Social psychology

Trait

Developmental psychology

Openness to experience

Computer science

Big Five personality traits

Psychology

Programming language

Clinical psychology

Psychopathology

Personality

Journal of Personality

Objective Research examining relationships between trait Openness to Experience, psychopathology, and well‐being has produced contradictory findings. Examining temporary manifestations of Openness may provide further insight into the interplay between Openness and symptoms in clinical populations. Method The present study validated a brief new measure to assess daily Openness in 271 adults ( M age = 34 years, 52% women, 83% White) taking part in 7 days of intensive treatment for acute psychopathology. Participants also completed a daily measure of depressive symptoms. Results Participants overall experienced a significant but small increase in daily Openness during treatment. Two latent classes best characterized initial levels and trajectories of Openness in this sample: medium/increase (86% of sample) and low/decrease (14%). Daily Openness negatively related to depressive symptoms over the entire course of treatment and at the daily level. Daily Openness, however, did not predict depressive symptoms from one day to the next (or vice versa). Conclusions Results of this study contribute to the scientific understanding of positive personality change during challenging life circumstances. Future research could examine whether targeting Openness as part of treatment holds clinical value. Findings are limited by this study’s short time frame and the lack of ethnoracial diversity in this sample.

Changes in daily manifestations of Openness to Experience during intensive cognitive‐behavioral treatment