Openness to Experience

Openness to experience reflects a style of thinking that distinguishes imaginative and creative individuals from practical and conventional ones.

Open individuals are characterized by intellectual curiosity, an appreciation for art, and sensitivity to beauty. Compared to closed individuals, they are more aware of their emotions and tend to think and act in unique, non-traditional ways.

Intellectually inclined people often score high on openness to experience; therefore, this dimension is sometimes called “culture” or “intellect.”

However, “intellect” is only one aspect of openness to experience; scores on this dimension are moderately correlated with years of education and performance on standard intelligence tests.

Another characteristic of an open cognitive style is the ability to think in symbols and abstractions detached from concrete experience.

Depending on an individual’s intellectual abilities, this type of symbolic thinking may manifest as mathematical, logical, or spatial reasoning; figurative and metaphorical use of language; composing or performing music; or in one of the visual or performing arts.

Low Scores

• Individuals scoring low on openness to experience tend to have narrow, conventional interests.
• They prefer simple, direct, and clear things over complexity, ambiguity, and hidden subtleties.
• They may view the arts and sciences with skepticism, considering these pursuits obscure or lacking practical value.

Those with lower openness prefer the familiar over novelty; they are conservative and resistant to change.

Openness is often presented as healthier or more mature by psychologists, who themselves are frequently open to experience. However, both open and closed thinking styles can be advantageous in different environments.

An open thinking style may serve a university professor well, whereas research has shown that closed thinking is associated with superior job performance in fields such as policing, accounting, and various service occupations.

Imagination

For highly imaginative individuals, the real world often seems too simple and ordinary. Those who score high on this facet use imagination as a means to create a richer and more exciting world. Those low on this facet tend to focus on facts rather than imagination.

Aesthetics

Individuals who score high on this facet love beauty, whether in art or nature, and immerse themselves easily in artistic and natural experiences. They are not necessarily trained or artistically talented, although many may be. The defining characteristics of this facet revolve around appreciation and valuation of natural and man-made beauty. Those low on this facet lack aesthetic sensibility and interest in the arts.

Emotionality

Individuals with high emotionality have a good capacity to access and understand their feelings, whereas those low in emotionality are less aware of their feelings and tend not to express them openly.

Adventurousness

Individuals who score high on adventurousness yearn to try new activities, travel to foreign countries, and experience different things. They find routine and the familiar boring, and may even change their return route just because it's different. Those low on this facet feel uncomfortable with change and prefer familiar routines.

Ideas

Ideas and artistic interests are among the central aspects of openness to experience. Individuals who score high on ideas enjoy playing with concepts. They are open to new and unconventional ideas, enjoy discussing intellectual issues, and revel in puzzles, riddles, and mind games. In contrast, those low in ideas prefer dealing with people or things rather than abstract concepts. They view mental exercises as a waste of time. It's important not to confuse ideas with intelligence: ideas represent a thinking style, not a cognitive ability, although those who score high on ideas tend to achieve slightly higher results on standard intelligence tests compared to those with low scores.

Psychological Liberalism

Psychological liberalism refers to the willingness to challenge authority, traditions, and conventional values. In its extreme form, psychological liberalism may manifest as overt hostility toward rules, sympathy for those who break the law, and a penchant for ambiguity, chaos, and disorder. Psychological conservatives prefer the security and stability provided by adhering to traditions. Although psychological liberalism and conservatism do not perfectly align with political affiliation, they decidedly tend to guide individuals toward certain political parties.