality is composed of rich, nuanced traits that become more and more prominent as the person chooses to define herself in certain general terms like – being ambitious, caring, conservative and so on.
I think curiosity is a very dynamic trait, causing behaviors, attitudes and emotions that are not always thought to be the products of curiosity. Sometimes I observe people that are very attached to their goals, pursuing something with the passion and determination. I find that to be the attitude of a very curious person. We can all imagine what it would be like “if…” we did something or found out something new; but we often stop at this point, doubting that the effort of actually doing that is worth it. What happens in the mind of curious people is that imagination is not sufficient. They want to know and feel what it is like for themselves. And they are curious about all the little things connected to their goal. For example fashion designers might be curious about photography, about people and art in general, but also about history , entertainment and movies – because all these subjects reveal details about fashion and clothing as well. They are into all these things and people assume their ambition has something to do with them having a very strong will.
I assume curiosity alone can feed a mind with the drive it takes to accomplish things greater than one’s life.
Making things happen, being ambitious and perfecting oneself involves being able to capture and use so much information over time. What else facilitates this better than curiosity? Wouldn’t people stop or at least be “fed up” if they wouldn’t be curious enough about what they are doing or about to do?
I find this subject especially appealing for anybody who wants to study the relationship between achievement and curiosity on one hand, and achievement and self-discipline on the other.
I think that would be a tight “competition”.
Yeah, I’d like to see that…
