Curiosity , Problem with Defination

When I decided on curiosity as my topic, I did some poking around and found surprisingly little about this subject online.  The conversation or article about curiosity doesn’t run nearly as deep and wide as topics such as creativity, innovation, community, relationship building, social media…

The first response in a Google search of the word curiosity that opens up as follows:

Curiosity is an emotion that causes natural inquisitive behaviour such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human and many animal species. The term can also be used to denote the behavior itself being caused by the emotion of curiosity. As this emotion represents a drive to know new things, curiosity is the fuel of science and all other disciplines of human study.

- Wikipedia entry

Emotion?  I would say...  I have to disagree with that. Emotions are complex psychological state and I believe curiosity is closely tied to one’s conscious desire to understand more about themselves and the world around them. When asked how you feel, you may decide at that moment that you’re curious about something which I feel describes your mental awareness, not your psychological state.

Which makes me wonder how curiosity is, or should be, defined.  I’ve decided curiosity to be as the dictionary  — Curiosity is actively exploring your environment, asking questions, investigating possibilities, and possessing a sense of both wonder and doubt.— which sounds very clinical because that’s the best way to describe it in the moment

“The important thing is not to stop questioning… Never lose a holy curiosity."
- Albert Einstein