① Why do people read negative Internet comments and do other things that will obviously be painful? Because humans have an inherent need to ____1____ uncertainty, according to a recent study in Psychological Science. The new research reveals that the need to know is so strong that people will ____2____ to satisfy their curiosity even when it is clear the answer will ____3____.
② In a series of four experiments, behavioral scientists at the University of Chicago and the Wisconsin School of Business tested students’ willingness to ____4____ themselves to unpleasant stimuli in an effort to satisfy curiosity. For one ____5____, each participant was shown a pile of pens that the researcher claimed were from a previous experiment. The twist? Half of the pens would ____6____ an electric shock when clicked.
③ Twenty-seven students were told which pens were electrified; another twenty-seven were told only that some were electrified. ____7____left alone in the room, the students who did not know which ones would shock them clicked more pens and incurred more shocks than the students who knew what would ____8____. Subsequent experiments reproduced this effect with other stimuli, ____9____ the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard and photographs of disgusting insects.
④ The drive to ____10____ is deeply rooted in humans, much the same as the basic drives for ____11____ or shelter, says Christopher Hsee of the University of Chicago. Curiosity is often considered a good instinct – it can ____12____ new scientific advances, for instance – but sometimes such ____13____ can backfire. The insight that curiosity can drive you to do ____14____ things is a profound one.
⑤ Unhealthy curiosity is possible to ____15____, however. In a final experiment, participants who were encouraged to ____16____ how they would feel after viewing an unpleasant picture were less likely to ____17____ to see such an image. These results suggest that imagining the ____18____ of following through on one’s curiosity ahead of time can help determine ____19____ it is worth the endeavor. “Thinking about long-term
⑥ ____20____ is key to reducing the possible negative effects of curiosity,” Hsee says. In other words, don’t read online comments.
