{"id":1421,"slug":"curiosity-gaps-backfire-when-too-vague-2024","title":"Curiosity gaps can BACKFIRE when teasers are too vague/abstract — information-seeking drops (Scientific Reports 2024; OBHDP 2023 frustration finding)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","smb-owner","candid-team"],"topics":["editorial-discipline","interactive-tool-mechanisms","curiosity-information-gap"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** Curiosity gaps can backfire: when a **teaser is too vague/abstract, information-seeking drops** (*Scientific Reports* 2024, \"When curiosity gaps backfire\"). Information gaps also produce **frustration, not just pleasant curiosity**, in some contexts (e.g., workplace study, *Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes* 2023).\n\n**Source:** Scientific Reports 2024; OBHDP 2023.\n\n**Confidence:** Verified (limit / boundary condition).\n\n**Why this matters for Candid:** Counters the over-application of curiosity-gap copywriting (the \"you won't believe what happens next\" school). Tool framing must be **concrete enough** that the user pictures a satisfying answer at the other end. Pair with [[rule-design-question-for-curiosity-inverted-u]].","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"curiosity-inverted-u-moderate-knowledge-finding","title":"Curiosity follows an INVERTED-U over prior knowledge/confidence — peaks at MODERATE knowing, falls when one knows nearly nothing or nearly everything (Kang 2009, Dubey-Griffiths 2020, Lee 2024)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-engagement-mechanisms-top-up-smb-june-2026","title":"Research notes (capture-layer top-up): why interactive online tools are psychologically engaging — six additional mechanisms (June 2026)","kind":"research-notes","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"rule-design-question-for-curiosity-inverted-u","title":"R1 — Design the tool's opening question for the curiosity inverted-U: ANSWERABLE-but-UNKNOWN; do not go too vague (backfire) or too obvious (no gap)","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-20T19:24:15.899Z","updated_at":"2026-06-20T19:24:15.899Z"}