Personality and Affective Correlates of Openness to Experience from Big Five and HEXACO Personality Models: The Dual Nature of Big Five Openness

Abstract

Openness to Experience is considered to be one of the broadest personality traits. Different operationalizations of Openness to Experience within and between personality models incorporate various features of this trait. Differences in Openness facets across inventories may lead to differences in relation to certain outcomes. Hence, the current study looked to explore the personality and affective correlates of Openness domains and facets from the Big Five and HEXACO model. The sample consisted of 540 participants who completed measures assessing Openness to Experience domains and facets from Big Five and HEXACO, schizotypy, Disintegration, need for cognition, subjective well-being, and mania. Results revealed that schizotypy and Disintegration had mostly non-significant correlations with Openness domains from both models. However, multiple facets of Openness had significant both positive and negative correlations with these constructs. In contrast to HEXACO, Openness from the Big Five model could be presented with two distinct subdomains. The Pure Openness subdomain is related to higher mania, while Pure Intellect is associated with lower schizotypy, higher well-being, and higher need for cognition. Our results suggest that measuring Openness at lower structural levels provides us with more nuanced patterns of relationships among constructs.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.