The Big Five Personality Traits: Openness To Experience

Do you often get lost in elaborate daydreams and fantasies? Do you find yourself in deep appreciation of art or music? Are you constantly wanting to try new foods, places or activities? If so, you may be high on the personality trait of openness or openness to experience.

Openness to experience is one of the Big Five Personality traits and the first which we will focus on in this mini-series on personality. Openness is much less known than many of the other traits and was not recognised as its own distinct trait for years. People who are high on this trait are often said to be creative, imaginative, adventurous and curious about their inner and outer worlds. These people may spend a lot of time daydreaming, engaged in deep thought and entertaining abstract ideas about philosophical topics.

However, this trait is quite broad and can therefore be broken down into six distinct ‘lower order traits’ as defined by a commonly used personality assessment the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI).

Fantasy: People high in fantasy have an active imagination and fantasy life. They often daydream as a way of creating an interesting and thought-provoking inner world for themselves. People lower in this trait tend to have a more ‘matter of fact’ mindset and prefer to keep their mind on the task at hand.

Aesthetics: People who score higher on aesthetics hold a deep appreciation and sensitivity for art, music and poetry. They may not necessarily have artistic talent themselves however they are often left in awe at the beauty of the arts. People lower on aesthetics find little meaning in creative expression, art and beauty.

Feelings: People who score high on feelings are often attuned to their own inner feelings and emotional states. These people also tend to experience both positive and negative emotions more intensely than others do. People low in this trait place less emphasis on feelings and the importance of emotions in everyday life – both in themselves and in others.

Actions: This trait refers to people who are willing to try new activities, places or foods. These people tend to dislike routine and prefer novelty and variety in their lives. People lower in action tend to have a preference for what is familiar and known to them.

Ideas: This trait reflects people who are high on intellectual curiosity. These people generally hold a variety of interests and are also open minded and willing to explore new unconventional and often abstract ideas. People lower in this trait tend to have more of a limited curiosity, and while many of these people are still highly intelligent they may focus their energies on particular topics.

Values: People high on values are ready to re-examine social, political and religious values and are open to new ways of thinking about these topics. People who score lower in values are generally conservative and place more emphasis on authority and tradition.

Is openness related to intelligence? While there is not a direct causal link between openness and intelligence, openness does appear to be related to aspects of intelligence, such as divergent thinking that can contribute to creative ideas. People high on openness are also intellectually curious, willing to learn and often have a broad range of intellectual interests and pursuits.

Does openness change across different ages?

There has been some debate about whether openness changes over time, however studies suggest that it tends to increase during adolescence and young adulthood and decrease in older age.

Are there gender differences in openness?

Gender differences in openness appear to be small however they vary more when taking into consideration the specific lower order traits of openness. Men, for instance tend to score higher on openness to ideas while women score higher in areas such as aesthetics and feelings.

What causes us to score higher or lower on openness?

According to twin studies; openness does appear to have a genetic component to it, meaning that it seems to be partially heritable. Although it is difficult to pinpoint exact events or environments that contribute to this trait, a study found that openness significantly increased in participants following a high dose psilocybin session. These changes also appeared to remain stable more than one year after the session.

This is one of the only studies to demonstrate changes in personality after an experimentally manipulated event.It is important to keep in mind that openness – like all other personality traits – does not reflect an ‘all or nothing’ approach.

People generally fall on a continuum ranging from very low to very high. Furthermore, it is important to remember that the lower order traits that comprise openness fall on this same spectrum meaning you can be high in one facet of openness and low in another.

Do you feel that you tend to be higher or lower on this trait? What are your thoughts on this trait and its implications in the real world? Let us know in the comments below.