Why are open people open? A recent theory suggests that openness/intellect reflects sensitivity to the reward value of information, but so far, this has undergone few direct tests. To assess preferences for information, we constructed a novel task, adapted from informationâseeking paradigms within decision science, in which participants could choose to see information related to a guessing game they had just completed. Across two studies (one exploratory, nâ=â151; one confirmatory, nâ=â301), openness/intellect did not predict information seeking. Our results thus do not support a straightforward version of the theory, whereby open individuals display a generalâpurpose sensitivity to any sort of new information. However, trait curiosity (arguably a facet of openness/intellect) predicted information seeking in both studies, and uncertainty intolerance (inversely related to openness/intellect) predicted information seeking in Study 2. Thus, it is possible that the domainâlevel null association masks two divergent informationâseeking pathways: one approach motivated (curiosity) and one avoidance motivated (uncertainty intolerance). It remains to be seen whether these conflicting motivations can be isolated and if doing so reveals any association between informationâseeking and the broader openness/intellect domain.
AllenT. A.DeYoungC. G. (2017).
Personality neuroscience and the five factor model. In WidigerT. A. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of the five factor model (pp. 319â352).
New York, NY:
Oxford University Press.
2.
AntinoriA.CarterO. L.SmillieL. D. (2017).
Seeing it both ways: Openness to experience and binocular rivalry suppression. Journal of Research in Personality,
68, 15â22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2017.03.005.
3.
BeatyR. E.KaufmanS. B.BenedekM.JungR. E.KenettY. N.JaukE., âŠSilviaP. J. (2016).
Personality and complex brain networks: The role of openness to experience in default network efficiency. Human Brain Mapping,
37, 773â779. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23065.
4.
Behrendt, S. (2014). lm.beta: Add standardized regression coefficients to lmâObjects. R package version 1.5â1. Retrieved from https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=lm.beta
5.
BelkeB.LederH.StrobachT.CarbonC. C. (2010).
Cognitive fluency: Highâlevel processing dynamics in art appreciation. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts,
4, 214.
6.
BennettD.BodeS.BrydevallM.WarrenH.MurawskiC. (2016).
Intrinsic valuation of information in decision making under uncertainty. PLoS Computational Biology,
12, e1005020. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005020.
7.
BennettD.SutcliffeK.TanN. P. J.SmillieL. D.BodeS. (2019).
Anxious and obsessiveâcompulsive traits are Informationâseeking theory of openness/intellect independently associated with valuation of nonâinstrumental information. BioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/768168.
8.
BlanchardT. C.HaydenB. Y.BrombergâMartinE. S. (2015).
Orbitofrontal cortex uses distinct codes for different choice attributes in decisions motivated by curiosity. Neuron,
85, 602â614. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2014.12.050.
9.
BrombergâMartinE. S.HikosakaO. (2009).
Midbrain dopamine neurons signal preference for advance information about upcoming rewards. Neuron,
63, 119â126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2009.06.009.
10.
BrydevallM.BennettD.MurawskiC.BodeS. (2018).
The neural encoding of information prediction errors during nonâinstrumental information seeking. Scientific Reports,
8, 6134. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24566-x.
11.
CarletonR. N.MulvogueM. K.ThibodeauM. A.McCabeR. E.AntonyM. M.AsmundsonG. J. (2012).
Increasingly certain about uncertainty: Intolerance of uncertainty across anxiety and depression. Journal of Anxiety Disorders,
26, 468â479. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2012.01.011.
12.
CarletonR. N.NortonM. P. J.AsmundsonG. J. (2007).
Fearing the unknown: A short version of the intolerance of uncertainty scale. Journal of Anxiety Disorders,
21, 105â117. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2006.03.014.
13.
ChamorroâPremuzicT.ReimersS.HsuA.AhmetogluG. (2011).
Who art thou? Personality predictors of artistic preferences in a large UK sample: The importance of openness. British Journal of Psychology,
100, 501â516.
14.
CharpentierC. J.BrombergâMartinE. S.SharotT. (2018).
Valuation of knowledge and ignorance in mesolimbic reward circuitry. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
115, E7255âE7264. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1800547115.
