Openness to new experiences, or simply openness, is one of five dimensions of personality after Model of the Big Five (McCrae & Costa, 1987). As the name suggests, openness describes the tendency of people to search for new experiences and impressions rather than rely on tried and tested, familiar things.
On the one hand, openness includes qualities such as willingness to experiment, imagination and curiosity and on the other hand features such as loyalty to tradition, pragmatism and subject-specific orientation (Costa & McCrae, 1985).
Whereas it was previously assumed that the traditional versus experimental form of openness to new experiences formed a pair of opposites, with a person clearly assigned to one of the two categories, today traditional and experimental are considered as two poles of a continuum within the dimension of openness to new experiences. The value of each person can therefore be located at one point on the following scale:
Traditionally
For people whose behavior is more traditional and who seek clear structures and rules, the following characteristics, for example, are characteristic:
- traditionally
- virtually
- based on facts.
They are the best choice for down-to-earth jobs in which the tasks to be performed are clearly defined (Barrick, Mount & Li, 2013). They feel comfortable with familiarity and routines and think concretely rather than creatively. This makes them ideal for administrative, structured and repetitive work activities, such as in accounting, production or the police (Denissen et al., 2017).
Experimentally
People whose behavior is more experimental and who search for new experiences and impressions can be described by the following characteristics:
- original
- prying
- open-minded
As a result of their quest for new experiences and ideas, open people are more satisfied in jobs that feature a high diversity of activities (DeJong et al., 2001). This is also accompanied by higher performance in occupations with high complexity (Mohan & Mulla, 2013). According to experts, open people are still particularly suitable for artistic-creative fields of work, such as in the film, music or fashion industries (Denissen et al., 2017).
How do you measure openness?
Do you want to capture the openness of your applicants? Aivy is happy to help you with this!
Our mini-game “Self-Knowledge” offers users the opportunity to complete a brief self-assessment and find out their individual score. This not only covers openness, but also the four other areas of the Big Five:
Sources
- Barrick, M.R., Mount, M.K., & Li, N. (2013). The Theory of Purposeful Work Behavior: The Role of Personality, Higher-Order Goals, and Job Characteristics. Academy of Management Review, 38 (1), 132-153.
- Costa, P.T., & McCrae, R.R. (1985). The NEO personality inventory. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
- De Jong, R.D., Van Der Velde, M.E., & Jansen, P.G. (2001). Openness to experience and growth need strength as moderators between job characteristics and satisfaction. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 9 (4), 350-356.
- Denissen, J.J., Bleidorn, W., Hennecke, M., Luhmann, M., Orth, U., Specht, J., & Zimmermann, J. (2018). Uncovering the power of personality to shape income. Psychological Science, 29 (1), 3-13.
- McCrae, R.R., & Costa, P.T. (1987). Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52 (1), 81.
- Mohan, G., & Mulla, Z. R. (2013). Openness to Experience and Work Outcomes: Exploring the Moderating Effects of Conscientiousness and Job Complexity. Great Lakes Herald, 7 (2), 18-36.
Openness to new experiences is one of the traits Aivy captures in its personality assessment.
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