Psikoloji Çalışmaları / Studies in Psychology, cilt.43, sa.1, ss.41-58, 2023 (ESCI)
Epistemic curiosity is the desire to seek and acquire new information that
motivates knowledge and exploratory behavior. While epistemic curiosity can
stimulate positive feelings of interest related to novelty-seeking behavior and
the intrinsic joy of discoveries (I-Type), it can also diminish unpleasant and
uncertain experiences, which are associated with the feeling of being deprived
of information (D-Type). Given the growing interest in epistemic curiosity and
its implications in education, specific assessment tools are needed to measure
early indicators of Type-I and Type-D epistemic curiosity, particularly in local
contexts. In this study, the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the
I-Type/D-Type Epistemic Curiosity Scale for Young Children were investigated.
The 10-item I-Type/D-Type Epistemic Curiosity Scale for Young Children was
developed by Piotrowski and colleagues (2014) to assess children’s epistemic
curiosity based on parents’ observations. The participants of the study were 636
children (F = 302; M = 334). The ages of the children ranged from 48 to 83 months
(M = 68.34; SD = 7.96). Data were obtained from the mothers. The scale’s factor
structure was tested with Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The results showed that
the Turkish version of the scale also has a similar two-factor (I-Type/Y-Type)
structure to the original scale. Furthermore, for construct validity, zero-order
correlations reported a significant positive relationship between self-regulation
and I-Type and D-type epistemic curiosity, as hypothesized. Additionally,
a partial correlation between curiosity type and self-regulation highlighted
the divergence of two I-Type and D-Type epistemic curiosity. These findings
indicated that the 10-item, two-factor I-Type/D-Type Epistemic Curiosity Scale
for Young Children is reliable and valid for assessing young children’s curiosity
through mothers’ ratings.