1. Meta-Interested? An
Exploration of Interest from a
Positive Psychology
Perspective
By: Joe Tinkham

2. State and Trait Interest
● Physiological Changes
○ Orientation, activation, concentration, approach action
● Facial and Vocal Expressions
○ Forehead and eye muscle movements
○ Head tilt
○ Speak faster rate and with a greater vocal range

3. State and Trait Interest
● Serves Adaptive role
○ serves no immediate
adaptive function
■ broaden-and-build -> skills
and knowledge
○ interest enhances learning
motivation and performance
and attention to novel and
unfamiliar things
● High Trait Interest is
characterized by more frequent,
intense, and longer curiosity

4. Intrinsic Approach Motivation
● Motivation or desire to
develop diverse knowledge
and skills
○ basically for their own
sake
● BIS orients people away from
possible harmful stimuli
○ positive correlations
between BIS and anxiety
● BAS orients people toward
possible enjoyable stimuli
○ curiosity may be similar
with BAS
● Interest possibly acts against
avoid motives (failure and
anxiety)

5. Biobehavioral Systems - Reticular
Arousal System (RAS)
● 4 types of conflict that increase arousal in RAS:
○ novelty, complexity, uncertainty, conflict
● Novel and challenging stimuli co-activate both anxiety and
curiosity
○ low novel intensity -> low curiosity
○ mid novel intensity -> low anxiety and high curiosity
○ high novel intensity -> high anxiety
● Uncertainty Intensification Hypothesis
○ uncertainty amplifies positive response to positive events
and negative response to negative events

6. Curiosity and Anxiety
● Individual differences in reticular arousal system (RAS)
sensitivity, cognitive attributions, approach-avoidance
orientations play a key role in interest, but they are also
involved in the expressed of psychopathology
● Kashdan, Elhai, and Breen (2008) wanted to examine how
individuals with varying levels of social anxiety and trait
curiosity related with approach-avoidance conflicts and risk-
taking behaviors in social situations.
○ The approach-avoidance conflict increased internal
conflict and dysfunction in participants with high levels of
both social anxiety and curiosity

7. Curiosity and Health
People with high trait curiosity--people that experience curiosity
longer, stronger, and more frequently--had greater life meaning,
satisfaction, and engaged in more growth behaviors than
people with low trait curiosity.
● High curiosity strongly correlates with
○ decreased hypertension
○ longer life
○ less likely to develop degenerative diseases of CNS
○ anxiety was also shown to had moderate negative
correlations with hope and curiosity.

8. Conclusions
● Research in positive psychology
and interest still growing and still
improving methods
○ State/trait characteristics, RAS,
BAS
● There is a need to further
research on how state and trait
curiosity develops across a
person's lifetime
○ further research into application
■ education, vocation
psychology
● May offer protective effects, but it
is still unclear and may be context
dependent
○ e.g. social situations, old age

9. References
Bar-Anan, Y., Wilson, T.D., & Gilbert, D.T. (2009). The feeling of uncertainty intensifies
affective reactions. Emotion, 9 (1), 123-127.
Kashdan, T. B. & Roberts, J. E. (2006). Affective outcomes in superficial and intimate
interactions: Roles of social anxiety and curiosity. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 140-
167.
Kashdan, T. B , & Steger, M. F. (2007). Curiosity and pathways to well-being and meaning in
life: Traits, states, and everyday behaviors. Motivation and Emotion., 31, 159-173.
Kashdan, T.B., Elhai, J.D., & Breen, W.E. (2008). Social anxiety and disinhibition: An analysis
of curiosity and social rank appraisals, approach-avoidance conflicts, and disruptive
risk- taking behavior. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 22, 925-939.
Michalak, J., Puschel, O., Joormann, J., & Schulte, D. (2006). Implicit motives and explicit
goals: Two distinctive modes of motivational functioning and their relations to
psychopathology. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 13, 81-96.
Richman, L.S., Kubzansky, L., Maseiko, J., Kawachi, I., Choo, P., & Bauer, M. (2005).
Positive emotion and health: Going beyond the negative. Health Psychology, 24(4), 422-429.
Silvia, P.J. (2001). Interest and interests: The psychology of constructive capriciousness. Review
of General Psychology, 5 (3), 270-290.
Silva, P. J. (2008). Interest--The curious emotion. Current Directions in Psychology, 17(1), 57-60.