Division of labor (specialization) is widely considered a cornerstone of modern productivity, yet its potential psychological costs are not well understood. We examined whether division of labor reduces curiosity–the motivation to explore and learn new things. Across four experiments (N = 821), participants who work, or are expected to work, in divided labor settings showed lower curiosity than those who work in undivided settings. Analyses of three large cross-sectional datasets and one longitudinal panel (N = 320,119) showed that similar patterns generalized across countries, industries, economic contexts, and personality profiles. Together, these findings suggest that, as work becomes more divided, people’s motivation to explore and learn new things may diminish.

About the speaker: Shigehiro Oishi is the Marshall Field IV Distinguished Service Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on culture, social ecology (e.g., residential mobility, walkability, income inequality), and well-being (e.g., happiness, meaning in life, psychological richness). He is an author of Life in Three Dimensions (Doubleday/Penguin-Random house) and 「幸せを科学する」”Doing The Science of Happiness” Shinyosha, Tokyo, Japan. He won the 2017 Society of Experimental Social Psychology Career Trajectory Award, the 2018 Carol and Ed Diener Award in Social Psychology from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the 2021 Outstanding Achievement Award for Advancing Cultural Psychology. He is a member of the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences.