The Gilding-the-Lily Effect: Exploratory Behavior Energized by Curiosity

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Mowei Shen¹  Pengpeng Liu¹  Xinyu Li²  Jifan Zhou¹  Hui Chen¹ 

[1] Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University;Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University

关键词: gild the lily;    superfluous behavior;    curiosity;    interest;    deprivation;    exploration;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01381

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The widespread metaphor “to gild the lily” suggests that people usually engage in superfluous behaviors. Understanding the cognitive mechanism underlying superfluous behaviors helps individuals to reduce possible waste and even disasters incurred by unnecessary actions. Here, we assumed that curiosity for new information partly pushes people to make needless efforts. This hypothesis was tested through three experiments. In three experiments, we found that when participants knew that expending more efforts than task requirements brought no better results, they still exerted various exploratory activities to fulfill curiosity. These results imply that the impulsion to satisfy the desire for information could partly drive individuals to indulge in unnecessary activities over mission demands. Present research improves the comprehension of irrational superfluous behavior and provides directions to reduce loss and waste caused by gilding the lily.

【 授权许可】

CC BY