Are you intrigued by new and daring adventures? Do you often think creatively when solving problems? Does the prospect of moving outside your comfort zone and exploring uncharted waters excite you? If you answered yes, you probably have a high openness to experience trait.
Finding the right career based on your level of openness personality trait is no mean task, but we have simplified it for you. This article will tell you what your score on the openness personality scale represents and how it determines the best career path for you. We will also recommend jobs based on your openness personality trait score.
What is Openness in the Big 5 Personality Factor Theory?
Researchers have established the Big Five Personality Factor Theory as the most concise and practical measure of an individual's personality. The theory, which D.W. Fiske first developed in 1949, has been worked on by several other researchers, including McCrae and Costa (1987). It features broad character traits such as openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
The openness to experience trait, arguably the broadest of all five factors, reveals how creative, imaginative, flexible, and adventurous a person is. Someone with a high level of openness usually applies unique solutions to problems, is open to fresh ideas, and embraces the thrill of the unknown.
A study by Robert McCrae shows that the openness to experience trait reaches its peak when the individual clocks 19 years of age. It makes sense that as people grow older and rid themselves of youthful exuberance. They tend to be less eager to welcome drastic changes and more inclined to stick to routines, traditions, and familiar terrain.
What Is The Big Five Trait of Openness Psychology Definition?
The Big Five trait of openness in psychology is the extent to which people are willing to welcome new ideas and experiences. The main characteristics of the openness to experience trait include imagination, artistic interests, liberalism, intellectual curiosity, emotionality, and adventurousness.
What Does A High Score On The Big Five Openness Scale Mean?
People with high scores on the openness scale are willing to take risks because of the rewards they stand to gain if they succeed. They apply creative solutions to problems and are eager to pursue new adventures and discover new things. They are equally ready to present fresh ideas as they are to listen to them.
Although high openness has several advantages, it can be like testing the depth of a large water body with both feet. Throwing caution to the wind can sometimes be exhilarating, but when it goes wrong, it can lead to catastrophic failure. Additionally, constantly thinking outside the box might lead you to overthink solutions rather than apply the simple solution right before you.
High openness to experience trait is not only about risk-taking but also about welcoming changes and being curious enough to learn new things and create novel experiences.
What Does High Openness Look Like?
People with high openness traits are generally happier because they genuinely build loving relationships with their neighbors, co-workers, and anyone they come across. Due to their flexibility, they tend to be more welcoming to strangers from diverse backgrounds.
However, while it is good to be open to new ideas and welcome change, some people believe individuals with high openness traits are unstable and, therefore, should not be trusted easily.
What Does A Low Score On The Big Five Openness Scale Mean?
Individuals with low openness scores are said to have the “closedness to experience” trait. They approach new and untested things cautiously. Close-minded people are often rigid and rarely think outside the box because they are comfortable in their routines and traditions.
Someone with the closedness to experience trait will often pass up new opportunities that could lead to a breakthrough in their academic pursuits or career. Instead, they stick with a familiar job or place where they find comfort. Rather than risk everything for the unknown, they believe there is less chance of failure in familiar terrain.
What Does Low Openness Look Like?
As you would expect, individuals with low openness scores are closed off and tend to shy away from new experiences. They rarely take risks and are committed to their routines.
You may have come across someone who holds their personal beliefs so sacred that they are not willing to listen to anything that might contradict it. They are so dogmatic that they would rather be alone than open their minds to people with different ideas.
What Does A Moderate Score On The Big Five Openness Scale Mean?
Between the widely conservative bunch intent on following the status quo and those who revel in taking the road less traveled, many people are neither too rigid nor too flexible. These are the people with moderate scores on the openness to experience scale. They can follow the tried and tested methods to solve a problem. But they can also apply creative means when required.
According to renowned psychologist Robert McCrae, only a tiny percentage of people score exceedingly high or low on the openness to experience trait. Most people have moderate scores.
Usually, having a moderate score indicates finding the right balance between creativity and consistency. You are reasonable in applying new creative solutions to problems and flexible in accepting change. The best career options for individuals with average openness scores are journalism, research work, interior design, etc.
Big 5 Traits of Openness: Career and Job Satisfaction
Individuals with high openness to experience traits are better suited to workplaces or careers where creativity thrives rather than jobs that require following a routine or rigid approach to problem-solving. They enjoy standing out from the crowd and testing using a unique approach.
Their intellectual curiosity and imagination make them the right fit for discovering or inventing next-generation solutions. Due to their creative mindset, you rarely find them pursuing boring careers where they do the same daily tasks.
They are fast learners because they are ready and eager to learn new things. They welcome surprises. They are not apprehensive if something contradicts their beliefs. Instead, they approach new information with curiosity and accept that it may render their previous knowledge obsolete.
People who score high in openness thrive in workplaces with people of diverse cultural, religious, and social backgrounds. They adapt quickly to changes in their workplace environments and can often build great relationships with co-workers.
What Career Should I Go Into If I Score High In Openness?
Due to their love of creating novel experiences, people with high openness traits are the perfect fit for jobs that involve much travel and detailing traveling experiences. They can become pilots, travel writers, journalists, flight attendants, travel agents, etc.
They are also very creative in their approach to problem-solving. You'll often find them working as lawyers, artists, entrepreneurs, film producers, film directors, fashion designers, interior designers, art directors, musicians, music teachers, poets, painters, etc.
What Career Should I Go Into If I Score Low In Openness?
If you have a low openness score, you are more suited to careers that involve routines and don't require a lot of problem-solving. Many of these occupations lie in the financial and educational sectors. Your options include working as a banker, financial analyst, accountant, real estate agent, auditor, or professor.
How Do I Know If I Have A High Level of the Big Five Trait of Openness?
If you have read our article up to this point, you should be able to tell whether you have similar characteristics as those who score high in openness traits.
However, to save you the trouble of figuring it out, we recommend taking our Big Five Personality Factor Test. Created by professionals, we have yet to see a more accurate way of knowing your openness to experience score.
Why stop there? By taking our career test, you can also get accurate recommendations on the best career path for your personality — with a Big 5 Career Personality Score and a Holland Career Interest Score!
