A team of researchers, headed by Dale Zhou from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Dani Bassett from Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, analyzed the usage patterns of Wikipedia by nearly half a million users from around the globe. Their study unveiled significant variations in browsing behaviors among different countries, shedding light on cultural distinctions and factors that might influence curiosity and learning.
At some point, you might have gone online seeking a specific piece of information only to find yourself “going down the Wiki rabbit hole,” stumbling upon a myriad of new, intriguing topics — some of which may be trivial while others may hold relevance. You might have journeyed so deep that recalling your initial inquiry becomes a challenge.
Dani Bassett from the University of Pennsylvania, who collaborated with a research team to analyze the browsing habits of 482,760 Wikipedia users across 50 countries, referred to this type of information gathering as the “busybody.” This term describes individuals who leap from one piece of information to another, often without significant connections between the two.
“The busybody is intrigued by anything new and jumps from one subject to another seemingly randomly. In contrast, a ‘hunter’ is a more focused individual who is driven by specific goals, such as solving a problem or completing a puzzle about the world,” states Bassett.
In a study published in the journal Science Advances, Bassett and her colleagues observed noteworthy differences in browsing behaviors between countries that exhibit higher levels of education and gender equality versus those with greater inequality. This raises pertinent questions about how cultural factors shape curiosity and learning processes.
“Our findings indicate that in nations with more significant inequality in terms of gender and education access, individuals are more purposeful in their browsing — they search for closely related information. Conversely, in countries with more equality, people tend to explore a broader range of topics, leisurely moving between various subjects and gathering loosely related information,” Bassett notes. “While we aren’t entirely sure why this occurs, we have some educated guesses, and we believe these revelations will assist scientists in our field in better understanding the nature of curiosity.”
This research builds upon a prior study by assistant professor David Lydon-Staley from the Annenberg School for Communication, who was once a postdoctoral researcher in Bassett’s Complex Systems Lab.
In their earlier work, 149 participants from Philadelphia spent 15 minutes daily browsing Wikipedia for 21 consecutive days. Through this research, they identified two distinct curiosity styles originally theorized by Perry Zurn, one of the paper’s co-authors and a philosophy professor at American University, who analyzed literature spanning over two millennia to identify these curiosity frameworks.
“Starting this line of research with a small sample allowed us to refine methods to capture the intricate information-seeking behavior associated with curiosity,” Lydon-Staley mentions. “Once we developed these methods, we were able to scale our research and investigate whether the curiosity styles we identified could be observed beyond our Philadelphia participants.”
Partnering with Martin Gerlach from the Wikimedia Foundation, who provided access to data on over two million users, “enabled us to apply our existing techniques, as well as formulate new methods to capture curiosity patterns across 14 different languages and 50 various countries or regions,” Lydon-Staley explains.
The three hypotheses
The researchers propose three primary hypotheses that could explain the link between browsing behaviors and equality levels.
“One possibility is that nations with more inequality tend to have more patriarchal societal structures that limit knowledge production to be more ‘hunter-like,’ while more equal countries may foster a wider array of ideas, encouraging more open-minded browsing, akin to the busybody approach,” Bassett suggests. “On the other hand, individuals from countries with greater equality might use Wikipedia for casual exploration or entertainment rather than for serious research.”
The third explanation posits that demographic differences — such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, or educational achievement among Wikipedia users in various countries — might clarify the observed differences in browsing habits.
Exploring connections
One of the most intriguing discoveries of the study was the validation of a third curiosity type — the “dancer,” which had only been theorized based on Zurn’s examination of historical texts.
“The dancer is someone who navigates an information pathway but, unlike the busybody, they creatively leap between ideas in a thoughtful, almost choreographed manner,” Zurn explains. “They do not jump around aimlessly; instead, they forge connections across different domains to innovate something new.”
This curiosity style demonstrates creativity and interdisciplinary thought, offering fresh insights into information engagement. “It illustrates a move away from randomness towards recognizing connections where others may not,” Bassett adds.
“This suggests that individuals — and likely children — possess distinct curiosity styles that may impact their learning approaches,” Bassett continues. “For instance, a child exhibiting a hunter-like curiosity may find it challenging to thrive in learning environments favoring a busybody approach, and vice versa. Gaining an understanding of these styles could help in personalizing educational experiences to better cater to specific learning needs.”
Future directions for curiosity research
Looking ahead, the research team aims to delve deeper into factors affecting these curiosity styles.
“One question I’m particularly eager to explore is whether individuals browse differently at various times of the day — perhaps showing more hunter-like tendencies in the morning and adopting a busybody approach in the evenings,” Bassett notes.
“This opens avenues for new research, including investigating the influence of biological rhythms on our information-seeking habits,” says Shubhankar Patankar, another contributor to the study and a doctoral student in Penn Engineering. He is also interested in the implications of this research for artificial intelligence. “Incorporating concepts of curiosity into AI systems, especially those learning from user interactions, is becoming a crucial area of study,” Patankar adds.
The research team intends to explore the motivations behind Wikipedia use, assessing whether users are driven by external factors, like work, or by intrinsic curiosity stemming from personal interests. Furthermore, they are contemplating broadening their analyses to encompass other digital platforms conducive to learning and exploration.
“Wikipedia stands out as a unique online space,” Lydon-Staley points out. “The platform exclusively provides free content and avoids commercial advertisements. In contrast, much of today’s digital content is often tailored to stimulate consumer behavior and customize our media consumption, prompting questions about how much control we really have over the direction of our curiosity beyond Wikipedia.”
Dani S. Bassett is the J. Peter Skirkanich Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, holding primary and secondary appointments in various departments including the School of Engineering and Applied Science’s Department of Bioengineering, the School of Arts & Sciences’ Department of Physics & Astronomy, and multiple departments within the Perelman School of Medicine.
Martin Gerlach is a senior research scientist for the Wikimedia Foundation.
David Lydon-Staley is an assistant professor of communication and the principal investigator of the Addiction, Health, & Adolescence Lab in the Annenberg School for Communication at Penn.
Shubhankar Patankar is a doctoral student at Penn Engineering.
Dale Zhou was a Ph.D. candidate in the Perelman School of Medicine and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Irvine.
Perry Zurn is an associate professor and undergraduate studies director in philosophy at American University within the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Philosophy and Religion.
This research was funded by the George E. Hewitt Foundation for Medical Research, the Center for Curiosity, and the National Institute of Health (Grant K01 DA047417).
