{"id":3747,"date":"2024-10-18T12:40:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T11:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/?p=3747"},"modified":"2025-06-02T14:10:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T13:10:30","slug":"lessons-from-the-best-recapturing-our-curiosity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/blog\/lessons-from-the-best-recapturing-our-curiosity\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from the best \u2013 recapturing our curiosity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.<\/em>\u201d  – Albert Einstein <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curiosity takes us to incredible places. It is not just about asking the question, but being brave enough to find out the answer. But this is easier said than done. The reality of being curious can be a difficult, knotty process that requires conscious work.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is a more enjoyable way forward should we make space for it, drawing on the work of British-Canadian psychologist\u00a0Daniel Berlyne<\/a>.\u00a0
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lessons from the brightest minds<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite being difficult, curiosity is essential. Look around. Everything you see is here because someone asked a question and went from there.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine the scene\u2026 It\u2019s the 1600s, a man is sitting beneath an apple tree. The fruit falls from it, landing at his feet. He asks a very simple question\u2026 why? From there Isaac Newton lays the foundation of gravitational theory, which we hold as obvious to this day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lessons from the developing minds<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one of our previous articles<\/a>, Dan Cooper brilliantly laid out how curiosity should be at the heart of everything that we do in our industry too, showcased in no better way than through the questions bombarded at us by the children in our lives.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This presents us with a problem \u2013 most of us are not Newton, nor do we have the neuroplasticity of a toddler. Curiosity isn\u2019t as easy for most of us as it is often made out to be. And the psychological literature bears this out. Berlyne distinguishes between two types of curiosity.  <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 | The hard part – Perceptual curiosity  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure we all know that feeling – some data or information lands at our feet and it doesn\u2019t quite line up with what we thought<\/em> we knew. Cue headaches, intense nagging feelings and a racing internal monologue (or maybe that\u2019s just me?).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is perceptual curiosity \u2013 the discomforting sensation caused by unexpected or contradictory information and our desire to work through these knotty problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, in our world of research and business, it probably feels like where a lot of briefs come from. Sales going down, metrics not looking quite right\u2026 a burning need to find out the answer yesterday. It\u2019s natural, but not necessarily a pleasant experience, and actually triggers brain areas associated with conflict and primal needs like hunger and thirst, hence the very affronting response!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is also another way, should we make space for it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 | Making space – Epistemic curiosity <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If perceptual curiosity is fuelled by a bit of panic, epistemic curiosity is the opposite, driven by the anticipation of rewards. And it does feel good, stimulating the reward centre of the brain, rather than the panic stations \u2013 finding the answer feels like a win, not just a relief!   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is something that we always have in us, but can lie dormant \u2013 in individuals, teams or whole organisations. The joy of learning which is so inherent and unfiltered in childhood is still there \u2013 it\u2019s just tempered by ourselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is therefore important is that we make space for this type of curiosity. There will always be questions that need<\/em> to be answered, but we should also be making space for the questions we want <\/em>answered.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

 Some of the highlight briefs I have worked on have come from wacky conversations \u2013 people having the bravery to ask a question that was interesting<\/em>, the questions that felt curious, not just something that the business needed. These not only can be career highlights, but have profound power to shake up conventional wisdom. Creating new narratives, new icons, and new paths forward. For the world was once flat, and gravity didn\u2019t exist.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all have curiosity inside of us. You just need to take that first step and ask the question. We\u2019re curious as to what these are, and would love to hear about them \u2013 so if you\u2019re feeling brave and want to take that first step, we\u2019re here to have that first chat. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.\u201d  – Albert Einstein  Curiosity takes us to incredible places. It is not just about asking the question, but being brave enough to find out the answer. But this is easier said than done. The reality of being curious can be a difficult, knotty process that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3747"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3791,"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3747\/revisions\/3791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}