What determines whether the outcome of openness is
benign or pathological is not fully understood. It may be asimple matter of degree, or there may be interactions with
developmental events. Poets, for example, differ from
schizophrenia patients not in their Unusual Experiences
scores, which are in the same range, but in the absence of
negative symptoms such as anhedonia and social withdrawal
(Nettle, in press-b). The Unusual Experiences trait
is positively correlated with mating success in nonclinical
populations, at least partly because it leads to creativity
(Nettle & Clegg, 2006). However, when it leads to schizophrenia,
reproductive success is much reduced (Avila et al.,
2001; Bassett et al., 1996). Thus the fitness payoffs to
openness appear to be very context or condition dependent,
leading to the retention of variation.