Summary

The website content discusses the personality trait of openness, its importance, and how it can be assessed and developed through experiences like travel and active listening, with a personal account of self-discovery and reflection on the author's own open-mindedness.

Abstract

The article delves into the concept of openness as a key personality trait within the Big Five Personality Model, emphasizing its association with creativity, curiosity, acceptance, impartiality, tolerance, and adventurousness. It contrasts open-mindedness with narrow-mindedness, suggesting that an open mind is beneficial for personal growth and adaptability. The author reflects on their journey of understanding openness, including taking a personality test to identify their top five strengths, and concludes that they embody many qualities of an open-minded individual, despite a limited tolerance for folly. The piece also touches on the role of environment and upbringing in shaping personality, the value of experiencing other cultures, and the importance of active listening to gather diverse perspectives.

Opinions

The author values openness as a trait that fosters a receptive attitude towards new ideas and experiences.
Open-minded people are seen as those who enjoy healthy debates, challenge themselves, and do not expect their expectations to be confirmed.
The author suggests that a significant part of one's personality, particularly openness, is influenced by their environment and upbringing.
Travel is recommended as a means to build understanding and appreciation of different cultures, with an emphasis on immersive experiences over confined tourist resorts.
Active listening is highlighted as a skill that enhances openness by allowing individuals to consider ideas different from their own.
The author endorses the High5Test as a validated tool for discovering one's personality strengths and promoting personal growth from a strengths-based perspective.
The author acknowledges a personal bias against tolerating foolishness, indicating a limit to their open-mindedness.
The article concludes with the author's introspection, suggesting that the process of researching and writing about openness has led to serendipitous insights and a confirmation of their own open-minded nature.

Open?

Valuable or not?

Troubled mind

Sometimes a question gets stuck in my head.

Until I unpack the idea I can’t shake the uncertainty. The question continues to trouble me.

So what is the personal trait of Openness?

How do you determine if you are open-minded?

How are you influenced to become open?

Why bother?

What‘s open?

Generally, if openness is not a quality you have, you are considered closed-minded.

Looking at the opposite helps define the personal characteristic of openness.

Narrow-minded folks generally embrace the following traits:

tradition and routine
a dislike of innovation and novelty
a rigid belief system
difficulty with change and the unknown
confine themselves to their own box

Openness

D. W. Fiske created research to define the Big Five Personality Model.

His five broad categories are:

extroversion
agreeableness
conscientiousness
neuroticism
the quality of openness is included as one of the Big Five in his model as a trait of immense benefit.

If you have a high level of openness you exhibit:

Creativity
Curiosity
Acceptance
Impartiality
Tolerance
Adventurousness

Open-minded people enjoy a healthy debate. They frequently step out of their comfort zone to satisfy their desire for life long learning. While they are adventurous they may be good at determining risk. They love to challenge life and the world. They are receptive to new ideas, opinions, and arguments. The open-minded do not expect to have their expectations confirmed.

How developed?

A good part of your personality is created through your environment and upbringing. If you grow up in an open minded family it’s likely you will exhibit the qualities of an open minded adult.

Travel, experiencing the world from the perspectives of other cultures builds understandings of people different from yourself. It’s important to stay amongst the native people in the places you visit. There you have the opportunity to gather information directly from the source. Ditch the all-inclusive resort sites that discourage ventures outside their compound.

Working on being an active listener will allow you to gather ideas that are different from your own.

Try to step out of your standard routines to challenge yourself to observe life from a fresh perspective.

Curious?

Considering the criteria about openness, I wondered how one knows if you are closed or open minded.

At high5est.com I found the D. W. Fiske personality model uses a short (about 20 minute) questionnaire to help determine your personality strengths. The test is a scientifically validated psychometric test used to discover your “signature top five strengths”. It operates from a strengths-based perspective. The idea being if you know your best attributes you may use them as a stepping stone for personal growth.

The test is a series of brief questions. Asking for your immediate response designated on a sliding scale of 0 to 100. 100 being the most likely in your mind. It’s easy and fun to take.

After you complete the questionnaire the results are provided for your five best personality strengths. You may purchase a deeper analysis if you choose.

My top five attributes were listed as:

Focus expert

Focus experts enjoy getting a project straight to the finish line rather than changing directions regularly. They focus on one thing at a time and dislike distractions.

Deliverer

Deliverers follow through on their commitments and appreciate seeing how this builds more trust and respect among others. They feel terrible if promises get broken — both on the receiving and giving side.

Optimist

Optimists enjoy praising the good in people and are grateful for what they have. They find it difficult to be around those who constantly focus on the negative.

Catalyst

Catalysts love to get things started and are great at creating momentum in stagnant environments. They have a hard time waiting and so called ‘wasting time’ when they know they could be moving forward and getting things off the ground.

Coach

Coaches love discovering the potential in people and supporting others’ personal growth. It’s hard for them to accept when this potential is being wasted.

My Conclusion

Openness is the quality of being receptive to new ideas.

I gathered new ideas here.

Settling my questioning mind allowed me to think about myself compared to attributes I discovered.

Considering my life in retrospect, the places I’ve been, things I’ve done, I think openness certainly applies to me.

I am, creative, curious, accepting, impartial, and adventurous. I have to draw the line at tolerant. I don’t suffer fools lightly.

While the test results didn’t tell me if I am an open personality outright, finding the information, the process, and taking the assessment, all led me to believe that I must be open minded.

I think openness is a quality from which I work.

My questioning mind provided serendipity. What Dr. Yildez refers to as a “…mystical process of making fortunate discoveries by accident. Within the writing context you are open to unexpected encounters, unexplained connections, unanticipated, insights that spark creativity…”

Thanks for reading until the end.

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