Is curiosity a trait or a skill? Most people answer quickly. Too quickly. And the speed of that answer probably tells you more about their assumptions than the question does. We tend to treat curiosity as something you either have or don't. A personality feature. A gift. But this framing carries a hidden weight. It tends to privilege people who grew up in environments where questioning was safe, where not-knowing wasn't something to be ashamed of. When we call curiosity innate, we're often just describing the conditions some people were lucky enough to grow up inside. This is what the research actually suggests: Curiosity isn't a fixed quantity. It's closer to a tolerance for uncertainty. And that capacity is absolutely shaped by experience, context, and deliberate practice. Which means it functions very much like a skill. Fear suppresses curiosity more reliably than any absence of talent. Environments that reward smart questions while punishing dumb ones are quietly destroying the very thing they claim to want. Nobody notices the question that never got asked. This came up in a conversation with Ian Kitajima and Cassie Nii yesterday on The Learning Buzz Episode 5, where we talked about the evolution of L&D into creator communities and kept circling back to the same uncomfortable truth: the most important thing a learning community can cultivate isn't content or tools. It's the permission and practice of genuine inquiry. Check out the webinar recording: https://lnkd.in/g8sk2R-A Critical analysis doesn't begin with frameworks alone. It begins with a willingness to not-know. Design thinking is often taught as a process, a toolkit. But the process is hollow without the foundational move underneath it: the suspension of certainty long enough to actually see what's there. That move is curiosity. Not as mood or personality. As practiced capacity. Curiosity isn't a nice-to-have that precedes learning. It is the learning. And our job, as instructional designers really, is to design conditions in which it can safely exist. That's a harder problem than most learning experiences account for. #StayCurious #TheLearningBuzz #AppositeLearning
Eps 5 The Evolution Of L&D As A Creator Community
https://www.youtube.com/
Cassie Nii
3mo
Viṣakhananda S - what's funny is that I think in our younger years curiosity is a trait, but as we get older it becomes a skill due to the life experiences we build. However, there are some where curiosity is a continuous trait for them leading to many of the innovations we see today in our world. BUT, when it comes to learning, curiosity is like a muscle we have to continue to exercise. We need to lift weights to build it up and that can be in the form of challenging our thoughts and mindset, and it also needs cardio to keep it on a track to keep asking the questions "how might we" and "what if." We all need a good reminder to stay curious and live in curiosity, even when the world around us wants to put us in a box.
Great question! It's a trait akin to Novelty Seeking ..at the same time a skill that needs constant sharpening. I feel L&D would benefit by looking at it as a meta competency that needs to be carefully nurtured and measured for a positive impact.
Love this take. We’re so quick to call curiosity a trait, while it really behaves more like a muscle. Not for nothing is curiosity one of the core enduring human capabilities - the “tolerance for uncertainty” is ever so important to keep the culture of learning moving forward.