Examining curiosity and task performance in cybersecurity and computer science students
Curiosity is a multidimensional concept consisting of various constructs including interest-type curiosity (or joyous exploration) and deprivation-type curiosity (or deprivation sensitivity) that has been found to impact behavior in organizational contexts, such as the workplace and educational sett...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-09-01
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| Series: | Acta Psychologica |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825007309 |
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| author | Tina M. Sutton Shanchieh Yang Isabella Totino |
| author_facet | Tina M. Sutton Shanchieh Yang Isabella Totino |
| author_sort | Tina M. Sutton |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Curiosity is a multidimensional concept consisting of various constructs including interest-type curiosity (or joyous exploration) and deprivation-type curiosity (or deprivation sensitivity) that has been found to impact behavior in organizational contexts, such as the workplace and educational settings (Yow et al., 2022). The craft of cybersecurity hacking is said to be “led by curiosity” (Steinmetz, 2015, pp. 57). The current study examined interest-type and deprivation-type curiosity among computer science and cybersecurity students varying in self-reported levels of cybersecurity proficiency. In addition, participants completed a set of coding and debugging tasks to determine how proficiency and curiosity impacted performance. Deprivation-type curiosity was higher in participants with greater proficiency, but there was no difference in interest-type curiosity between individuals with more or less cybersecurity proficiency. In addition, participants with greater proficiency demonstrated greater accuracy and efficiency when completing the coding/debugging problems. Higher levels of deprivation-type curiosity may lead to greater persistence for learning, and a need to reduce tension or uncertainty, resulting in better performance on the coding/debugging task in the current study. Implications for including curiosity in college curriculum are discussed. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4009b4406b214b91bccd67904da3c8d5 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0001-6918 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Psychologica |
| spelling | doaj-art-4009b4406b214b91bccd67904da3c8d52025-08-23T04:47:18ZengElsevierActa Psychologica0001-69182025-09-0125910541710.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105417Examining curiosity and task performance in cybersecurity and computer science studentsTina M. Sutton0Shanchieh Yang1Isabella Totino2Rochester Institute of Technology, Department of Psychology, United States of America; Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, Rochester Institute of Technology, 18 Lomb Memorial Drive, Eastman 2386, Rochester, NY 14623, United States of America.Gonzaga University, Institute for Informatics and Applied Technology, United States of AmericaRochester Institute of Technology, United States of AmericaCuriosity is a multidimensional concept consisting of various constructs including interest-type curiosity (or joyous exploration) and deprivation-type curiosity (or deprivation sensitivity) that has been found to impact behavior in organizational contexts, such as the workplace and educational settings (Yow et al., 2022). The craft of cybersecurity hacking is said to be “led by curiosity” (Steinmetz, 2015, pp. 57). The current study examined interest-type and deprivation-type curiosity among computer science and cybersecurity students varying in self-reported levels of cybersecurity proficiency. In addition, participants completed a set of coding and debugging tasks to determine how proficiency and curiosity impacted performance. Deprivation-type curiosity was higher in participants with greater proficiency, but there was no difference in interest-type curiosity between individuals with more or less cybersecurity proficiency. In addition, participants with greater proficiency demonstrated greater accuracy and efficiency when completing the coding/debugging problems. Higher levels of deprivation-type curiosity may lead to greater persistence for learning, and a need to reduce tension or uncertainty, resulting in better performance on the coding/debugging task in the current study. Implications for including curiosity in college curriculum are discussed.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825007309CuriosityDeprivation sensitivityCybersecurity proficiency |
| spellingShingle | Tina M. Sutton Shanchieh Yang Isabella Totino Examining curiosity and task performance in cybersecurity and computer science students Acta Psychologica Curiosity Deprivation sensitivity Cybersecurity proficiency |
| title | Examining curiosity and task performance in cybersecurity and computer science students |
| title_full | Examining curiosity and task performance in cybersecurity and computer science students |
| title_fullStr | Examining curiosity and task performance in cybersecurity and computer science students |
| title_full_unstemmed | Examining curiosity and task performance in cybersecurity and computer science students |
| title_short | Examining curiosity and task performance in cybersecurity and computer science students |
| title_sort | examining curiosity and task performance in cybersecurity and computer science students |
| topic | Curiosity Deprivation sensitivity Cybersecurity proficiency |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825007309 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tinamsutton examiningcuriosityandtaskperformanceincybersecurityandcomputersciencestudents AT shanchiehyang examiningcuriosityandtaskperformanceincybersecurityandcomputersciencestudents AT isabellatotino examiningcuriosityandtaskperformanceincybersecurityandcomputersciencestudents |