ABSTRACT
Three lines of theoretical development converged in the 1950s to produce a challenge to the drive reduction theories prevalent in behavioristic psychology and psychoanalysis. The first of these was the view that curiosity and exploration represented a primary instinct or drive rather than one in the service of other drives such as hunger or sex. In contrast to the visceral or hormonal sources of other drives, the source of a curiosity or exploration drive was conceived of as novel stimuli or internal brain tensions rather than cyclically arising tissue deficits.
