Re: Why do certain subjects stimulate certain people?

Dear Jake, thank you for your question.  There are a number of ways that 
your question can be answered.  The most simple one is that our interests 
result largely from the culture that we live in and the unique experiences 
that each of us has.  For example, our parents might reinforce us for having 
an interest in music and later on this topic area may become  intrinsically 
(internally) interesting to us (e.g., we no longer need external sources of 
rewards). 

I could probably write an entire book on a more complicated answer, but I’ll 
try to restrain myself.  If I understand your question correctly, I suspect 
that what you are really asking is whether our interests are due to 
inherited genetic traits or at least to differences in our brain structures.  
Your general question has recently been the center of debate among 
scientists, especially as it relates to gender differences.   Ten years ago 
I (and most psychologists) probably would have said that biological factors 
do not have much of an influence on our interests, and that these are almost 
entirely due to environmental conditions, but I believe this view is 
beginning to change.     For example, any parent who has raised both a boy 
and a girl can testify that their interests are very different and that 
these differences seem to begin at a very young age. This might suggest that 
genetic and biological factors might play a major role in how our interests 
develop, but we cannot totally rule out the environment. For example, 
children generally have strongly established gender roles by the time they 
are about age 5. However, we also know that factors such as role models and 
our mass media can greatly influence these roles. The fact that gender roles 
vary across time, cultures, and ethnic groups demonstrates the importance of 
our environment.  On the other hand, current research suggests that 
biological factors are much more important that we once believed. For 
example, I would suggest you find and view a wonderful video documentary 
entitled “Brain Sex.”   It explains in a very clear fashion how certain 
gender roles and behavioral differences between boys and girls develop and 
how some of these may be due to various brain differences between the two 
sexes. 

I should point out that your question might be answered very differently 
depending on which psychological expert you ask. For example, Freud and his 
followers might say that our interests are based on our sexual and 
aggressive instincts and other unconscious forces.  Karl Jung would probably 
say that our interests are due to our collective unconscious, which include 
numerous archetypes such as the anima, animus and shadow. B.F. Skinner would 
suggest that our environment is the ultimate cause of our interests.  Gorden 
Allport and Raymond Cattell might say that our interests are due to 
personality traits that developed through both genetic and environmental 
influences.  

Trait theory probably offers the best explanation of how we develop and 
change interests throughout our lifetime. This theory accepts the role of 
both genetic and environmental influences in shaping our interests. For 
example, similar to the three primary colors which can be combined to form 
all of the colors of the rainbow, trait theory suggests that humans have a 
small number of primary traits that together and in combination result in an 
endless number of potential behaviors and interests.   Of course, the 
environment is ultimately responsible for how these traits are expressed. 
For example, two hundred years ago, no had an interest in automobiles 
because these had not been invented yet.  However, I am sure that there were 
a number of people in this time period who were interested in various motion 
machines that pre-dated the automobile.  

According to trait theory, our interests are the end point of a integrated 
hierarchical system that begins with  largely innate drives, abilities and 
temperament.   For example,  a person whose IQ is in the mentally retarded 
range is unlikely to be interested in physics or any other abstract concept. 
Similarly, a person who is highly introverted, quiet and shy is likely to 
have interests that are very much different than someone who is extremely 
outgoing and gregarious.   In this case, a person’s interest in art may be 
due partially to environmental influences such as the family or society, 
which in turn is influenced by a higher level of traits (such as curiosity), 
which itself is influenced by an even higher level trait (e.g., primary 
trait) which may be due to the person’s innate and biological sex drive.    
I am sure that this may be somewhat confusing to you, so what follows are 
some sites that will further explain this concept:  

http://academic.csubak.edu/~dcohen/P316Ch7.html 

http://www.unipissing.ca/saari/slides/carlson14/sld010.htm 

http://psych.fullerton.edu/king/personality.html 

http://www.uwm.edu/People/hynan/205/205DISPS.html 

http://www.erlbaum.com/299.htm

At the same time , you can not entirely rule out factors such as chance 
conditions. For example, one of my friends developed a strong interest in 
the collection of old bottles when he happened to find one while digging in 
his back yard.  All of which suggests that our interests are shaped by  a 
complex interaction of a number of different factors.   

Some key words you can use to get more information about this topic on the 
internet are: personality theory; Raymond Cattell, trait theory;  dynamic 
traits, and motivation.