An Exploration of the Connection Between Creativity and Openness to Sexual Experiences

ABSTRACT

Creativity is a sub-trait under the Big Five’s openness to new experience personality trait, and previous research has consistently shown their positive correlation (Kaufman, 2013). Although the positive relationship between creativity and openness to new experience is well-established, it is unknown whether this association extends to other sub-traits of openness, including sexual openness. This study aimed to uncover a positive correlation between creativity and sexual openness, as well as if/how this correlation differs by gender. There were 97 introductory psychology students that completed the study’s survey, which consisted of the Alternate Uses Task, the Big Five Personality Inventory, and a revised Brief Sexual Openness Scale. The researchers hypothesized that sexual openness and divergent creativity scores would be positively correlated due to the close connection sexual openness and openness to new experience share; the resulting creativity and sexual openness scores, however, produced a weak negative correlation. Creativity and openness to new experience scores shared a similar relationship. This suggests that the Alternate Uses Task may not be an accurate measure for creativity, at least when compared to other scales and tests. These findings will aid future research and understanding in the sexual and creative psychology fields.

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