Unpacking wonder: from curiosity to comprehension

Steve Paulson1, Michelle Lani Shiota2, Caspar Henderson3

  • 1Wisconsin Public Radio, Madison, Wisconsin.

Summary

Explore the emerging science behind awe and wonder. Discover how these powerful emotions, from the universe to the human body, drive our quest for knowledge and understanding.

Related Concept Videos

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood01:25

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood

Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development emphasizes the role of thinking in a child's learning process, suggesting that children are naturally curious about their environment. His approach to development is discontinuous, proposing that cognitive abilities progress through distinct stages, each with unique characteristics. Central to Piaget's theory is schemata—mental structures that allow individuals to understand and interpret the world.
Schemata: Building Blocks of Knowledge
1.0K
Cognitive Learning01:21

Cognitive Learning

Cognitive learning is based on purposive behavior, incidental learning, and insight learning.
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
911
Inductive Reasoning00:59

Inductive Reasoning

Inductive reasoning is a form of logical thinking that uses related observations to arrive at a general conclusion. It is uncertain and operates in degrees to which the conclusions are credible. As such, inductive arguments can be weak or strong, rather than valid or invalid, and conclusions can be used to formulate testable, falsifiable hypotheses.
Inductive reasoning is common in descriptive science. A life scientist makes observations and records them. This data can be qualitative or...
64.3K
Problem Solving: Dimensional Analysis01:08

Problem Solving: Dimensional Analysis

Every mathematical equation that connects separate distinct physical quantities must be dimensionally consistent, which implies it must abide by two rules. For this reason, the concept of dimension is crucial. The first rule is that an equation's expressions on either side of an equality must have the exact same dimension, i.e., quantities of the same dimension can be added or removed. The second rule stipulates that all popular mathematical functions, such as exponential, logarithmic, and...
5.7K
Purposive Learning01:22

Purposive Learning

E. C. Tolman emphasized the purposiveness of behavior — the idea that much of our behavior is goal-directed. For instance, employees who aim for a promotion work diligently to meet their targets. Tolman argued that when classical conditioning and operant conditioning occur, the organism acquires certain expectations. In classical conditioning, a child might fear a dog because they expect it to bite. In operant conditioning, a person might consistently work overtime because they expect a...
347
Normal and Tangetial Components: Problem Solving01:24

Normal and Tangetial Components: Problem Solving

Consider a man with a mass of 70 kg seated in a chair connected to a pin support through a member BC. If the man maintains an upright position, the task is to determine the horizontal and vertical reactions of the chair on the man when the member makes a 45° angle with the horizontal. At this moment, the man has a speed of 5 m/s, increasing at a rate of 1 m/s².
498