Measuring Epistemic Curiosity and Its Diversive and Specific Components
Abstract
A questionnaire constructed to assess epistemic curiosity (EC) and perceptual curiosity (PC) curiosity was administered to 739 undergraduates (546 women, 193 men) ranging in age from 18 to 65. The study participants also responded to the trait anxiety, anger, depression, and curiosity scales of the State-Trait Personality Inventory (STPI; Spielberger et al., 1979) and selected subscales of the Sensation Seeking (SSS; Zuckerman, Kolin, Price, & Zoob, 1964) and Novelty Experiencing (NES; Pearson, 1970) scales. Factor analyses of the curiosity items with oblique rotation identified EC and PC factors with clear simple structure. Subsequent analyses of the EC items provided the basis for developing an EC scale, with Diversive and Specific Curiosity subscales. Moderately high correlations of the EC scale and subscales with other measures of curiosity provided strong evidence of convergent validity. Divergent validity was demonstrated by minimal correlations with trait anxiety and the sensation-seeking measures, and essentially zero correlations with the STPI trait anger and depression scales. Male participants had significantly higher scores on the EC scale and the NES External Cognition subscale (effect sizes of r =.16 and.21, respectively), indicating that they were more interested than female participants in solving problems and discovering how things work. Male participants also scored significantly higher than female participants on the SSS Thrill-and-Adventure and NES Externa…
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Curiosity was measured using the Litman and Spielberger (2003) scale.
“curiosity (Litman and Spielberger 2003)”
From Emotional Manipulation by AI Companions (2025) · cites this paper as Litman and Spielberger 2003
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“Curiosity is broadly defined as a desire for acquiring new knowledge and new sensory experience that motivates exploratory behavior (Berlyne, 1949, 1950, 1954, 1960; James, 1890; Loewenstein, 1994; McDougall, 1921; Spielberger & Starr, 1994).”
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- Authors
- Litman, J. A., & Spielberger, C. D.
- Affiliations
- University of South Florida (US)
- ORCID
- Litman, Jordan A.
- Venue
- Journal of Personality Assessment
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2003-02
- Volume
- 80
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 75-86
- ISSN
- 0022-3891 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-7752
- OpenAlex
- W1973897901
- Cited by
- 677
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 51 · 2025: 70 · 2024: 72 · 2023: 62 · 2022: 66 · 2021: 44 · 2020: 41 · 2019: 44 · 2018: 34 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 13.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality Assessment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Psychological and Educational Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Creativity in Education and Neuroscience
- Keywords
- epistemic curiosity, sensation seeking, novelty seeking, gender differences, trait anxiety, convergent and discriminant validity, undergraduate students
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Exploratory Behavior, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Personality Inventory, Psychometrics, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sex Factors, Students, United States, Universities, Knowledge
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