Within-person variability in curiosity during daily life and associations with well-being

Abstract

Objective: Curiosity promotes engagement in novel situations and the accruement of resources that promote well-being. An open question is the extent to which curiosity lability, the degree to which curiosity fluctuates over short timescales, impacts well-being. Method: We use data from a 21-day daily diary as well as trait measures in 167 participants (mean age = 25.37 years, SD = 7.34) to test (a) the importance of curiosity lability for depression, flourishing, and life satisfaction, (b) day-to-day associations among curiosity and happiness, depressed mood, anxiety, and physical activity, and (c) the role of day's mood as a mediator between physical activity and curiosity. Results: We observe positive associations among curiosity lability and depression, as well as negative associations among curiosity lability and both life satisfaction and flourishing. Curiosity is higher on days of greater happiness and physical activity, and lower on days of greater depressed mood. We find evidence consistent with day's depressed mood and happiness being mediators between physical activity and curiosity. Conclusions: Greater consistency in curiosity is associated with well-being. We identify several potential sources of augmentation and blunting of curiosity in daily life and provide support for purported mechanisms linking physical activity to curiosity via mood.