Some kids are absolutely obsessed with dinosaurs. They want dinosaurs all over their room, and know the names of even the most obscure dinos — in Latin. This incredible knowledge children have of certain subjects is called “intense interests” in the world of psychology.
A third of children develop one of these intense interests throughout their life, whether it be dinosaurs, astronomy, or something else. That obsession tends to make itself clear between 2 and 6 years of age, eventually fading. But in some cases, that interest doesn’t get extinguished during childhood, and follows the child for a large part of their lives.
A study carried out at the universities of Indiana and Wisconsin found that children who develop an intense interest do better later in life. Joyce M. Alexander of Indiana University and her team found that this type of interest, especially those that demand a conceptual domain, “enhance perseverance, improve attention and enhance skills of complex thinking as the processing of information.” Read More
