To know, to feel, to share? Exploring the motives that drive curiosity for negative content

In recent years, empirical work has documented a curiosity for negative content - people deliberately view images detailing death, violence or harm or engage with other aversive stimuli. The question that emerges from this work is why people are curious about aversive information. Our central premise is that curiosity for negative content can be valuable - it may serve fundamental psychological functions and have beneficial outcomes. In terms of benefits, negative content may provide an individual with an opportunity to acquire knowledge, reduce uncertainty, experience valued emotions, or engage with the experiences of others. At the same time, the exploration of negative information may be costly. In this article, we discuss which factors may motivate or discourage the exploration of negative content.