There’s a well-known idea in psychology that smarter people tend to be more “open” - more curious, more into art, more willing to explore new ideas. Past research put that link at a modest but real correlation (around 0.20-0.30). This new study, using IQ tests and personality surveys from 371 UK adults, largely confirms that overall correlation (0.22) - but with an interesting twist: the relationship isn’t a straight line. It turns out that the connection between intelligence and openness is strongest at low-to-moderate IQ levels, and once you cross an IQ of roughly 105 (just a bit above average), the link basically disappears. In other words, being smarter doesn’t seem to make someone more open once they’re already reached an average-ish IQ.
Digging deeper, the researchers found that openness isn’t one single thing - it breaks down into different flavors. “Epistemic” openness (curiosity, love of ideas, intellectual engagement) kept a steady positive relationship with intelligence across the board. But “experiential” openness (things like enjoying art galleries or classical music) showed a different pattern: it rose with IQ up to that ~105 mark, and then in some cases actually leveled off or even dipped afterward. So depending on which specific type of openness you’re measuring, intelligence might matter a lot, a little, or not at all.
The authors are careful to frame these results as suggestive rather than definitive — the sample size is fairly modest for this kind of item-by-item analysis, and they encourage replication before drawing firm conclusions. Still, the findings raise a thought-provoking possibility: maybe intelligence and “genuine” openness (curiosity, love of learning) are tightly linked, while what looks like the intelligence-openness connection at higher IQ levels might really be capturing something else — like “need for cognition” (a general enjoyment of thinking hard), which is a related but distinct trait. If that’s right, it suggests some caution is warranted before assuming that being smart automatically makes someone more broadly open-minded or experientially adventurous.
Link to full article: Redirecting