Curiosity sparks intellectual growth, Argentine study finds

A year-long study of 521 Argentine university students suggests that curiosity acts as a foundational intellectual virtue, predicting later gains in attention and autonomy. The research, led by Claudia Vanney and Belén Mesurado of the Universidad Austral and Conicet, was published in the International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology Source: lavozar, infobae.

Key findings

• Students with higher initial curiosity showed relative increases in attention and intellectual autonomy one year later; no other virtue predicted later curiosity Source: infobae.
• Attention emerged as a central mediator, associated with later gains in carefulness, open-mindedness, and autonomy Source: lavozar, infobae.
• Open-mindedness also predicted later autonomy Source: infobae.

Implications

Authors propose that educators should prioritize sparking interest and concentration before cultivating other virtues, offering a roadmap for fostering critical thinkers in an era of AI and instant information Source: lavozar. However, they caution that effects were modest and that the sample—99.2% aged 18–25 from a single university—limits generalizability Source: infobae.