Openness to Experience is one of the five major personality traits in psychology, describing a person’s tendency to seek out new ideas, appreciate art and beauty, entertain unconventional perspectives, and engage in imaginative or abstract thinking. Of the Big Five traits, it is the one most consistently linked to creativity and intellectual curiosity, and it was among the earliest to be identified as a stable dimension of personality.
What the Trait Actually Covers
When psychologists talk about Openness to Experience, they are not describing a single on-off switch. The trait is an umbrella over a range of tendencies that tend to travel together in the same person but are not identical. Robert McCrae, one of the researchers who helped formalize the concept, traced its roots through decades of personality research and demonstrated that it could be reliably measured as a basic dimension of personality using the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R).1Imagination, Cognition and Personality. Openness to Experience as a Basic Dimension of Personality In that framework, Openness breaks into six facets: fantasy (a vivid imagination), aesthetics (sensitivity to art and beauty), feelings (awareness of one’s own emotions), actions (willingness to try new activities), ideas (intellectual curiosity), and values (readiness to re-examine social and political beliefs).
That six-facet scheme from the NEO-PI-R is the most widely used, but it is far from the only way to carve up the trait. A factor analysis of 36 different Openness-related scales identified a somewhat different set of six facets: intellectual efficiency, ingenuity, curiosity, aesthetics, tolerance, and depth.2PubMed. Openness to Experience: its lower level structure, measurement, and cross-cultural equivalence And a network analysis across four separate Openness inventories found ten distinguishable facets, including variety-seeking, fantasy, nontraditionalism, and self-assessed intelligence, which clustered into three higher-order groupings: intellect, experiencing (the more aesthetic and emotional side), and open-mindedness.3PubMed. Reopening Openness to Experience: A Network Analysis of Four Openness to Experience Inventories
The practical takeaway is that two people can both score high on Openness and look quite different from each other. One might be an avid reader of philosophy who rarely visits a museum; another might be deeply moved by music and visual art but have little interest in abstract debate. The trait is broad enough that which facets are strongest matters as much as the overall score.
The Openness-Intellect Split
One of the more active debates in personality research is whether Openness to Experience is really one trait or two. The Big Five Aspect Scales (BFAS), developed by Colin DeYoung and colleagues, splits the domain into two aspects: Openness (the aesthetic, emotional, and imaginative side) and Intellect (the side concerned with abstract reasoning, problem-solving, and engagement with complex ideas). These are correlated but not the same thing.
Evidence for the distinction comes from multiple directions. In a study of 481 participants, researchers found that higher scores on the Intellect aspect were associated with faster and less variable reaction times on cognitive tasks, while no such association appeared for the Openness aspect.4PubMed Central. The Construct Validity of Intellect and Openness as Distinct Aspects of Personality through Differential Associations with Reaction Time The HEXACO personality model, an alternative to the Big Five, handles this differently: its version of Openness maps more cleanly onto aesthetic and imaginative tendencies, while intellectual engagement is distributed more broadly. Comparing the two models, researchers have concluded that Big Five Openness can be presented as two distinct subdomains, while HEXACO Openness is more unified.5PubMed. Personality and Affective Correlates of Openness to Experience from Big Five and HEXACO Personality Models: The Dual Nature of Big Five Openness
This split matters practically. The Intellect side connects more to cognitive performance, while the Openness side connects more to emotional richness and sensory sensitivity. Treating the whole domain as one lump can obscure which facet is actually doing the work in a given study.
The Neuroscience of an Open Mind
Researchers have been closing in on the brain systems that underlie Openness. Two lines of evidence stand out: dopamine signaling and the architecture of large-scale brain networks.
Dopamine, the neurotransmitter most associated with motivation and reward, appears to play a role in Openness. In a study of children and adults, variation in two genes central to the prefrontal dopamine system (the dopamine D4 receptor gene and the COMT gene) predicted scores on Openness/Intellect measures.6PubMed Central. Sources of Cognitive Exploration: Genetic Variation in the Prefrontal Dopamine System Predicts Openness/Intellect And when researchers gave healthy men a dopamine-blocking drug, the relationship between Openness and divergent thinking (a measure of creative idea generation) shifted: highly open individuals in the dopamine-blocker group actually produced the most creative ideas, while in the placebo group, Openness and divergent thinking were essentially unrelated.7PubMed Central. Openness to experience predicts dopamine effects on divergent thinking The mechanism is still not fully understood, but the working hypothesis is that dopamine activity in the prefrontal cortex supports the kind of exploratory cognition that defines the trait.
Brain imaging has added another layer. Two studies using resting-state brain scans found that Openness predicts how efficiently the default mode network (the set of brain regions active during mind-wandering, daydreaming, and self-reflection) processes information. In one, Openness explained about 18% of the variance in default network efficiency, a substantial figure even after controlling for intelligence, age, gender, and other personality traits.8PubMed Central. Personality and complex brain networks: The role of openness to experience in default network efficiency A separate study found that people higher in Openness spend more of their scan time in a brain state where the default mode network and cognitive control networks are positively correlated with each other, rather than working in opposition.9PubMed Central. Brain networks of the imaginative mind: Dynamic functional connectivity of default and cognitive control networks relates to openness to experience In other words, open people appear to have brain networks that cooperate in ways that could facilitate the blending of imagination with focused thinking.
