The openness-calibration hypothesis
Date
2015Source Title
Personality and Individual Differences
Print ISSN
0191-8869
Electronic ISSN
1873-3549
Publisher
Elsevier Ltd
Volume
81
Pages
53 - 60
Type
ArticleItem Usage Stats
145
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111
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Abstract
The current study tested the hypotheses that (1) psychological adaptations calibrate Openness to Experience to facilitate or deter pursuit of short-term mating, and (2) this calibration varies as a function of mating strategy, physical attractiveness, and sex—individual differences that shift the costs and benefits of alternative personality strategies. Participants completed a personality inventory before and after reading vignettes describing mating opportunities of different durations (short- and long-term) with individuals of differing levels of attractiveness. Among study findings, participants presented with short-term mating opportunities with individuals of average attractiveness exhibited down-regulated Openness relative to those presented with highly attractive mates. Moreover, these effects varied as a function of the interaction between participants’ sex, mating strategy, and attractiveness. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that evolved psychological mechanisms adaptively calibrate Openness levels in response to short-term mating opportunities. More broadly, they highlight the heuristic value of an evolutionary framework for the study of personality and individual differences.
Keywords
AttractivenessEvolutionary psychology
Individual differences
Mating strategy
Openness to experience
Personality
Physical attractiveness
SOI