Openness to experience

Openness to experience is usually assessed with self-report measures, although peer-reports and third-party observation are also used. Self-report measures are either lexical or based on statements. Which measure of either type is used is determined by an assessment of psychometric properties and the time and space constraints of the research being undertaken. • Lexical measures use individual adjectives that reflect openness to experience traits, such as creative, intellectual, artistic, philosophical, deep. L. R. Goldberg developed a 20-word measure as part of his 100-word Big Five markers. G. Saucier developed a briefer 8-word measure as part of his 40-word mini-markers. However, the psychometric properties of Saucier's original mini-markers have been found suboptimal for samples outside of North America. According to research by Sam Gosling, it is possible to assess openness by examining people's homes and work spaces. People who are highly open to experience tend to have distinctive and unconventional decorations. They are also likely to have books on a wide variety of topics, a diverse music collection, and works of art on display. ==Psychological aspects==

Openness to experience has both motivational and structural components. People high in openness are motivated to seek new experiences and to engage in self-examination. Structurally, they have a fluid style of consciousness that allows them to make novel associations between remotely connected ideas. Closed people by contrast are more comfortable with familiar and traditional experiences. Creativity Openness to experience correlates with creativity, as measured by tests of divergent thinking. Openness has been linked to both artistic and scientific creativity as professional artists, musicians, and scientists have been found to score higher in openness compared to members of the general population. These relations vary significantly based on which component of intelligence is examined. For example, meta-analyses have found relations ranging from .08 with processing speed abilities to .29 with verbal abilities. Another common distinction is between crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence. Some studies have found moderate associations with crystallized intelligence but only weak associations with fluid intelligence. In contrast, more recent meta-analyses have found more similar relations for crystallized and fluid abilities (.20 and .19, respectively). (a similar construct to need for cognition). Absorption and hypnotisability Openness to experience is the psychological construct of absorption, defined as "a disposition for having episodes of 'total' attention that fully engage one's representational (i.e. perceptual, enactive, imaginative, and ideational) resources." The construct of absorption was developed in order to relate individual differences in hypnotisability to broader aspects of personality. The construct of absorption influenced Costa and McCrae's development of the concept of "openness to experience" in their original NEO model, due to the independence of absorption from extraversion and neuroticism. Openness to experience also has a moderate positive correlation with sensation-seeking, particularly, the experience seeking facet. In spite of this, it has been argued that openness to experience is still an independent personality dimension from these other traits because most of the variance in the trait cannot be explained by its overlap with these other constructs. A study comparing the Temperament and Character Inventory with the Five Factor model found that Openness to experience had a substantial positive correlation with self-transcendence (a "spiritual" trait) and to a lesser extent novelty seeking (conceptually similar to sensation seeking). It also had a moderate negative correlation with harm avoidance. The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) measures the preference of "intuition," which is related to openness to experience. Robert McCrae pointed out that the MBTI sensation versus intuition scale "contrasts a preference for the factual, simple, and conventional with a preference for the possible, complex, and original," and is therefore similar to measures of openness. Social and political attitudes There are social and political implications to this personality trait. In Western countries, people who are highly open to experience tend to be liberal and tolerant of diversity. social dominance orientation, and prejudice. Openness has a stronger (negative) relationship with right-wing authoritarianism than the other five-factor model traits (conscientiousness has a modest positive association, and the other traits have negligible associations). Regarding conservatism, studies have found that cultural conservatism was related to low openness and all its facets, but economic conservatism was unrelated to total openness, and only weakly negatively related to the Aesthetics and values facets. The strongest personality predictor of economic conservatism was low agreeableness (r=−.23). Economic conservatism is based more on ideology whereas cultural conservatism seems to be more psychological than ideological and may reflect a preference for simple, stable, and familiar mores. According to a 2021 analysis by Princeton University academic Rory Truex of survey results, those discontented with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) generally showed lower levels of openness to experience. The study did not find that openness to experience in China led to more liberal or critical political attitudes. Subjective well-being and mental health Openness to experience has modest yet significant correlations with happiness, positive affect, and quality of life, but is unrelated to life satisfaction, negative affect, and overall affect in people in general. A meta-analysis of the relationships between five-factor model traits and symptoms of psychological disorders found that none of the diagnostic groups examined differed from healthy controls on openness to experience. High openness is characteristic to schizotypal personality disorder (odd and fragmented thinking), narcissistic personality disorder (excessive self-valuation), and paranoid personality disorder (sensitivity to external hostility). Lack of insight (shows low openness) is characteristic to all personality disorders and could explain the persistence of maladaptive behavioral patterns. Problems associated with low openness are difficulties adapting to change, low tolerance for different worldview or lifestyles, emotional flattening, alexithymia, and a narrow range of interests. General religiosity has a weak association with low openness. Religious fundamentalism has a somewhat more substantial relationship with low openness. Mystical experiences occasioned by the use of psilocybin were found to increase openness significantly (see 'Drug Use,' below). Gender A study examining gender differences in big-five personality traits in 55 nations found that across nations there were negligible average differences between men and women in openness to experience. By contrast, across nations women were found to be significantly higher than men in average neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. In eight cultures, men were significantly higher than women in openness, but in four cultures women were significantly higher than men. Previous research found that women tend to be higher on the feelings facet of openness, whereas men tend to be higher on the ideas facet, although the 55-nation study did not assess individual facets. Sexuality Openness is related to many aspects of sexuality. Men and women high in openness are more well-informed about sex and have wider sexual experience, stronger sex drives, and more liberal sexual attitudes. ==Genes and physiology==

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. A meta-analysis by Bouchard and McGue, of four twin studies, found openness to be the most heritable (mean = 57%) of the Big Five traits. Higher levels of openness in the ascending dopaminergic system and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Openness is the only personality trait that correlates with neuropsychological tests of dorsolateral prefrontal cortical function, supporting theoretical links among openness, cognitive functioning, and IQ. ==Geography==

An Italian study found that people who lived on Tyrrhenian islands tended to be less open to experience than those living on the nearby mainland, and that people whose ancestors had inhabited the islands for twenty generations tended to be less open to experience than more recent arrivals. Additionally, people who emigrated from the islands to the mainland tended to be more open to experience than people who stayed on the islands, and than those who immigrated to the islands. People living in the eastern and western parts of the United States tend to score higher on openness to experience than those living in the Midwestern United States and the Southern United States. The highest average scores on openness are found in the states of New York, Oregon, Massachusetts, Washington, and California. Lowest average scores come from North Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska, Alabama, and Wisconsin. ==Drug use==

Psychologists in the early 1960s used the concept of openness to experience to describe people who are more likely to use marijuana. Openness was defined in these studies as high creativity, adventuresomeness, internal sensation novelty seeking, and low authoritarianism. Several correlational studies confirmed that young people who score high on this cluster of traits are more likely to use marijuana. The study found that individual differences in levels of mystical experience while taking psilocybin were correlated with increases in Openness. Participants who met criteria for a 'complete mystical experience' experienced a significant mean increase in Openness, whereas those participants who did not meet the criteria experienced no mean change in Openness. Five of the six facets of Openness (all except Actions) showed this pattern of increase associated with having a mystical experience. Increases in Openness (including facets as well as total score) among those whose had a complete mystical experience were maintained more than a year after taking the drug. Participants who had a complete mystical experience changed more than four T-score points between baseline and follow up. By comparison, Openness has been found to normally decrease with aging by one T-score point per decade. ==See also==