Variable Details
Available Studies
ROS
Categories
Affect and Personality
Openness
Openness from NEO Five-Factor Inventory - Sum of 12 items (ROS only)
This variable is only available in ROS.
Openness to experience refers to intellectual curiosity and independence of judgment. The variable is measured using 12 items from the NEO Five-Factor Inventory. Participants rate agreement with each item on a 5-point Likert rating scale (see table below). Items for which higher valued responses are not demonstrative of openness are flipped so that higher scores across all items indicate more openness. The overall score ranges from 0 to 48 and is the sum of all individual item ratings, where higher scores indicate greater openness.
Participants are presented the following items:
| Item no. | Item | Flipped (f) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | I don't like to waste my time daydreaming. | (f) |
| 2 | Once I find the right way to do something, I stick to it. | (f) |
| 3 | I am intrigued by the patterns I find in art and nature. | |
| 4 | I believe letting students hear controversial speakers can only confuse and mislead them. | (f) |
| 5 | Poetry has little or no effect on me. | (f) |
| 6 | I often try new and foreign foods. | |
| 7 | I seldom notice the moods or feelings that different environments produce. | (f) |
| 8 | I believe we should look to our religious authorities for decisions on moral issues. | (f) |
| 9 | Sometimes when I am reading poetry or looking at a work of art, I feel a chill or wave of excitement. | |
| 10 | I have little interest in speculating on the nature of the universe or the human condition. | (f) |
| 11 | I have a lot of intellectual curiosity. | |
| 12 | I often enjoy playing with theories or abstract ideas. |
Response choices for each item:
| Response | Response code | Value | Flipped value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly disagree | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Disagree | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Neutral | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Agree | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Strongly agree | 5 | 4 | 0 |
Notes: In preliminary analysis, the Cronbach coefficient alpha, an indicator of internal consistency reliability was 0.68 for openness. These values are comparable to those reported in the normative cohort and indicate adequate levels of internal consistency.
Original reference for NEO: Costa PT, McCrae RR. NEO Personality Inventory - Revised. Professional Manual, Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, 1992.