How high scores may appear
A high result suggests you may question assumptions and consider alternative viewpoints more easily.
Big Five facet
Flexibility of views
Readiness to rethink assumptions and tolerate alternative perspectives.
Simple definition
What this facet means
Readiness to rethink assumptions and tolerate alternative perspectives.
Flexibility of views belongs to the broader Openness factor. It helps explain why two people can have a similar broad factor score but show it in different everyday patterns.
Source construct: IPIP O6 Liberalism; in SelfSonar displayed as flexibility of views
How low scores may appear
A low result suggests established principles, traditions, or proven rules may feel more trustworthy.
Where this facet can help
- It supports learning, tolerance for complexity, and updating beliefs.
- Stability, clarity, and commitment to tested standards.
Where it can create friction
- Too much openness can make decisions feel less anchored.
- You may reject an alternative too quickly because it challenges the familiar frame.
IPIP-120
Practical cues
- Clarify which principles are stable for you.
- Use evidence, not novelty alone, to update views.
- Ask what evidence would make you reconsider.
- Separate a useful rule from a habit.
Openness
Related factor and neighboring facets
Facet scores are most useful when read inside their broader factor and beside nearby facets.
Neighboring facets
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O1
Imagination
Mental imagery, inner scenarios, and comfort with possibility.
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O2
Artistic interests
Sensitivity to beauty, form, music, visual style, or atmosphere.
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O3
Emotional sensitivity
Attention to inner feeling and emotional nuance.
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O4
Readiness for novelty
Willingness to try new places, formats, methods, or experiences.
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O5
Intellectual curiosity
Interest in ideas, abstractions, systems, and difficult questions.
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O6
Flexibility of views
Readiness to rethink assumptions and tolerate alternative perspectives.
How SelfSonar measures it
In IPIP-120, each facet is estimated from 4 self-report items. A facet score is a tendency pattern, not a fixed label or a clinical conclusion.
Important limitation
This page is educational. It does not diagnose mental health, predict behavior with certainty, or replace professional judgment.
Big Five factor map
Explore the five Big Five factors
Each page explains one broad factor, how high and low scores can appear, and which six IPIP-120 facets sit underneath it.
O
Openness
How strongly a person is drawn to ideas, imagination, aesthetics, learning, and change.
Read factor → C ConscientiousnessHow a person plans, prioritizes, keeps promises, regulates effort, and finishes what they start.
Read factor → E ExtraversionHow a person uses contact, pace, assertiveness, stimulation, and positive emotion.
Read factor → A AgreeablenessHow a person balances trust, empathy, directness, cooperation, and self-protection.
Read factor → ES Emotional StabilityHow a person tends to stay balanced, recover from stress, and avoid getting stuck in threat signals.
Read factor →Flexibility of views in your full profile
The factor becomes more useful when you see it beside Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, and all 30 facets.