Specific and Diversive Curiosity in Students in Special Education Classes

Abstract

Two tests of curiosity, designed for mentally retarded or nonverbal individuals, were given to 40 children selected from classes for gifted, learning disabilities, personal and social adjustment, and mentally retarded children in a small rural school system in the midwest. Each subject was administered four trials with the Maze Test, a measure of diversive curiosity (a state induced by conditions of changelessness, repetition, and monotony) and one trial with the Which-to-discuss Test, a measure of specific curiosity (a state induced by conditions and stimuli high in complexity, incongruity, or novelty). The gifted group performed significantly higher on the Which-to-discuss Test than the other three groups, and the mentally retarded performed significantly lower on the Maze Test than the other three groups.