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Curiosity gets tamped down
Where It Starts
At four, children ask why over and over and probably drive their parents nuts. Kindergarten changes that. Blurting out a why is no longer allowed, and a question has to wait for a raised hand while the kids around them beg to be chosen.
The questions keep shrinking. By middle school, asking one can be embarrassing.
The First Job
Picture a first job out of college, surrounded by older, experienced colleagues, when something comes up that makes no sense. The choice is to ask and admit to not understanding, or to stay quiet and hope to figure it out later. A lot of people stay quiet, and each time, curiosity gets tamped down a little more.
Why do young children ask so many questions?
Children use questions as a tool for learning about a world they cannot yet work out alone. Developmental psychologist Michelle Chouinard analyzed recordings of children and found they asked dozens of questions an hour. In a 2009 study by Brandy Frazier, Susan Gelman, and Henry Wellman, preschoolers who got answers that explained nothing kept asking.
Why can asking for help look smart?
Alison Wood Brooks, Francesca Gino, and Maurice Schweitzer ran experiments published in 2015. People who asked others for advice were rated as more competent by the people they asked. The effect was strongest on hard tasks, where asking suggested the person knew which parts were difficult.
How do questions affect being liked?
A 2017 study led by Karen Huang, with Alison Wood Brooks and colleagues, found that people who asked more questions, especially follow-up questions, were liked more by their conversation partners. The finding held in online chats and at real speed-dating events. In the speed-dating events, people who asked more follow-up questions were more likely to get second dates.
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