We surveyed 500 adults and asked them a series of questions to gauge their overall “openness” to experiment with new things – ideas, experiences, products, and services.
The vast majority of those polled said they were Open Minded (93%), and a strong majority said they were Open to New Experiences (84%).
That might not be so surprising – as most people do like to think of themselves – at least in the abstract – as being open minded.
But those numbers dropped significantly when our questions become more specific and related to real-world consequences.
For example, only 49% said that they considered themselves to be Earl Adopters of New Technology, while just 45% said they were the First (in their social circle) to Try Something New.
As for people who positively and consciously labeled themselves a Risk Taker – that dropped to just 36% of those polled.
| Open Minded | 93% |
| Open to New Experiences | 84% |
| Early Adopter of Tech | 49% |
| First to Try Something New | 45% |
| Risk Taker | 36% |
Gender did not play a huge role in the above self-assessments. Both men and women were about equally likely to say they were:
- Open Minded (M: 48% vs. F: 52%)
- Open to New Experiences (M: 48% vs F: 52%)
- Early Adopter of Tech (M: 53% vs. F: 47%)
- First to Try Something New (M: 51% vs. F: 49%)
- Risk Taker (M: 56% vs. F: 44%)
Though it is interesting to note that a significantly larger number of men see themselves as Risk Taker vs. the number of women who self-identify as Risk Takers.
Looking at the results of our study by age, it seems that being generally “open” peaks between the ages of 25 to 44, as the chart below shows.
What about income?
Interesting question. We found that those with higher incomes were generally less likely to identify as “open” across the factors we measured.
For example, those making over $100,000 per year were least likely to self-identify as Open Minded, Open to New Experiences, Early Adopters of Technology, First to Try Something New or as Risk Takers.
Those most likely to self-identify across any of the open components, were, in fact, people earning between $50K and $75K per year.
What about education?
Openness tends to increase with increasing education, peaking among those with a four-year college degree, dipping thereafter among those with a master’s degree or more.
And finally, our grand conclusion?
How we see ourselves, in this case as being generally “open,” doesn’t always translate into concrete, real-world actions.
Well…something like that.