Curiosity is Harmful to Humans, Here's Why

A new research gives nod to the proverb "curiosity killed the cat". The recently conducted study has found that powerful curiosity can sometime leads humans to choose unpleasant and painful outcomes despite them not having any benefit, especially when these outcomes can be avoided altogether.

"Just as curiosity drove Pandora to open the box despite being warned of its pernicious contents, curiosity can lure humans--like you and me--to seek information with predictably ominous consequences," said Bowen Ruan, study author at Wisconsin School of Business.

According to previous studies it has been found that curiosity, which is a powerful motivator, drives people to go in pursuit of miserable experiences, which include the exploration of dangerous terrain to something seemingly simpler as watching terrible scenes. The new study suggests that curiosity arises from our deep rooted desire to resolve uncertainty, without considering the harm that can go hand‐in‐hand with it.

The hypothesis was tested by conducting a series of experiments where volunteers were exposed to a range of unpleasant outcomes. In one of the studies the participants, who were shown electric-shock pens that were proclaimed to be leftovers from a previous experiment, were told to click the pens to pass time until the "real" experiment began. Incidentally, the pens were color coded according to the levels of current they would emit for one batch of participants, whereas for another group of volunteers the pens weren't demarcated by color.

It was noted that students who were given the non-color coded electric-shock pens clicked more than those who had the color coded pens and were aware of the resultant shock levels. According to the results, it was clear that students in possession of pens where the shock denominator was unknown ended up clicking more on the pens than the other group.

A spate of similar experiments, including two that were related to sound and pictures, produced similar results. As per reports, it was more interesting to note that participants who had clicked more times felt worse afterward. The result also implied that volunteers who faced uncertain outcomes, due to the choice of pens, were less happy than those who faced certain outcomes.

According to researchers, the findings from the recent experiments make a substantial point. Curiosity, which seems like a blessing, can also become a curse. Humans have a tendency to seek information just to satisfy their curiosity without giving any thought to their action and its outcome in the future.