What is Openness to Experience?

This video describes the personality trait of openness to experience from the five-factor model of personality. The five-factor model of personality traits, which is also known as “The Big Five” model of personality. In this model, personality comprises five personality traits: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The acronym OCEAN is helpful for remembering the personality traits. Openness to experience is characterized by insight, creativity, an appreciation of art, liking theories, abstract thinking, fantasizing, challenging authority, flexibility, adventurousness, intellectual curiosity, and a high awareness of feelings. Extreme openness to experience is associated with disruptive levels of non-conformity, alienation of potential friends, and fantasizing too much. Individuals who score low on openness to experience tend to dislike change, make safe decisions, have a restricted range of interests, and like routines. Conscientiousness is characterized by impulse control, planning tasks carefully, being highly organized and prudence. Extraversion is characterized by getting energy from social interaction, talkativeness, and having a large number of acquaintances. Agreeableness is characterized by being cooperative, increased level of caring, empathy, friendly, seeking to compromise. Neuroticism is characterized by mood dysregulation, anxiety, worry, depression, frustrating, nervousness, being easily upset, and low emotional stability. Genetics explain about 50% of personality traits, but the percentage is not the same for every personality traits. Openness to experience, like all personality traits, tends to be stable over time.