Openness to experience

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Openness to experience is one of five major domains of personality discovered by psychologists.[1] [2] Openness involves active imagination, aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings, preference for variety, and intellectual curiosity.[3] An abundance of psychometric research has demonstrated that these qualities are statistically correlated. Thus, openness can be viewed as a global personality trait consisting of a set of specific traits, habits, and tendencies that cluster together.

Openness tends to be normally distributed with a small number of individuals scoring extremely high or low on the trait, and most people scoring somewhere in the middle. People who score low on openness are considered closed to experience. They tend to be conventional and traditional in their outlook and behavior. They prefer familiar routines to new experiences, and generally have a narrower range of interests. They could be considered practical and down to earth.

People who are open to experience are not any more healthy or well adjusted than people who are closed to experience. There is no relationship between openness and neuroticism, or any other measure of psychological wellbeing. Being open and closed to experience are simply two different ways of relating to the world.

Contents

[edit] Assessment

The NEO PI-R personality test measures six facets or subsets of openness to experience:

  1. Fantasy - the tendency toward a vivid imagination and fantasy life
  2. Aesthetics - the tendency to appreciate art, music, and poetry
  3. Feelings - being receptive to inner emotional states and valuing emotional experience
  4. Actions - the inclination to try new activities, visit new places, and try new foods
  5. Ideas - the tendency to be intellectually curious and open to new ideas
  6. Values - the readiness to re-examine traditional social, religious, and political values

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) measures the preference of intuition, which is related to openness to experience.

[edit] Research

Openness to experience correlates with creativity, as measured by tests of divergent thinking.[4] Openness is also associated with crystallized intelligence, but not fluid intelligence.[5] These mental abilities may come more easily when people are dispositionally curious and open to learning. However, openness is only weakly related to general intelligence. Openness to experience is related to need for cognition, a motivational tendency to think about ideas, scrutinize information, and enjoy solving puzzles.

There are social and political implications to this personality trait. People who are highly open to experience tend to be politically liberal and tolerant of diversity.[6] [7] As a consequence, they are generally more open to different cultures and lifestyles. They are lower in ethnocentrism and Right Wing Authoritarianism [8]

Openness to experience, like the other traits in the five factor model, is believed to have a genetic component. Identical twins (who have the same DNA) show similar scores on openness to experience, even when they have been adopted into different families and raised in very different environments.[9] One genetic study with 86 subjects found Openness to experience related to the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism associated with the serotonin transporter gene.[10]

Higher levels of Openness have been linked to activity in the ascending dopaminergic system and the functions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Openness is the only personality trait that correlates with neuropsychological tests of dorsolateral prefrontal cortical function, supporting the link between Openness and IQ.[11]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Goldberg, L. R. (1993). The structure of phenotypic personality traits. American Psychologist, 48, 26-34.
  2. ^ McCrae, R. R. & John, O. P. (1992). An introduction to the Five-Factor Model and its applications. Journal of Personality, 60, 175-215.
  3. ^ Costa, P. T. & McCrae, R. R. (1992). NEO personality Inventory professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
  4. ^ McCrae, R. R. (1987). "Creativity, divergent thinking, and openness to experience". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 52: 1258–1265. 
  5. ^ Geary, D. C. (2005). The origin of mind: Evolution of brain, cognition, and general intelligence. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. 
  6. ^ McCrae, R. R. (1996). Social consequences of experiential openness. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 323-337.
  7. ^ Jost, J. T. (2006). The end of the end of ideology. American Psychologist, 61, 651-670.
  8. ^ Butler, J. C. (2000). "Personality and emotional correlates of right-wing authoritarianism". Social Behavior and Personality 28: 1–14. 
  9. ^ Jang, K. L., Livesly, W. J., & Vemon, P. A. (September 1996). "Heritability of the big five personality dimensions and their facets: A twin study". Journal of Personality 64 (3): 577–592. 
  10. ^ Scott F. Stoltenberg, Geoffrey R. Twitchell, Gregory L. Hanna, Edwin H. Cook, Hiram E. Fitzgerald, Robert A. Zucker, Karley Y. Little. "Serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism, peripheral indexes of serotonin function, and personality measures in families with alcoholism". Neuropsychiatric Genetics 114 (2): 230–234. 
  11. ^ DeYoung, C. G., Peterson, J. B., & Higgins, D. M. (2005). Sources of openness/intellect: cognitive and neuropsychological correlates of the fifth factor of personality. Journal of Personality, 73, 825-858.
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