Opening up Openness to Experience: An appraisal process approach towards understanding individual differences in epistemic engagement. Kirill Fayn School of Psychology University of Sydney A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) 2016 ii Declaration I hereby certify that this thesis does not contain, without appropriate acknowledgement, any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. I also certify that this thesis does not contain, to the best of my knowledge, any material previously published or written by another person, except where die reference is made. Kirill Fayn iii Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to thank my wonderful supervisors. Carolyn MacCann was a constant source of wisdom and inspiration. Her advice and encouragement helped me to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am forever grateful to Niko Tiliopoulos for supervising and guiding me throughout my undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Through his wild passion for personality Niko helped me to understand and love the discipline that embraces the unusual and is nonplussed by the ‘average’ person. Niko’s constant guidance, advice, and support helped me to become a better scientist as well as a better human being. I was also very fortunate to receive guidance and support from Paul Silvia. Finding someone with a shared appreciation of interest as well as interesting shirts is rare and wonderful. Learning from Paul was truly awe inspiring. To my wonderful mum and dad, thank you for the many years of love, support and tolerance you have bestowed on me. It goes without saying that this thesis would not have been possible without you. To my brothers from other mothers and sisters from other misters, you are my tribe, my village, my happy place. Thank you for your patience and support during this period. I am endlessly grateful to have you in my life. To the curious curious bunch, thank you for all the great times at Mr Falcons. By combining philosophy, science and beer we have discovered (and subsequently forgotten) the keys to a good life. To Two Scoops, a three-peat is what was needed to get me over the line. Without all the winning, the last few years would feel a lot more like losing. Love you guys! iv Special thanks to Pete and Jeanne who welcomed me into their home for the last stage of this thesis. I am forever in your debt and ready to provide tech support. I would also like to thank the amazing lecturers that I was privileged to learn from throughout my studies at the University of Sydney. In an age where lecture attendance is on the decline, these amazing teachers gave me an appreciation of psychology and kept me coming back for more. Particular thanks to Damien Birney, Alex Holcombe, Ian Johnstone, Sally Andrews and Karen Kroot for being consistently fascinating. v Abstract This thesis offers new insights into the relationship between epistemic engagement and the personality domain of Openness to Experience. In seeking to better understand this relationship, the unique influence of the lower order aspects of Openness and Intellect on engagement was evaluated. Particularly, the proposal that Openness and Intellect represent individual differences in engagement with diverging information is tested—Openness with sensory and perceptual, and Intellect with abstract and semantic. Additionally, a process- based understanding for the differences between the aspects in the context of engagement with information was sought. Such an understanding can shift Openness/Intellect beyond a descriptive construct, and provide explanations for relationships between the domain and epistemic engagement. Four studies evaluated whether Openness and Intellect were differentially related to interest in various informational stimuli—quotations (study 1), visual art (study 2, 3 and 4), philosophy and science (study 4). Throughout the studies, Openness was the consistent predictor of interest in all stimuli. The influence of Openness on engagement was also consistently qualified by appraisal-emotion contingencies. Particularly, Openness was associated with stronger novelty-interest relationships suggesting a reactivity to novel and complex situations. The implications of this finding for the previously observed relationships between Openness, Cognitive Abilities, and Educational outcomes are discussed. The lack of associations between engagement and Intellect is, in part, explained by the measurement of the construct being misaligned with its conceptualisation. Overall, these findings suggest that a clear engagement distinction between Openness and Intellect in terms of stimulus type is premature. Instead, Openness seems to currently represent the affective engagement aspect of the domain, while Intellect is related to greater understanding, but not interest. vi Publications and presentations relating to this thesis Publications Fayn, K., Tiliopoulos, N., & MacCann, C. (2015). Interest in truth versus beauty: Intellect and Openness reflect different pathways towards interest. Personality and Individual Differences, 81, 47-52. Fayn, K., MacCann, C., Tiliopoulos, N., & Silvia, P. J. (2015). Aesthetic Emotions and Aesthetic People: Openness Predicts Sensitivity to Novelty in the Experiences of Interest and Pleasure. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1877. Conference presentations Fayn, K. (2015). Symposium: The Thrills of Life and Death: The Transformational Nature of Awe From a Personality Perspective. Proceedings of the 14th Australian Conference on Personality & Individual Differences. Smillie, L. & Fayn, K. (2014). Symposium: Exploring the fifth dimension: Causes and consequences of Openness/Intellect. Proceedings of the 13th Australian Conference on Personality & Individual Differences. Fayn, K. (2014). Identifying two distinct pathways to epistemic engagement: Interest in truth versus interest in beauty. University of Wollongong Colloquium. Fayn, K., Tiliopoulos, N., MacCann, C., & Silvia, P. (2014). Opening up Openness/intellect: A multilevel process approach towards understanding epistemic engagement. Proceedings of the 17th European Conference of Personality. Fayn, K. & Tiliopoulos, N. (2013). Gratefully curious: a multilevel analysis of individual differences in aesthetic appreciation. First World Conference on Personality – Stellenbosch, South Africa. vii Fayn, K., Tiliopoulos, N., MacCann, C., & Silvia, P. (2013). Openness as a Moderator of Emotion-Appraisal and Interest-Fascination Relationships in the Context of Art Appreciation. International Society for the Study of Individual Differences. Fayn, K., Tiliopoulos, N., MacCann, C., & Silvia, P. (2013). Openness versus Intellect: Interest in Beauty versus Interest in Truth. Proceedings of the 12th Australian Conference on Personality & Individual Differences. Fayn, K., & Tiliopoulos, N. (2012). Open to Not Understanding and Grateful For the Experience: A Process Approach to Studying the Association between Aesthetic Appreciation and Personality. Proceedings of the 11th Australian Conference on Personality & Individual Differences. Fayn, K., Tiliopoulos, N., Birney, D., & Pallier, G. (2011). Our best thoughts come from others: Individual differences in engagement with art and science. Proceedings of the 10th Australian Conference on Personality & Individual Differences. viii Table of contents Declaration ..................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... iii Abstract .......................................................................................................................... v Publications and presentations relating to this thesis .................................................. v Table of contents ........................................................................................................ viii List of figures and tables .............................................................................................. xv Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................. 2 Openness/Intellect: Discovery, disagreements, and definitions ............................... 5 Openness versus Intellect: The great debate ........................................................ 6 Openness and Intellect: Together yet apart ........................................................ 10 The emotion of Interest as engagement with information ..................................... 14 From state to trait: Interest and Openness/Intellect .............................................. 16 From social-cognitive processes to states to traits: Process differences between individuals in appraisals ....................................................................................................... 19 The appraisal structure of interest ...................................................................... 22 Individual differences in interest appraisal processes ......................................... 23 Social-Cognitive model of Openness/Intellect and engagement with information 25 References ............................................................................................................... 28 Chapter 2: Interest in truth versus beauty: Intellect and Openness reflect different pathways towards Interest .....................................................................................................