I don't think the underlying instinct here is curiosity, but rather the need for some coherence and the bias towards both having things match our preconceived m

I don't think the underlying instinct here is curiosity, but rather the need for some coherence and the bias towards both having things match our preconceived models of reality, and fit our models to reality. Even though very often there just isn't solid information to make that coherence happen without just making up stuff to fit the gaps.