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From a completely different track, but one which is undoubtedly relevant to the social aspect of the museum experience:

One of his first findings to be reported — which I still consider the most important social-science discovery of the past century — was that articles and columns in the Science [of the NY Times] section were much more likely to make the list than nonscience articles. He found that science aroused feelings of awe and made Times readers want to share this positive emotion with others.

 	Readers also tended to share articles that were exciting or funny, or that inspired negative emotions like anger or anxiety, but not articles that left them merely sad. From The New York Times:

FINDINGS: Good News Beats Bad on Social Networks

While old-fashioned outlets focus on tragedy and drama, on social media, people tend to share more positive news, especially about themselves.

http://nyti.ms/YNd1Mx

It extends human behavior into aspects of learning, and may provide insight to the proficient but unrelated conversation of learning that seemingly happens between visitors at museum exhibits.

C

Sent from Charlie Carlson's iPad
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