From Scientific American: Experiments in personality psychology show that people scoring high on openness to experience may literally see the world differently from the average person.
“The personality trait that best reflects the lay concept of open-mindedness is called ‘Openness to Experience,’ or simply ‘Openness.’ Open people tend to be intellectually curious, creative, and imaginative. They are interested in art and are voracious consumers of music, books, and other fruits of culture. They also tend to be politically liberal.
According to personality theorists, openness reflects a greater ‘breadth, depth, and permeability of consciousness,’ and propensity to ‘cognitively explore’ both abstract information (e.g., ideas and arguments) and sensory information (e.g., sights and sounds). In other words, open people engage with the various percepts, patterns, and perspectives that clamor for space in our minds — information is like catnip for their brains.”
