One of the five broad traits
Openness
How drawn you are to novelty, complexity, abstraction, art and unfamiliar ideas, and how readily you notice your own inner experience.
Why it is measured
One of the five broad dimensions, and the one most closely tied to how people think rather than how they behave. It is also the least internally coherent of the five, which is a real property of the construct rather than a flaw in the measurement.
What a high or low score looks like
High scorers seek variety, tolerate ambiguity, and enjoy ideas for their own sake. Low scorers prefer the familiar, the concrete and the practical, and are often more efficient for it.
Why it matters
The overall score is easy to misread. Because the parts hang together loosely, one unusual facet can drag the whole domain and produce a description that fits badly. Read the parts before believing the summary.
The six narrower traits inside it
This is where the interesting information lives. The broad score above is the mean of these six — so when they disagree with each other, that average describes nobody, and we flag it rather than printing it.
- ImaginationHow much you live in invented worlds, daydreams and possibilities.
- Artistic InterestsHow much beauty and artistic experience matter to you.
- EmotionalityHow aware you are of your own feelings, and how readily you express them.
- AdventurousnessHow willing you are to try unfamiliar things and change your routines.
- IntellectHow much you enjoy abstract ideas, argument and thinking for its own sake.
- LiberalismHow readily you question authority, tradition and inherited arrangements.