Abstract

STUDY ON SOURCES OF THEORY IN INFORMATION SEEKING

NEERU SALARIA

Volume: 3 Issue: 4 2013

Abstract:

Many of the studies of individual use of information retrieval systems (e.g., Daniels, 1986) and libraries (Mellon, 1986) assume a psychological (or cognitive) perspective, whether or not they cite a specific theory or theorist. Indeed, much of information seeking research could be said to relate to, if not descend directly from, a single psychologist: Sigmund Freud.Freud’s (1922) “pleasure principle” encapsulates the view that both social and psychological activities stem from a need to reduce emotional tension— a type of “drive reduction.” People seek pleasure to alleviate unpleasant internal states—painful feelings or felt desires—and thus reduce tension. Donohew, Nair, and Finn (1984), for example, believe that acquiring information is an automatic human behavior, and typically brings pleasure. Because information seeking implies that people take action in response to some disquieting internal state (e.g., an “anomalous state of knowledge,” “uncertainty” or “visceral need”), the pleasure principle could be said to apply universally to information seeking. Indeed, in recent years there has been renewed interest in viewing information behaviors as driven by uncertainty.

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