Epistemic Curiosity in Young Children (I/D-YC)

Description

Epistemic curiosity (EC) is the desire to obtain new knowledge capable of either producing positive experiences of intellectual interest (I-type) or of reducing undesirable conditions of informational deprivation (D-type). The I/D-Young Children (I/D-YC) is a measure of epistemic curiosity in young children, capturing both the I- and D-type components of epistemic curiosity. This measure is designed as a parent-report measure.

Location

Piotrowski, J.T., Litman, J.A., & Valkenburg, P.M. (2014). Measuring epistemic curiosity in young children. Infant and Child Development, 23(5), 542-533. doi: 10.1002/icd.1847

Instruction

Please indicate how frequently the child you are observing appears to express the characteristics or behaviors described in each statement is below. Base your ratings for each statement on your honest assessment of the child’s intellectual exploration and inquisitiveness as compared to other children around the same age. (Response categories: Almost never, sometimes, often, almost always) 

1. My child has fun learning about new topics or subjects.

2. When presented with a tough problem, my child focuses all of his/her attention on how to solve it.

3. My child is attracted to new things in his/her environment.

4. My child devotes considerable effort trying to figure out things that are confusing or unclear.

5. My child enjoys talking about topics that are new to him /her.

6. My child is bothered when he/she does not understand something, and tries hard to make sense of it.

7. My child shows visible enjoyment when discovering something new.

8. My child will work for a long time to solve a problem because he/she wants to know the answer.

9. When my child is learning something new, he/she asks many questions about it.

10. My child carefully examines things by turning them around or looking at them from all sides. 

I-type score is established by averaging items odd-numbered items (1, 3, 5, 7, 9).  

D-type score is established by averaging items even-numbered items (2, 4, 6, 8, 10).