Curiosity and control: On the determinants of the search for social kriowledge

This report concerns the hypothesis that people will be particularly inclined to seek information about others when they have recently been deprived of control. In Part 1 of a two-part experiment, some participants experienced noncontrollable outcomes on a problem-solving task; others had no such experience. Participants were then introduced to what was ostensibly a second unrelated study in which they expected to interview another individual. Some participants were led to believe that acquiring information about the interviewee would have high utility; others were given no such expectation. The effects of these manipulations of control deprivation and information utility on participants ' inclinations to seek information about the interviewee were assessed. As predicted, participants who experienced noncontrollable outcomes during Part 1 were particularly likely to seek highly diagnostic information during Part 2. There was also an independent tendency for participants to seek highly diagnostic information when they be-lieved that the information had high utility. The relationship between the motive to maintain control and the processes by which people formulate and sustai