Where Interest Comes From and Why It Fades
Interest as a Basic Emotion
American psychologist Carroll Izard identified 10 emotions that form the foundation of the human motivational system: joy, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, guilt, and interest. Of these, interest is considered the main motivator in work and learning, as well as a key element in creative activity. Interest drives us to act, create, and helps us see things through to completion.
Immanuel Kant noted that only humans experience interest, not animals, because this emotion involves goal-setting and willpower. Sociologists and psychologists distinguish interest from needs, which are based on a direct relationship to an object, while interest is more indirect. In the study “Interest as Emotion, Affect, and Schema,” published in the book “Interest in Mathematics and Science,” the authors highlight several characteristics of this emotion:
- Appears from birth
- Based on subcortical neural processes
- Triggered by a small number of specific environmental factors
- Short-lived
- Provokes a desire to act purposefully
- Creates a distinct facial expression
- Stimulates the body
A person who is interested feels inspired and has a strong desire to explore and expand their experience by gaining new information. Intense interest brings a sense of excitement, which connects to both cognitive and physical activity.
Interest Is Sparked and Sustained by Change and Novelty
When someone is interested, their concentration increases, their body is slightly tense, and within five seconds, facial expressions such as raised eyebrows, shifting gaze toward the object, a slightly open mouth, or pursed lips may appear. These reactions may fade over time, but the interest can remain. If these facial expressions are absent for a long time, it may indicate that interest is fading.
When a person is interested, their heart rate decreases, which helps with attention, clearer information processing, and more effective learning. In Izard’s book “The Psychology of Emotions,” a study is mentioned where newborns’ faces were observed. Interested infants had a decreased heart rate, creating optimal conditions for sensory perception, information processing, and forming the best response.
Why Interest Matters
Biological Function
Emotions themselves do not generate energy, but they are a source of it and create the right conditions. “A moderate level of interest is necessary to energize behavior and sustain long-term activity. When working on a long-term project, a person must remain interested; otherwise, the work will cause negative emotions and poor performance,” wrote Izard.
For early humans, interest—shown by widening the eyes and turning the head toward an object—served as a signal to others. This way, an individual could alert the group to danger or other important events. Sometimes, just a glance from the leader could reveal the location of something crucial for the tribe’s survival.
Motivational Function
A moderate level of interest is needed to maintain energy and complete long-term projects. However, interest is still a short-term phenomenon, and scientists cannot determine its average duration because it depends on many factors, from biological traits to emotional state and life goals.
To sustain interest, you need to constantly introduce something new into the activity itself: change how you do tasks, involve interesting people, or broaden your knowledge of the topic. Of course, it’s hard to stay interested if you’re tired, so it’s important to rest and take breaks during the day. If interest disappears even when you try to add something new, it may mean the activity doesn’t align with your true desires and goals. In that case, reconsider your goals, note when you lost interest, how often it happens, and compare your actions to your objectives.
Social Function
Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler considered social interest one of the driving forces of human behavior, especially in communication. In his book “Social Interest,” he noted that interest helps a child distinguish their mother from others, understand distances between objects, and notice shapes. Interest in space motivates children to walk, listen, touch objects, and later to read and look at pictures.
Interest is essential for building interpersonal relationships. Its decline often leads people to drift apart. To maintain interest, try new activities together, find shared hobbies, or travel.
Cognitive Function
Interest drives us to learn about the world and is a key component of education. While adults can often complete uninteresting tasks through discipline, children need to be constantly engaged, which is why various games are used in teaching.
As mentioned above, when a person is interested, the body creates favorable conditions for perceiving and processing information. When interest fades, learning becomes harder, concentration drops, and the process is no longer enjoyable.
Interactive elements in learning stimulate interest and, as a result, increase motivation. Therefore, it’s important to try new methods, combine ways of receiving information (listening to audio, watching videos, discussing topics with like-minded people). In education, cognitive interest is defined as one of the socially significant qualities that develops in students during the learning process itself.
The emotion of interest not only ensures normal perception but also supports wakefulness. In fact, insomnia can occur not only from negative emotions but also from sustained, intense excitement. Without the emotion of interest, the development of thinking and the formation of a conceptual framework could be seriously impaired. The connections between interest and the functions of thinking and memory are so close that a lack of emotional support from interest threatens intellectual development almost as much as physical brain damage. To think, you need to feel, to be excited, to receive constant reinforcement. There is hardly any skill you can master without it.
Cognitive interest can be at three levels: low (the learner is passive and cannot handle difficulties alone), medium (constant stimulation from the teacher is needed), and high. In the last case, the student seeks knowledge independently and is highly motivated, which usually happens when their learning aligns with their true desires and goals. This is important to consider when developing employee training systems in organizations. Educational programs shouldn’t be forced; first and foremost, the learner should have internal motivation. Only then will professional development happen naturally.
To maintain interest in learning, you should:
- Expand your knowledge about the subject
- Try new ways of doing familiar tasks
- Change learning formats
- Share experiences with like-minded people
- Combine different ways of receiving information