Poster #181 - Curiosity in Preschoolers: A Person-Centered Approach

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - School Readiness/Childcare

Integrative Statement

Curiosity refers to the desire to resolve uncertainty in the environment by increasing knowledge through exploratory behavior (Lowenstein, 1994). Stimuli that are novel, ambiguous, or complex commonly evoke curiosity; however, individuals differ in their reactions to these situational determinants (Jirout & Klahr, 2012). Given that curiosity is considered a foundation of school readiness (Early Head Start National Resource Center, 2012; Shah, Weeks, Richards, & Kaciroti, 2018), understanding early variations in curiosity is imperative for promoting optimal outcomes across development.

Despite the key contributions of curiosity to healthy child development, there is no standard approach to measuring this construct (Jirout & Klahr, 2012). In our lab, we have taken a multivariate, observational approach to assessing curiosity among preschoolers. Specifically, we presented preschoolers with novel items and uncertain situations, and then coded their responses. During a Novel Foods procedure, children were invited to taste two familiar snacks (carrots and graham crackers) and three novel snacks (nori, haw jelly, and lychee; Moding & Stifter, 2014). In a Novel Toys procedure, children and their parents were invited to play with several toys, including some deemed familiar (i.e., a ball, baby doll, stuffed dog, model cars, and model horses) and some deemed novel (i.e., a pogo stick, nesting dolls, robot dog, spaceship, and alien). A Drawer Box procedure involved presenting children with a set of closed, opaque drawers that each contained a small toy; children were encouraged to open as many drawers as they liked and play with the toys inside (Henderson & Moore, 1979). During a computer game, children were encouraged to explore a virtual town by clicking on the edges of the screen or items that moved (i.e., cars, birds) to travel to new screen locations. During an Ambiguous Situation procedure, the child was left alone in the lab with an item the experimenter had just found and indicated was potentially unsafe.

Cluster analysis was utilized to reduce these data and explore how behavior during these procedures grouped within children. Preliminary hierarchical cluster analysis indicated considerable clustering structure (agglomerative coefficient = 0.91), verifying the appropriateness of this methodological approach. Four distinct clusters emerged, and these diverged primarily on exploration during the computer game and secondarily on novel food acceptance. Thus, children appear to differ significantly from each other in early curiosity and exploratory behavior. Further analyses will use alternate clustering algorithms and attempt to piece apart the contributions of the remaining variables.

Authors

• Penina Backer, Pennsylvania State University
  Presenting Author

• Katharine Grills, The Pennsylvania State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Cindy Stifter, Pennsylvania State University
  Non-Presenting Author