# Is curiosity genetic?



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Maybe it's a stupid question...but I've been thinking about why a large majority of people seem so unintelligent or uninformed or uneducated...especially now that we have the internet with an infinite amount of knowledge on it. Then I got to thinking, well curiosity is really the birth of knowledge when you think about it. I remember when I was in my early teens and onward, whenever I came across a word or term or any piece of information I didn't know, I had to look it up because I didn't like the idea of not knowing something. However, most other kids I knew (not all, but a lot) didn't seem to have this urge to find out what something was when they came across it, or in some cases they even scoffed at people who did know what it was...So I'm wondering why that is. You could say it's cultural I guess, or environmental. However, I watched all the same shows as a kid as all my peers, I did a lot of the same things, I went to the same schools and I don't remember if my parents were _particularly_ encouraging to my behavior. I mean they certainly approved of it of course, but I don't remember them going out of their way to instill that sense of curiosity and not wanting to be ignorant in me. This has led me to wonder if curiosity is genetic...which might sound stupid I guess. But what are your thoughts?


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

The most sensible, immediate, and least satisfying answer is that it's probably down to a mixture of genes and environment, as most things are, though we can't say the precise balance. I also imagine that curiosity is closely linked with general intelligence, which is certainly dependent on genes to a great extent.


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

Curiosity is natural, society discourages it.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

quack said:


> Curiosity is natural, society discourages it.


That reminds me of Neil deGrasse Tyson's lament that all children are naturally inquisitive - very true; it's necessary for learning about the world, and there are some fascinating experiments where you give children a puzzle and they go about solving it in quite mathematically competent ways - but, as a society, we say that such curiosity is bad. We are to respect our elders without question, as well as arbitrary authorities; when children learn through play by banging on things or taking things apart, we punish them and tell them to stop it; we essential encourage conformity rather than inquisitiveness, to the extent that stigmatise the unfamiliar. Perhaps it's more genetic than I originally supposed.


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## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

Don't forget that children learn social roles from adults. As they grow older it seems to them that curiosity is discouraged and that falling into a more conformist role is the pathway to becoming socially acceptable and successful. They then focus primarily on other things that they perceive will benefit them.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Of course, violadude and many others will be encourage to conform just as much as other children but still remain curious, which is where the natural intelligence and genes come in.


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## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

Perhaps, perhaps not. I'm not really sure. If it were genes, would you then see it extended in the family line? I know that I am quite curious about things but no one in my entire extended family is. I'm the only one in my entire extended family, and I'm talking about massive generations, who has gotten an education. Nor do any of them care about education. For me, it was certain exposure to things that triggered my curiosity and possibly natural intelligence. Perhaps I was switched at birth.


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## sah (Feb 28, 2012)

> All men by nature desire to know.


 - Aristotle. Metaphysics, 980a, 21

Somebody said that it is true, but not everybody desires to know the same things.


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

I'd replace the word "society" with "culture".

As Cnote points out, children learn from the local environment with which they are presented. But it is the complex interaction of heredity and environment which shapes how children develop. 

And the local environment - created by family and friends - is itself mediated by the wider culture. (At least in the UK) we live in a culture which dumbs down communication, science, the arts and, in fact, every aspect of living. 

Effectively, young human beings' natural, innate curiosity which has been inherited - not just from their parents but from countless generations - is being suffocated out of them by a culture which interprets treating everyone equally as meaning reducing everyone to the lowest common denominator.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

VIOLADUDE.
Yours was exactly the right way to go. You only have to look at the "quizzes" on television to know that the Phillistine is among us. Rise above the buffoon ,be true to youself and aim never to look dumb in front of others.


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