15.
CoxeS.WestS. G.AikenL. S. (2009).
The analysis of count data: A gentle introduction to Poisson regression and its alternatives. Journal of Personality Assessment,
91, 121â136. https:// doi.org/10.1080/00223890802634175.
16.
DenissenJ. J.PenkeL. (2008).
Motivational individual reaction norms underlying the FiveâFactor model of personality: First steps towards a theoryâbased conceptual framework. Journal of Research in Personality,
42(5), 1285â1302. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.jrp.2008.04.002
17.
DepueR. A.CollinsP. F. (1999).
Neurobiology of the structure of personality: Dopamine, facilitation of incentive motivation, and extraversion. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences,
22, 491â569. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X99002046.
18.
DeYoungC. G. (2013).
The neuromodulator of exploration: A unifying theory of the role of dopamine in personality. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience,
7, 762. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00762.
19.
DeYoungC. G. (2015a).
Openness/intellect: A dimension of personality reflecting cognitive exploration. In MikulincerM.ShaverP. R.CooperM. L.LarsenR. J. (Eds.), APA handbooks in psychology. APA handbook of personality and social psychology, Vol. 4. Personality processes and individual differences (pp. 369â399).
Washington, DC, US:
American Psychological Association doi:10.1037/14343â017.
DeYoungC. G.GraziopleneR. G.PetersonJ. B. (2012).
From madness to genius: The openness/intellect trait domain as a paradoxical simplex. Journal of Research in Personality,
46, 63â78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2011.12.003.
22.
DeYoungC. G.PetersonJ. B.HigginsD. M. (2005).
Sources of openness/intellect: Cognitive and neuropsychological correlates of the fifth factor of personality. Journal of Personality,
73, 825â858. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467â6494.2005.00330.x.
23.
DeYoungC. G.QuiltyL. C.PetersonJ. B. (2007).
Between facets and domains: 10 aspects of the big five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
93, 880â896. https://doi.org/ 10.1037/0022â3514.93.5.880.
24.
DeYoungC. G.QuiltyL. C.PetersonJ. B.GrayJ. R. (2014).
Openness to experience, intellect, and cognitive ability. Journal of Personality Assessment,
96, 46â52. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2013.806327.
25.
DienesZ. (2014).
Using Bayes to get the most out of nonâsignificant results. Frontiers in Psychology,
5, 781.
26.
FastrichG. M.KerrT.CastelA. D.MurayamaK. (2018).
The role of interest in memory for trivia questions: An investigation with a largeâscale database. Motivation Science,
4, 227â250. https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000087.
27.
FaynK.SilviaP. J.DejonckheereE.VerdonckS.KuppensP. (2019).
Confused or curious? Openness/intellect predicts more positive interestâconfusion relations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
117, 1016â1033. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000257.
28.
GignacG. E.SzodoraiE. T. (2016).
Effect size guidelines for individual differences researchers. Personality and Individual Differences,
102, 74â78. https://doi.org/10.1016/jpaid.2016.06.069.
29.
GoslingS. D.KoS. J.MannarelliT.MorrisM. E. (2002).
A room with a cue: Personality judgments based on offices and bedrooms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
82, 379â398. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.82.3.379.
30.
GottliebJ.OudeyerP. Y.LopesM.BaranesA. (2013).
Informationâseeking, curiosity, and attention: Computational and neural mechanisms. Trends in Cognitive Sciences,
17, 585â593. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2013.09.001.
31.
GruberM. J.GelmanB. D.RanganathC. (2014).
States of curiosity modulate hippocampusâdependent learning via the dopaminergic circuit. Neuron,
84, 486â496. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.neuron.2014.08.060.
32.
HudsonN. W.FraleyR. C. (2015).
Volitional personality trait change: Can people choose to change their personality traits?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
109, 490â507. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000021.
33.
JachH. K.SmillieL. D. (2019).
To fear or fly to the unknown: Tolerance for ambiguity and Big Five personality traits. Journal of Research in Personality,
79, 67â78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jrp.2019.02.003.
34.
JacquesâHamiltonR.SunJ.SmillieL. D. (2019).
