Neutrality and Curiosity

Neutrality has been defined as the tendency not to take a side in a conflict, and implies tolerance of the various perspectives despite one’s own beliefs or feelings regarding the issue. A neutral stance is presented as an absence of bias, which conveys to others a sense of safety and trustworthiness. The term curiosity is associated with the behavior of being inquisitive and exploratory. The concepts of both neutrality and curiosity have been used in the counseling literature, often in descriptions of the counselor/therapist. The constructs of curiosity and neutrality may be seen as separate, but related. In this entry, each construct is defined separately. In addition, the entry discusses the history of each concept, including the theoretical underpinnings, and the application of each construct ...