How to be more curious: what the evidence supports

What does 'more curious' actually mean?

Curiosity is used here in the everyday sense, wanting to explore and find things out, but that word names two related things, and it helps to know which you are trying to grow. The first is the character strength: one of 24 in the VIA classification, grouped under the virtue of wisdom and knowledge (Peterson & Seligman, 2004), and one of the more useful to work on, since in a survey of 5,299 adults it was one of five strengths, with hope, zest, gratitude and love, consistently associated with life satisfaction (Park et al., 2004). See curiosity as a character strength.

The second is inquisitiveness, the facet of Openness to Experience concerned with asking and investigating. Where the strength covers interest broadly, including attention that produces no question at all, the facet is worded around finding out. Openness to Experience splits into two correlated aspects, Openness and Intellect (DeYoung et al., 2007); asking questions draws on both. See what is inquisitiveness?

Which part of curiosity are you actually trying to grow?

Most of what follows works whichever you have in mind, because both respond to one principle: pointing attention somewhere specific and repeating it. Where they differ is what a low score is telling you. A middling result on the strength means it is not currently a standout way you engage with the world. A middling result on inquisitiveness means you ask and investigate less than most people asked the same statements, closer to a settled habit. Neither is a fault, and the practices below are additions rather than corrections.

What actually changes curiosity, if wanting to isn't enough?

Wanting to change is not nothing. Across two 16-week studies, wanting to change a trait was followed by measured change in it, and specific plans, naming a behaviour, a time and a situation, helped more than general intentions (Hudson & Fraley, 2015). A resolution to be more curious is general; a plan to ask one extra question at Tuesday's meeting is the specific kind that found traction.

The best supported route for the character strength specifically is using one you already have in a new way. A meta-analysis of 14 articles and 29 effect sizes found that signature strengths interventions raised life satisfaction (g = 0.42) and positive affect (g = 0.32), and lowered reported low mood (g = 0.21) (Schutte & Malouff, 2019). Applied to curiosity, that means not reading another book on a subject you already follow, closer to love of learning, but taking something filed as understood and spending twenty minutes finding out how it works.

Set your expectations honestly. A systematic review of 207 intervention studies found trait measures moving by about a third of a standard deviation over roughly six months, largest for Emotional Stability, and drawn mostly from therapy and counselling trials (Roberts et al., 2017). Curiosity was not singled out, so treat this as a general pace rather than a promise specific to it.

What practices actually build curiosity?

Each creates a specific moment to act in rather than a general intention, the shape that moved people furthest in the research above.

One or two, repeated for a few months, does more than five tried for a week and dropped. The last row borrows from a neighbouring facet; see how to be more open-minded for practices aimed squarely at that one.

What is the difference between curiosity and distraction?

Curiosity and distraction can look identical from a step back, since both involve leaving what you are doing to look at something else. The difference is what happens next. Curiosity ends in a small gain, an answer, a working sense of a thing, or a decision that the question was not worth pursuing. Distraction ends in another prompt to move again, with nothing collected on the way past.

Curiosity, followed even briefly, tends to come back to where you started, because the departure had a destination. Distraction rarely returns on its own. If checking one more thing is costing you finished work, name it plainly as distraction rather than excusing it as curiosity because the attention felt the same from the inside.

How does Wellington measure curiosity?

Wellington is a science-based personality assessment from Therabot Labs LLC. It measures personality as continuous traits, built on the Big Five and HEXACO models, and writes the results back as a personal report rather than a type.

The free Snapshot is 60 questions, about 7 minutes, and scores six broad dimensions: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Openness to Experience, Honesty-Humility. The first ten questions are answered before anything is asked of you; after question ten you sign in with an email address so your answers are saved and your results can be shown. There is no card. The Snapshot does not cover character strengths.

Curiosity itself is scored from 6 statements on a five-point accuracy scale, and it is one of the 90 traits with the membership, adding the Portrait: 336 questions in 4 chapters, the last devoted to character. All 24 strengths are scored there, and inquisitiveness is scored separately among the Big Five facets in the same report.

Every trait is reported as a percentile against the reference sample. The three bands (Quiet below the 30th percentile, Balanced to the 70th, High above) and the Portrait names exist to make the result easier to talk about; the percentile is the measurement, and it is always shown alongside. Those norms are provisional until the norming sample is complete. For curiosity, Quiet is The Settled Mind (You do not need to know everything to be at peace with anything), Balanced is The Selective Explorer (Interested in most things, absorbed by a few), and High is The Open Question (The world keeps tapping you on the shoulder, and you keep turning), each a starting point rather than a target.

Wellington is a wellness tool for reflection, not a medical or psychological diagnosis, and it does not replace care from a qualified professional. It is not built for hiring or selection, and you can export or delete your data at any time.

Questions people ask

How do I start being more curious if it doesn't come naturally?

Pick one small, specific habit rather than a general resolution. Wanting to change a trait predicted measured change over 16 weeks, and specific if-then plans helped more than vague intentions (Hudson & Fraley, 2015). A workable start is a single weekly slot: one thing you do not understand, looked into properly, at a fixed time.

Is curiosity the same as intelligence or knowledge?

No. Curiosity is about where your attention goes and what you do once the first answer arrives, not how much you already know. A highly curious person can know very little yet, and a knowledgeable person can have stopped asking years ago. The two reinforce each other over time without being the same thing.

Can curiosity actually change, or is it fixed?

It can change, modestly. A systematic review of 207 intervention studies found trait measures moving by about a third of a standard deviation over roughly six months, largest for Emotional Stability, and drawn mostly from therapy and counselling trials (Roberts et al., 2017). Wanting to change was itself followed by measured change in two 16-week studies (Hudson & Fraley, 2015).

What is the fastest way to build curiosity with only a few minutes a day?

Use a strength you already have in a new way rather than adding a habit from scratch. A meta-analysis of signature strengths interventions found gains in life satisfaction and positive affect from small, repeated exercises (Schutte & Malouff, 2019). A few minutes spent following one real question, rather than skimming several, is the shape that tends to hold.