Costs and benefits of acting extraverted: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,
148, 1538â1556. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000516.
35.
JeffreysH. (1939/1961). The theory of probability (1st/3rd ed.).
Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press.
36.
JohnO. P.SrivastavaS. (1999).
The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In PervinL. A.JohnO. P. (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 102â138).
Guilford Press.
37.
JostJ. T.GlaserJ.KruglanskiA. W.SullowayF. J. (2003).
Political conservatism as motivated social cognition. Psychological Bulletin,
129, 339â375. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033â2909.129.3.339.
38.
KangM. J.HsuM.KrajbichI. M.LoewensteinG.McClureS. M.WangJ. T. Y.CamererC. F. (2009).
The wick in the candle of learning: Epistemic curiosity activates reward circuitry and enhances memory. Psychological Science,
20, 963â973. https:// doi.org/10.1111/j.1467â9280.2009.02402.x.
39.
KashdanT. B.GallagherM. W.SilviaP. J.WintersteinB. P.BreenW. E.TerharD.StegerM. F. (2009).
The curiosity and exploration inventoryâII: Development, factor structure, and psychometrics. Journal of Research in Personality,
43, 987â998. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2009.04.011.
40.
KashdanT. B.RoseP.FinchamF. D. (2004).
Curiosity and exploration: Facilitating positive subjective experiences and personal growth opportunities. Journal of Personality Assessment,
82, 291â305. https://doi.org/10.1207/ s15327752jpa8203_05.
41.
KashdanT. B.StegerM. F. (2007).
Curiosity and pathways to wellâbeing and meaning in life: Traits, states, and everyday behaviors. Motivation and Emotion,
31, 159â173. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-007-9068-7.
42.
KashdanT. B.StiksmaM. C.DisabatoD. J.McKnightP. E.BekierJ.KajiJ.LazarusR. (2018).
The fiveâdimensional curiosity scale: Capturing the bandwidth of curiosity and identifying four unique subgroups of curious people. Journal of Research in Personality,
73, 130â149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jrp.2017.11.011.
43.
KaufmanS. B.QuiltyL. C.GraziopleneR. G.HirshJ. B.GrayJ. R.PetersonJ. B.DeYoungC. G. (2016).
Openness to experience and intellect differentially predict creative achievement in the arts and sciences. Journal of Personality,
84, 248â258. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12156.
KraaykampG.Van EijckK. (2005).
Personality, media preferences, and cultural participation. Personality and Individual Differences,
38, 1675â1688. https://doi.org/10.1016/jpaid.2004.11.002.
46.
KretzschmarA.SpenglerM.SchubertA. L.SteinmayrR.ZieglerM. (2018).
The relation of personality and intelligence âWhat can the Brunswik symmetry principle tell us?Journal of Intelligence,
6, 30. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence6030030.
47.
LigneulR.MermillodM.MorisseauT. (2018).
From relief to surprise: Dual control of epistemic curiosity in the human brain. NeuroImage,
181, 490â500. https://doi.org/10.1016/jneuroimage.2018.07.038.
LydonâStaleyD. M.ZhouD.BlevinsA. S.ZurnP.BassettD. S. (2019).
Hunters, busybodies, and the knowledge network building associated with curiosity. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/undy4.
50.
MarvinC. B.ShohamyD. (2016).
Curiosity and reward: Valence predicts choice and information prediction errors enhance learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,
145, 266â272. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000140.
51.
McCraeR. R. (1987).
Creativity, divergent thinking, and openness to experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
52, 1258â1265. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.52.6.1258.
52.
McCraeR. R.CostaP. T.Jr. (1997).
Conceptions and correlates of openness to experience. In Handbook of personality psychology (pp. 825â847).
Academic Press.
53.
McLainD. L. (2009).
Evidence of the properties of an ambiguity tolerance measure: The multiple stimulus types ambiguity tolerance scaleâII (MSTATâII). Psychological Reports,
105, 975â988. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.105.3.975-988.
MÔttusR. (2016).
Towards more rigorous personality traitoutcome research. European Journal of Personality,
30, 292â303. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2041.
56.
MusselP. (2013).
