Conservatism, Openness to Experience and Sample Bias

Abstract

Summary: Two experiments were conducted to examine the relationship between conservatism and openness to experiences. In Study 1, the responses of 64 males and 60 females to the Conservatism Scale and the Coan (1972) Experience inventory were correlated. For the total sample, conservatism was significantly related to the total score of the Experience Inventory plus six of seven of the component scales. Study II examined the relationship between conservatism and the expressed willingness to volunteer for certain psychological experiments that were assumed to require more openness. Subjects were 91 males and 114 females from introductory psychology classes. High conservative subjects were less wiling to volunteer for the experiments that required more openness as compared to low conservative subjects. These results were discussed in the context of volunteer bias in psychological research.