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Previous studies suggest that personality and individual difference traits are associated with aesthetic preferences but have infrequently examined associations within specific genres or across media domains. We examined associations between the Big Five personality traits with preferences (i.e., liking) for two nonconventional genres of film and literature, namely nouveau roman and existentialism, in samples of 548 nonexperts and 95 genre experts from Austria. Path analyses indicated that openness to experience (positively) and conscientiousness (negatively) were significantly associated with greater liking of stimuli across genres and media domains, after considering the effects of additional, relevant variables (aesthetic expertise and behaviors, social status, and the motive for sensory pleasure). Path models were stable across nonexperts and experts, although the strength of the relationships between openness and liking was stronger for nouveau roman stimuli. Additional analyses indicated that experts had significantly greater liking for stimuli across both genres than nonexperts. These results may have implications for the promotion of nonconventional artworks to wider audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have suggested that individual psychological differences may shape preferences for broad narrative genres, but these studies have not examined preferences for specific genres. The present study sought to overcome this limitation by examining the individual difference antecedents of preferences for relatively complex surrealist texts. A total of 400 participants rated 10 excerpts of exemplar surrealist texts for liking and familiarity, and they completed measures of the Big Five personality factors, sensation seeking, ambiguity tolerance, and demographics. Results showed that there were small differences in preference for surrealist texts by educational qualifications and annual income, with higher status participants generally showing a stronger preference. Results also showed that, controlling for familiarity, preference for surrealist texts was associated with higher sensation seeking and Openness to Experience. These results are discussed in relation to the extant literature on individual differences and reading patterns and preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]