The picture has some nuance, though. Another study found that overall connectivity within the default mode network was actually negatively associated with Openness, an effect that seemed driven mainly by the fantasy facet.10PubMed Central. Default mode network functional connectivity negatively associated with trait openness to experience This sounds contradictory, but the distinction seems to be between how tightly integrated the default network is internally versus how it communicates with other networks. Openness may be less about a hyperactive imagination center and more about flexible communication between brain systems.
A Cognitive Quirk That May Underlie Openness
One of the more intriguing findings in this area involves a phenomenon called latent inhibition. This is the brain’s automatic tendency to tune out stimuli that have previously been judged irrelevant. It is normally a useful filter: you do not need to consciously re-evaluate the ticking clock in your office every few seconds. But in high-achieving individuals, lower latent inhibition was substantially correlated with higher Openness, with a correlation of −0.44.11Personality and Individual Differences. Latent Inhibition and Openness to Experience in a high-achieving student population In plain terms, open people may be worse at ignoring things their brain has already tagged as unimportant, which means more information flows into conscious awareness. That wider aperture could feed creativity and curiosity, but it also hints at why extreme Openness sometimes overlaps with less comfortable experiences, a point we return to below.
Openness and Creativity
If there is one outcome most people associate with Openness, it is creativity, and the research broadly supports the connection. Openness and divergent thinking are both positively associated with real-life creative achievement, and brain imaging shows that both correlate with connectivity patterns in the attention and default mode networks.12PubMed. The functional connectivity basis of creative achievement linked with openness to experience and divergent thinking
But here the Openness-Intellect distinction earns its keep. Across four samples totaling over a thousand participants, researchers found that the Openness aspect specifically predicted creative achievement in the arts, while the Intellect aspect specifically predicted creative achievement in the sciences.13PubMed Central. Openness to Experience and Intellect Differentially Predict Creative Achievement in the Arts and Sciences A poet and a physicist might both score high on the broad Openness/Intellect domain, but the facets driving their creative output differ. If you have ever wondered why “creative types” can seem so different from one another, this is part of the answer.
How Openness Relates to Intelligence
Openness is correlated with intelligence, but the relationship is selective. Research examining a battery of cognitive subtests found that Openness/Intellect was substantially correlated with measures of crystallized knowledge (vocabulary, general information, and similar tests of accumulated learning) but only weakly correlated with measures of fluid ability (abstract reasoning and novel problem-solving).14Journal of Research in Personality. Fluid Intelligence, Crystallized Intelligence, and the Openness/Intellect Factor Among the fluid ability tasks, those using pictures or meaningful visual stimuli had a modest connection to Openness, while those based on numbers or abstract shapes had almost none.
This pattern makes intuitive sense. Open people tend to read more, seek out varied experiences, and engage with ideas across many domains, all of which builds crystallized knowledge over time. But Openness does not seem to boost raw processing power in the way that fluid intelligence reflects. You can be very open and have average reasoning speed, or very quick at abstract logic while finding art and philosophy dull.
Political and Social Attitudes
Openness is one of two Big Five traits that reliably predict political orientation. Across multiple studies, liberals tend to score higher on Openness, while conservatives tend to score higher on Conscientiousness. Liberals, on average, come across as more creative, curious, and novelty-seeking; conservatives as more orderly, conventional, and organized.15Political Psychology. The Secret Lives of Liberals and Conservatives: Personality Profiles, Interaction Styles, and the Things They Leave Behind These are average differences across large groups, of course, not iron laws about any individual.
The social-attitude connections go beyond simple left-right politics. A meta-analysis of Openness facets found that all NEO-PI-R facets significantly predicted both prejudice and tolerance. The facet most strongly linked to lower prejudice was values (willingness to re-examine traditions and norms), while the facet most strongly linked to tolerance was aesthetics.16PubMed Central. Associations Between Openness Facets, Prejudice, and Tolerance: A Scoping Review With Meta-Analysis That last finding is somewhat surprising: appreciating beauty and art appears connected to accepting others, possibly because both involve being receptive to perspectives outside your own defaults. Research on college students found that the link between Openness and lower antigay prejudice operated partly through reduced right-wing authoritarianism, suggesting that Openness tends to push people away from rigid social hierarchies, which in turn reduces prejudice.17PubMed. Openness, right-wing authoritarianism, and antigay prejudice in college students: a mediational model
How Openness Changes Across a Lifetime
Personality traits are not set in stone, and Openness follows a recognizable pattern over the lifespan. Cross-sectional data from two large national samples found a fairly linear decline: the youngest age groups scored highest and the oldest groups scored lowest, with the difference classified as medium to large depending on the sample.18PubMed Central. Age Differences in the Big Five Across the Life Span: Evidence from Two National Samples Longitudinal data refines this picture. Openness tends to remain relatively stable through emerging adulthood before declining in midlife and old age.19PubMed. Openness to experience and culture-openness transactions across the lifespan
This pattern holds up across cultures. A cross-cultural longitudinal study found that changes in Agreeableness and Openness did not systematically vary across different cultural settings, suggesting the decline is not just a Western phenomenon or a generational artifact.20PubMed Central. Personality change across the life span: Insights from a cross-cultural, longitudinal study There is an evolutionary angle here too: theoretical models predict that curiosity and exploratory behavior should be calibrated to how safe and resource-rich an environment is, and comparative and cross-cultural evidence supports this idea.21Trends in Cognitive Sciences. Ecological modulation of Openness to Experience As people age and their circumstances stabilize, the returns on novelty-seeking may diminish, and the trait follows suit.
