Virtue:
Diligence
Other names:
Studiousness
Love of learning
Definition:
Diligence moderates our desire for knowledge
Love of learning means a well-developed interest in or disposition to engage deeply with a particular subject. It enables a person to persist in the face of setbacks, challenges and negative feedback (CSV: Krapp & Fink, 1992; Neumann, 1999; Renninger, 2000).
Advice:
Empirical Research:
Diligence or studiousness includes curiosity in the positive, constructive sense. In the negative sense, idle curiosity, it is a vice. Studies show curiosity is linked to creativity, problem-solving ability and desire for challenge (Cacioppo et al., 1996; McCrae & Costa, 1997), as well as to perseverance (Sansone & Smith, 2000). One five-year study of elderly patients found that higher levels of curiosity were correlated with longer lifespans (Swan & Carmelli, 1996). Curiosity is positively correlated with the belief that one can act voluntarily in a situation, but negatively correlated with fear of punishment or desire for tangible external reward (Deci & Ryan, 2000).
Case examples:
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Further reading:
Vices opposed:
(Idle) curiosity
Case Study 1
ReplyDeleteJim Collins is a business consultant and researcher, and author of the book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don’t. In the introduction to this study, he describes his own motive as “curiosity,” or pursuit of knowledge, better described as the virtue of diligence.
"People often ask, 'What motivates you to undertake these huge research projects?' It’s a good question. The answer is, 'Curiosity.' There is nothing I find more exciting than picking a question that I don’t know the answer to and embarking on a quest for answers. It’s deeply satisfying to climb into the boat, like Lewis and Clark, and head west, saying, 'We don’t know what we’ll find when we get there, but we’ll be sure to let you know when we get back.'" (Collins, Good to Great, p. 5)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteIndustrialist and earth-moving machinery inventor R.G. LeTourneau lacked formal education, but was studious in teaching himself the art of mechanics as a young woodcutter in the first decade of the 20th Century. "A correspondence school ad in the back of a magazine caught my attention. Most of it was devoted to the glowing future of the automobile and the riches that would be literally thrust upon the mechanic who understood its innards. Well, I was willing to be forced to get rich through mechanics. I sent for the course.
"When the first lessons arrived, I tried studying them by lantern light at night in the tent I had set up on the job. I don't know how Abe Lincoln managed to study by firelight, but after a day of oak chopping, I fell asleep. I reversed the process by getting up at 4:00 a.m. to study by lantern light until dawn. The trouble with that program was that I'd get so interested in a lesson I'd forget about breakfast. Noon would arrive, and still no wood cut. I finally worked out a schedule of early morning chopping followed by four hours of study between ten and two, and then back to the axe to work off my remaining energy. In that way I worked my way through four correspondence courses that winter and cut enough wood to buy a one-cylinder motorcycle and had 100 cords left over. When I could take the motorcycle apart and put it together again in one day, I had a one-man graduation ceremony for myself and gave myself a B.M. degree for Bachelor of Motorcycles. That ended my education." (LeTourneau, Mover of Men and Mountains, p. 54)