Curiosity Bibliography

The following resources have contributed to Wilkening Consulting’s research and thinking on curiosity and informal learning.

*These resources are a particularly helpful introduction to the topic.

  • Arnone, Marilyn P. and Small, Ruth V. “Arousing and Sustaining Curiosity: Lessons from the ARCs Model.” Proceedings of the 1995 Annual National Convention of the Association for Educational Communities and Technology, 1995.
  • Bethell, Christina, et.al. “Family Resilience and Connection Promote Flourishing Among US Children, Even Amid Adversity.” Health Affairs 38, no. 5, 2019.
  • *Cacioppo, John, et. al.  “Dispositional Differences in Cognitive Motivation:  The Life and Times of Individuals Varying in Need for Cognition.”  Psychological Bulletin 119, no. 2, 1996, pp. 197 – 253.
  • Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, and Hermanson, Kim.  “Intrinsic Motivations in Museums:  What Makes Visitors Want to Learn?”  Museum News 74, no. 3, 1995:  35.
  • Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, and Hermanson, Kim.  “Intrinsic Motivations in Museums:  Why Does One Want to Learn?”  In Hooper-Greenhill The Educational Role of the Museum.  New York:  Routledge, 1994.
  • Deci, Edward L. and Ryan, Richard M.  “A Motivational Approach to Self:  Integration in Personality”  Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 38, 1990, pp. 237 – 288.  Lincoln, NE:  University of Nebraska Press, 1991.
  • *Dweck, Carol.  Mindset.  New York:  Ballantine Books, 2006.
  • ​Engel, Susan. The Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in Childhood. Harvard University Press, 2018.
  • Epstein, David. Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. New York: Riverhead Books, 2019.
  • *Gino, Francesca. “The Business Case for Curiosity.” Harvard Business Review, September-October 2018 pp. 48 – 57.
  • Gottfried, Allen W., et. al.  Gifted IQ:  Early Developmental Aspects; The Fullerton Longitudinal Study.  New York:  Plenum Press, 1994.
  • Graham, Angela.  “Persistence without External Rewards:  A Study of Adult Learners in Art Museum and Planetarium Education Programs.”  Ph.D. dissertation, Northern Illinois University, 1990.
  • Gruber, Matthias J., Bernard D. Gelman, and Charan Ranganath. “States of Curiosity Modulate Hippocampus-Dependent Learning via the Dopaminergic Circuit.” Neuron, Volume 81, Issue 2, 22 October 2014, pp. 486-496.
  • Gruber, Matthias. “This Is Your Brain on Curiosity.” Video, 2015 TEDx UC Davis Salon, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmaTPPB-T_s.
  • Hidi, Suzanne, and Renninger, K. Ann.  “The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development.”  Educational Psychologist, 41, no. 2, 2006, pp. 111 – 127.
  • Hunter, Jeremy P. and Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly.  “The Positive Psychology of Interested Adolescents.”  Journal of Youth and Adolescence 32, no. 1, 2003, pp. 27 – 35.
  • *Kashdan, Todd. Ph.D. Curious? New York: HarperCollins, 2009
  • Kashdan et al. “The five-dimensional curiosity scale: Capturing the bandwidth of curiosity and identifying four unique subgroups of curious people.” Journal of Research in Personality 73, 2018, pp. 130–149.
  • Leslie, Ian.  Curious:  The Desire to Know and Why your Future Depends on it.  London:  Quercus, 2014.
  • Litman, Jordan A.  “Curiosity and the Pleasures of Learning:  Wanting and Liking New Information.”  Cognition and Emotion 19, no. 6, 2005, pp. 793-814.
  • Loewenstein, George. “The Psychology of Curiosity: A Review and Reinterpretation.” Psychological Bulletin, vol. 116, no. 1, 1994, pp.75-98.
  • McCombs, Barbara.  “Motivation and Lifelong Learning.”  Educational Psychologist 25, no. 2, 1991, pp. 117-127.
  • Mezirow, Jack.  Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning.  San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass, 1991.
  • Nielsen, Sigurd Solhaug. “Stimulating Curiosity for Global Poverty and Inequality. An Explorative Study of Students’ Experiences with the Exhibition ‘A World at Stake.'” Nordisk Museologi, no. 2, published 2017.
  • Norris, Linda, and Rainey Tisdale. Creativity in Museum Practice. Left Coast Press, 2013.
  • Nussbaum, Martha. Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011.
  • Olson, Kenneth, et.al.  “Curiosity and Need for Cognition.”  Psychological Reports, 54, 1984, pp. 71-74.
  • Packer, Jan. “Learning for Fun: The Unique Contribution of Educational Leisure Experiences.” Jan. Curator 49, no. 3, 2006, pp. 329-344.
  • Pew Research Center, November 20, 2018, “Where Americans Find Meaning in Life.”
  • Piaget, Jean, and Inhelder, Barbel.  Memory and Intelligence.  New York:  Basic Books, Inc., 1973.
  • Raine, Adrian, et. al.  “Stimulation Seeking and Intelligence:  A Prospective Longitudinal Study.”  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 82, no. 4, 2002, pp. 663 – 674.
  • Rounds, Jay. “Strategies for the Curiosity-Driven Museum Visitor.” Curator 47, no. 4, 2004  pp. 389-412.
  • Sansone, Carol, and Harackiewicz, Judith M. eds. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: The Search for Optimal Motivation and Performance. New York: Academic Press, 2000.
  • “State of Curiosity Report 2016.” Merch KGaA, 2016.
  • *von Stumm, Sophie, et. al.  “The Hungry Mind:  Intellectual Curiosity is the Third Pillar of Academic Performance.”  Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 2011, pp. 574-588.
  • Willingham, Daniel. “Why Aren’t We Curious About the Things We Want to Be Curious About?” New York Times. October 18, 2019. 
  • *Zaki, Jamil. The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World. New York: Crown Publishing, 2019.
  • Zuckerman, Ethan.  Rewire:  Digital Cosmopolitans in the Age of Connection.  New York:  W.W. Norton, 2013.