Can You Deliberately Increase Your Openness?
Given the gradual decline with age and the desirable outcomes associated with the trait, a natural question is whether Openness can be changed on purpose. The evidence says yes, at least modestly.
In a study of older adults, a cognitive training program that exercised inductive reasoning skills led to increases in Openness compared to a waitlist control group. This was notable as one of the first demonstrations that a personality trait could change through a non-drug intervention.22PubMed Central. Can an old dog learn (and want to experience) new tricks? Cognitive training increases openness to experience in older adults The implication is that engaging the mind in new and challenging cognitive tasks can nudge the personality trait upward, not just improve the specific skill being trained.
Multicultural experiences offer another pathway. In an experiment where participants were exposed to foreign cultural elements and members, those in the multicultural condition reported higher Openness and lower prejudice compared to controls.23European Journal of Social Psychology. Multicultural experiences reduce prejudice through personality shifts in Openness to Experience The researchers described this as personality change driving the attitude shift, not just a temporary mood. Travel, language learning, and sustained exposure to people with different backgrounds may all work through this channel, though the durability of such changes over months or years remains an open question.
The Uncomfortable Edge of Openness
Most discussions of Openness frame it as an unambiguously positive trait, but the picture has a shadow side. The same perceptual widening that fuels creativity and tolerance can, at extremes, shade into something more disorienting. Psychosis proneness has been linked to heightened Openness to Experience, and both share overlapping patterns in default mode and frontoparietal control network connectivity.24PubMed Central. Toward a Neural Model of the Openness-Psychoticism Dimension: Functional Connectivity in the Default and Frontoparietal Control Networks The idea is not that high Openness causes psychotic symptoms. Rather, the same loosening of cognitive filters that makes someone receptive to new ideas may, in vulnerable individuals, blur the boundary between imagination and perception. The reduced latent inhibition described earlier is thought to be part of this overlap: a wider aperture lets in more, but “more” is not always pleasant or orderly.
This connection sometimes surprises people, but it tracks with the broader personality literature. Traits are not simply good or bad; they are adaptive in some contexts and costly in others. Extremely high Openness may be a vulnerability factor in someone already at risk for psychotic-spectrum experiences, while being a clear asset for someone channeling it into artistic or intellectual work. Context and accompanying traits shape whether the same disposition works for you or against you.
Openness in Career Choice
The link between Openness and vocational interests is moderate but consistent. Research integrating personality and career interest frameworks found that Openness to Experience was positively related to creative and artistic vocational interests.25Journal of Vocational Behavior. Integrating personality and career adaptability into vocational interest space This will not shock anyone, but it does mean that career guidance tools that ignore personality, or that reduce personality to a single “creative vs. analytical” axis, may be missing something. A person high in the Openness facet of aesthetics might thrive as a designer or curator, while someone high in the Intellect facet might gravitate toward research or engineering, even though both score high on the same broad domain.
There is also an indirect career effect through attitude change. Open individuals tend to seek out diverse experiences and environments, which in turn reinforce and potentially increase their Openness, creating a feedback loop. Someone who takes a job requiring frequent cross-cultural contact may become more open over time, which expands the range of work they find satisfying.
How Openness Is Measured Now
The standard approach to measuring Openness is self-report: you fill out a questionnaire rating how much you agree with statements like “I have a vivid imagination” or “I enjoy hearing new ideas.” The NEO-PI-R and its shorter versions remain the most widely used, but the HEXACO personality inventory, the Big Five Aspect Scales, and the IPIP-NEO (a free, open-source alternative) all include Openness dimensions with slightly different emphases.
A more recent development is the use of digital behavior to infer personality. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that a computer model based on Facebook Likes could predict personality, including Openness, more accurately than ratings made by the person’s own friends. The computer model achieved a correlation of 0.56 with self-report scores, compared to 0.49 for friend ratings, and the computer-based predictions had better external validity for outcomes like political attitudes and substance use.26PubMed Central. Computer-based personality judgments are more accurate than those made by humans The implication, which is both exciting and somewhat unsettling, is that your online behavior reveals your personality to an algorithm more clearly than it does to the people who know you. For a trait like Openness, where self-perception and social desirability can distort self-reports, passive behavioral measurement could eventually become more common in research and even applied settings like hiring or mental health screening.