Intellect: A theoretical framework for personality traits related to intellectual achievements. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
104, 885â906. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031918.
57.
PickeringA. D.GrayJ. A. (2001).
Dopamine, appetitive reinforcement, and the neuropsychology of human learning: An individual differences approach. In EliaszA.AngleitnerA. (Eds.), Advances in research on temperament (pp. 113â149).
Lengerich:
PABST Science Publishers.
58.
RammsayerT. H. (1998).
Extraversion and dopamine: Individual differences in responâ siveness to changes in dopaminergic activity as a possible biological basis of extraâ version. European Psychologist,
3, 37â50. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040.3.1.37.
59.
R Core Team. (2019). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing.
Vienna,
Austria. URL https://www.R-project.org/
60.
RentfrowP. J.GoslingS. D. (2003).
The do re mi's of everyday life: The structure and personality correlates of music preferences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
84, 1236â1256. https://doi.Org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.6.1236.
61.
RevelleW. (2018). Psych: Procedures for personality and psychological research.
Evanston, Illinois, USA:
Northwestern University Retrieved fromhttps://CRAN.R-project.org/package=psych.
62.
RosseelY. (2012).
lavaan: An R package for structural equation modeling. Journal of Statistical Software,
48, 1â36.
63.
RouderJ. N.MoreyR. D. (2012).
Default Bayes factors for model selection in regression. Multivariate Behavioral Research,
47, 877â903. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 00273171.2012.734737.
64.
SchwabaT. (2019).
The structure, measurement, and development of openness to experience across adulthood. In McAdamsD. P.ShinerR. L.TackettJ. L. (Eds.), Handbook of personality development.
Guilford Publications.
65.
ScollonC. N.PrietoC. K.DienerE. (2009).
Experience sampling: Promises and pitfalls, strength and weaknesses. In DienerE. (Ed.), Assessing wellâbeing (pp. 157â180).
Dordrecht:
Springer DOI: 10.1007/978â90â481â2354â4_8.
SilviaP. J.NusbaumE. C.BergC.MartinC.OâConnorA. (2009).
Openness to experience, plasticity, and creativity: Exploring lowerâorder, highâorder, and interactive effects. Journal of Research in Personality,
43, 1087â1090. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2009.04.015.
68.
SmillieL. D. (2019). Does openness/intellect predict dopaminergic nonâinstrumental informationâseeking? Symposium talk presented at the World Conference on Personality, Hanoi, Vietnam.
69.
SotoC. J.JohnO. P. (2017).
The next Big Five Inventory (BFIâ 2): Developing and assessing a hierarchical model with 15 facets to enhance bandwidth, fidelity, and predictive power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
113, 117â143. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000096.
UnderwoodB. J. (1975).
Individual differences as a crucible in theory construction. American Psychologist,
302), 128. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076759.
73.
Van EijckK.de GraafP. M. (2004).
The Big Five at school: The impact of personality on educational attainment. The Netherlands Journal of Social Sciences,
40, 24â40.
74.
von StummS. (2018).
Better open than intellectual: The benefits of investment personality traits for learning. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,
44, 562â573. https://doi.org/10.1002/0146167217744526.
75.
WestfallJ.YarkoniT. (2016).
Statistically controlling for confounding constructs is harder than you think. PLoS ONE,
11, e0152719. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0152719.
WilkeC. O. (2018). cowplot: Streamlined plot theme and plot annotations for âggplot2â. R package version 0.9.3. Retrieved from https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=cowplot
78.
WooS. E.ChernyshenkoO. S.LongleyA.ZhangZ. X.ChiuC. Y.StarkS. E. (2014).
Openness to experience: Its lower level structure, measurement, and crossâcultural equivalence. Journal of Personality Assessment,
96, 29â45. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2013.806328.
79.
YentesR.D.WilhelmF. (2018). careless: Procedures for computing indices of careless responding. R package version 1.1.3.
80.
ZieglerM.SchroeterT. A.LĂŒdtkeO.RoemerL. (2018).
The enriching interplay between openness and interest: A theoretical elaboration of the OFCI model and a first empirical test. Journal of Intelligence,
6, 35. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence603 0035.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
