Openness Personality Trait

The Big Five Trait of Openness

T. Franklin Murphy | August 1, 2021 (edited February 28, 2022)

An open double door to a sunset, depicting openness to experience

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Definition and Discussion about the Big Five Personality Trait of Openness

Openness Trait:

Openness is one of the five personality traits of the Big Five personality theory. Openness scores refer to a person's openness to new experiences and ability to accommodate differences in other people. Openness to experience is comfort with exploring new ideas, driven by a hunger for knowledge and love of learning.

An open-minded (high scores in openness) person enjoys trying new things. They are imaginative, curious, and creative. Scoring low in openness is behaviorally expressed in strict routines, literalness, practicality, and fear of the unknown.

Psychology Today defines people with high levels of openness as "more likely to seek out a variety of experiences, be comfortable with the unfamiliar, and pay attention to their inner feelings more than those who are less open to novelty. They tend to exhibit high levels of curiosity and often enjoy being surprised" (Psychology Today).

Openness Personality Trait is one of the Big Five personality traits. It is characterized by openness to new experiences, creativity and curiosity.

The Opposite of Openness

Low levels of openness is expressed by fear of the unknown and resistance to new experiences. Behaviorally this can be observed as strictness to routines, and resistant to changes. Lack of openness is a conservative approach to change, more likely to stick to the comfort of the known rather than venturing into the unknown.

Openness and Emotions

Openness also correlates with more attunement to feelings. Many studies have found a correlation between high openness and wellbeing and overall happiness. Perhaps, this is, in part, because of the healthy relationship with emotions. Also, well-being may be positively impacted by the benefits of high openness on intimate relationships.

Brian R. Little wrote "openness applies as well to experiencing emotions. Like neurotic individuals, open ones are more likely to acknowledge negative feelings of anxiety, depression, or hostility than are more closed individuals." However, he adds "they are also more likely to experience positive emotions such as delight, wonderment, and joy" (2016, Kindle location 727).

Mindfulness is a purposeful exploration of openness, allowing the mind to openly experience emotion with interest and curiosity. Research confirms the health benefits of journeys into open examination of our experience (2007).

The Big Five Personality Traits:

The Negative Side of Openness

Openness is typically perceived as a positive quality. However, like all the other personality traits too much or too little openness can be considered a neurosis. A person with too much openness to experience may be chaotic, lacking stability, and never satisfied with life. The may be emotionally labile, bouncing from extreme highs and experiencing devastating lows, such as in bipolar disorder.

In the extremities, high openness may include lack of commitment to long term relationships or projects. Also high scores in openness, may be characterized as flighty, with susceptibility to magical thinking and chasing unobtainable dreams.

T. Franklin Murphy warns of the dangers of extreme openness and the wise use of caution in our adventure into the unknown. He wrote, "those that haphazardly jump at every dream will experience many costly failures, perhaps significant losses requiring prolonged recoveries. We possess finite resources. Our time, money and relationships cannot consistently be sacrificed chasing imaginary rainbows—failures accumulate leaving deforming scars" (2018).

Sub-Traits of Openness

Within each of the Big Five personality traits is six sub-traits. The sub-traits of the openness domain are:

Imagination
Artistic interests
Emotionality
Adventurousness
Intellect
Liberalism

Take A Personality Test

Personality Characteristics of High Openness

Creative
Knowledgeable from love of learning
Imaginative
Interested in new things
Enjoys hearing new ideas
Explores abstract concepts
Open to diversity
Interested in art
Adventurous

Causes

Our individual mix of traits is a grand compilation of biological and environmental factors. The nature-nurture debate bleeds into all behavioral expressions, especially personality. Many personality traits are resistant to change, but they are amendable to change over time and with consistent effort.

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T. Franklin Murphy

Wellness. Writer. Researcher.
T. Franklin Murphy has a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology. He examines current and past psychological studies to enhance our understanding human flourishing and wellness. In 2010, he began publishing his findings.