I have something of an affinity for novelty; I am not upset when my day’s plans are interrupted by something emergent (usually, and depending upon deadlines and competing expectations), and often embrace the sudden change. I know plenty of people who are not like that, though; they hate anything that is unplanned or an interruption.

Writ large, people actually prefer familiar activities:

In a recent study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers found that people prefer old and familiar activities over hedonic ones that are new and exciting. This means people might prefer revisiting a favorite spot rather than exploring a much-hyped restaurant.

"The research is especially interesting because, on the surface, it runs counter to the idea of the bucket list, whereby people tend to pursue novelty — things they’ve never done but have always wanted to do — as they approach the end of life," study author Ed O’Brien of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said in a press release. "Here we find that, at least in these more every day ending contexts, people actually do the opposite. They want to end on a high note by ending on a familiar note."

People Prefer Familiarity Over The Excitement Of Novelty

I have a food and dining bucket list in OneNote, sorted by kind of food, and to some degree, location! We do tend to stick to old favorites, but I’m always game to try something new. I don’t look at a bad experience as something to lament; I consider it a piece of data I benefitted from acquiring. Mostly.

I was not surprised to learn that dopamine causes us to search for novelty…exploring leads you to expect a reward:

You’ve probably heard about dopamine before, and its effects on the brain. It’s often touted as a ‘reward chemical’ or part of the brain’s ‘reward center,’ but more recent research has shown that, like novelty, it’s actually more closely related to our motivation to seek rewards rather than being a reward itself.

Why Getting New Things Makes Us Feel So Good: Novelty and the Brain

So novelty is related to reward seeking.

Seeking novelty, or "neophilia," has classically been associate with troublesome behaviors. But coupled with two other traits–persistence and self-transcendence–novelty seeking leads to greater happiness:

What was the secret to their happy temperament and character? A trio of traits. They scored high in novelty-seeking as well in persistence and “self-transcendence.” Persistence, the stick-to-it virtue promoted by strong-willed Victorians, may sound like the opposite of novelty-seeking, but the two traits can coexist and balance each other.