People with this personality type have higher crystallised intelligence.
Being open to experience is a sign of high intelligence, research reveals.
People who are open to experience are more interested in things that are complex, new and unconventional.
They are sensitive to their feelings, intellectually curious and seekers of variety.
Curiosity and an appreciation of beauty are particularly strong signs of crystallised intelligence, the study found.
Crystallised intelligence roughly equates to general knowledge: knowing many things about the world.
It is natural that people who are curious and interested in new things tend to pick up more general information.
The conclusions come from a study of around 500 people who were given tests of intelligence and personality.
Openness to experience is one of the five major aspects of personality.
Openness also has a number of facets of its own, the study authors explain:
“The Openness to Experience construct involves the tendency to fantasize (Fantasy), aesthetic sensitivity (Aesthetics), awareness of one’s emotions (Feelings), preference for novelty (Actions), intellectual curiosity (Ideas), and preference for non-traditional values (Values).”
The results revealed that more intelligent people were particularly appreciative of beauty: they had a strong aesthetic sense.
They were also likely to be intellectually curious and to have an interest in ideas for their own sake.
These two facets of openness were most strongly linked to higher crystallised intelligence.
The study was published in the Journal of Research in Personality (Ashton et al., 2000).
