Curiosity poll

[Reuben]

I don't want to say why I'm curious about this yet.

[Reuben]

Okay, the numbers are in, and my oh my are we a curious lot!

FWIW, the question's odd wording was meant to elicit a more objective response. Whether we're a curious lot or not, curiosity might be seen as a desirable trait, nudging responses toward more curiosity. Ideally, I'd ask the people you're closest to instead of you.

Here's what this is about. How curiosity can save you from political tribalism talks about how curious people actively seek out challenges to their worldview and thus reduce their own tribalist tendencies.

The team confirmed this using an experiment which gave participants a choice of science stories, either in line with their existing beliefs, or surprising to them. Those participants who were high in scientific curiosity defied the predictions and selected stories which contradicted their existing beliefs – this held true whether they were liberal or conservative.

I can't imagine a universe in which these results don't generalize to religion. And so here we are.

[BriansThoughtMirror]

We're all above average! Just like I thought!

[GoodBoy]

I am always trying to take things apart and looking behind the curtain. I believe that if you understand how the world works you can use that knowledge to be much more successful in life.

[Reuben]

We're all above average! Just like I thought!

Yeah, there's probably some bias left in there. I'd love to get answers from the general population and normalize the scores. There's probably a curiosity inventory self-report or some other psychological-mumbo-jumbo test we could all take that would do much better.

FWIW, I think curiosity tends to be an innate thing, so it's nothing to be particularly proud of. (At least, no more than lustrous blue hair or sparkling purple eyes.) Speaking for myself, I usually find learning some new, interesting thing to be a great enough reward in and of itself to offset disappointment over having been wrong. I love to be surprised by information.

Um... to match your tone better, because I got all serious... I have a brother who named his Great Dane "Curiosity." You know, because of the cat thing.