Opinion Blog

Ask a Psychologist

Helping Students Thrive Now

Angela Duckworth and other behavioral-science experts offer advice to teachers based on scientific research. Read more from this blog.

Student Well-Being Opinion

How to Increase Curiosity—and Happiness to Boot

By Angela Duckworth — May 26, 2021 2 min read
Does curiosity make me happier?
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Why is curiosity useful?
Curiosity helps you process information deeply and remember what you learn. It’s also correlated with happiness. Here’s something I wrote about the topic recently for Character Lab as a Tip of the Week:
“Cows don’t get cavities.”
“Really?”
“Nope. They don’t. Surprising, right? They eat all day long. And obviously, they’re not brushing their teeth.”
Mark was getting excited now.
And so was I. It wasn’t that I had strong preexisting convictions about cows and cavities. But nonetheless, I leaned forward, eyes wide, eager to know more.
“Neither do horses,” Mark continued. “Unless you feed them sugar cubes, of course.”
Mark Wolff is the dean of Penn Dental Medicine. He has known for a long time that refined sugar is a massively important cause of cavities—much more important than I’d realized.
At dinner with my family that evening, I couldn’t wait to share my new fun fact. And after dinner (decaffeinated coffee, no sugar), I found myself on an hourslong “wild Google chase,” learning about how sugar feeds the bacteria that naturally live in our mouths, which leads the bacteria to multiply. They digest the sugar, producing acid as a waste product—and the acid erodes the enamel on our teeth.
What good is curiosity—the emotion that dilates our pupils and propels us to ask questions and pay special attention to the information we hunt down?
Recent research suggests that consistent curiosity goes hand in hand with happiness. For 21 days, participants kept a daily diary in which they responded to several different measures of well-being and, in addition, two curiosity questions:
Today, I viewed challenging situations as an opportunity to grow and learn.
Everywhere I went today, I was out looking for new things or experiences.
On a scale from 0 (not at all) to 10 (very), the average rating for these curiosity questions was about 3—quite a bit lower than I would have expected—but there was a lot of variability, both across days and between people.
It turns out that consistently high ratings on these curiosity questions were correlated with higher ratings of life satisfaction, flourishing relationships, feelings of competence, and physical exercise.
Of course, with a diary study like this one, it’s impossible to tell whether curiosity causes happiness or, in fact, happiness causes curiosity—or if some third variable encourages both curiosity and happiness. I suspect that, as with so much of life, all three possibilities have at least some truth.
For me, a day when I ask a lot of questions is a very good day. And the two questions in the diary study are a wonderful reminder of how I want to live my life.
Try kicking off tonight’s dinner conversation with this question: “Did you learn anything new today?” Be ready to go first with something you learned. And make sure everyone takes a turn. As Albert Einstein once observed: “The important thing is not to stop questioning.”

The opinions expressed in Ask a Psychologist: Helping Students Thrive Now are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

Events

Artificial Intelligence Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: Math & Technology: Finding the Recipe for Student Success
How should we balance AI & math instruction? Join our discussion on preparing future-ready students.
Teaching Profession K-12 Essentials Forum New Insights Into the Teaching Profession
Join this free virtual event to get exclusive insights from Education Week's State of Teaching project.
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Student Well-Being Student Well-Being Report Shows How Kids Are Doing in Education and Beyond
Student well-being has seen some progress, but education continues to decline.
5 min read
Students work together on an assignment about ecosystems and environmental impacts during a 7th grade science class.
Students work together on an assignment about ecosystems and environmental impacts during a 7th grade science class. Education continues to decline in the latest report on children's well-being.
Allison Shelley for All4Ed
Student Well-Being What School Leaders Learned When They Talked to Families About Absenteeism
A district enlisted its community to find out why students were missing school and responded accordingly.
5 min read
Image of a school bus driving on the road in the rain.
Willowpix/iStock/Getty
Student Well-Being Opinion Social Media Is Awash With Bad Health Advice. This Lesson Can Help
Why a librarian and health educator teamed up to teach students the red flags of misleading claims.
Nicole Murphy & Cynthia Sandler
4 min read
This image portrays a young woman deeply engaged with her smartphone, seen through a distorted, swirling blur effect. The artistic composition highlights the concept of doomscrolling, brainrot, digital addiction, social media immersion, and the modern reliance on technology. The surreal perspective creates a sense of detachment, illustrating how screens can shape and blur reality.
E+/Getty
Student Well-Being What RFK Jr.'s New COVID Shot Recommendations Could Mean for Students
The health and human services secretary said that annual COVID shots are no longer recommended for healthy children.
5 min read
Elsa Estrada, 6, smiles at her mother as pharmacist Sylvia Uong applies an alcohol swab to her arm before administering the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a pediatric vaccine clinic for children ages 5 to 11 set up at Willard Intermediate School in Santa Ana, Calif., Nov. 9, 2021.
Elsa Estrada, 6, smiles at her mother as pharmacist Sylvia Uong applies an alcohol swab to her arm before administering the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a pediatric vaccine clinic in Santa Ana, Calif., on Nov. 9, 2021. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is no longer recommending annual COVID shots for healthy children.
Jae C. Hong/AP