Personal echo chambers: Openness-to-experience is linked to higher levels of psychological interest diversity in large-scale behavioral data.
Abstract
This research investigates the extent to which the personality trait of Openness-to-Experience can protect individuals from living in personal echo chambers that create and reinforce a narrow view on the world. Analyses of 2 large-scale data sets with over 80,000 participants and more than 40,000,000 behavioral observations demonstrate that individuals scoring high on Openness show higher variability in the psychological profiles associated with their personal interests-a novel concept termed psychological interest diversity. Study 1 examines the Facebook profiles of 57,185 users to demonstrate that a person's Openness level predicts the degree to which the pages they like are diverse in the political ideologies, personal values, and personality traits of their followers. Study 2 replicates the findings of Study 1 using over 28,000,000 GPS-tracked event attendances collected via people's smartphones. Specifically, the results show that individuals (N = 22,953) with higher levels of Openness also show higher levels of psychological interest diversity in the events they attend, and that this effect is incremental to county-level variation in psychological interest diversity. The findings empirically support the theoretical conceptualization of Openness as a preference for variety and exploration and corroborate the role of personal dispositions in the creation of personal echo chambers. The discussion highlights the need to further explore psychological interest diversity as th…
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Because of greater openness to new experiences and more diverse social networks, individuals who embrace liberal ideology are more familiar with and knowledgeable about the cultural activities of out-group members than are individuals who embrace conservative ideology.
“These results imply that, because of greater openness to new experiences217,230 and more diverse social networks207,228, individuals who embrace liberal ideology are more familiar with and knowledgeable about the cultural activities of out-group members than are individuals who embrace conservative ideology.”
From Cognitive–motivational mechanisms of political polarization in social-communicative contexts (2022) · cites this paper as [230]
Openness to experience and extraversion correlate with greater exposure to diverse viewpoints, while introversion and conscientiousness are linked to like-minded discussions.
“Studies found that traits such as openness to experience and extraversion correlate with greater exposure to diverse viewpoints, while introversion and conscientiousness are linked to like-minded discussions [84,85].”
From A systematic review of echo chamber research: comparative analysis of conceptualizations, operationalizations, and varying outcomes (2025) · cites this paper as [84]
User attributes linked to echo chambers include, besides selective exposure, personality traits, fear of isolation and anger, openness, and reflectiveness.
“These user attributes that are linked to echo chambers include-besides selective exposurepersonality traits (e.g., [16]), fear of isolation and anger (e.g, [104]), openness (e.g., [84]), and reflectiveness (e.g., [93]).”
From A systematic review of echo chamber research: comparative analysis of conceptualizations, operationalizations, and varying outcomes (2025) · cites this paper as [84]
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Cognitive–motivational mechanisms of political polarization in social-communicative contexts
Jost, J. T., Baldassarri, D. S., & Druckman, J. N. (2022) · Nature Reviews Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44159-022-00093-5 · Cited by 276 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Matz, S. C.
- Affiliations
- Columbia University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Matz, Sandra C.
- ORCID
- Matz, Sandra C.
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 2021-12
- Volume
- 121
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1284-1300
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W3119389539
- Cited by
- 52
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 5
- FWCI
- 5.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Keywords
- openness to experience, echo chambers, personality traits, political ideology, personal values, filter bubbles, recommender systems, targeted advertising
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Personality, Personality Inventory
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