Intellectual Humility

These are my notes from this article by Mark Leary, Ph.D., Garonzik Family Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University.

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November 3, 2021

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QUOTES — 

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"These and other findings suggest that people high in intellectual humility pay greater attention to the evidence for and against their beliefs and spend more time thinking about beliefs with which others disagree. Not surprisingly, people who are aware that their views might be wrong are more inclined to think about the accuracy of their beliefs than people who assume that they’re right about most things."

 

"People higher in intellectual humility like to think more than people low in intellectual humility do."

"Several studies also show that they (people with high intellectual humility) are less inclined to disparage people who have different viewpoints than they do. In contrast, people who are lower in intellectual humility have stronger emotional reactions when people disagree with them and disregard or disparage people who hold different views."

 

"Low intellectual humility undermines people’s willingness to negotiate or compromise. Disagreements become intractable when people are unwilling to consider the possibility that their personal views might be, if not incorrect, at least no better overall than other people’s perspectives. If I’m certain that I’m totally right, why should I take other people’s misguided perspectives into account? Intellectual humility should pave the way toward more negotiation and compromise, which are difficult when all parties are firmly convinced that they are correct."

 

"People who are intolerant of views that differ from theirs can also stifle open and honest discussions."

 

POWER THEMES AND CONCEPTS — 

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SUMMARY: People high in intellectual humility:

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• more carefully consider the evidence on which their beliefs are based,

• are vigilant to the possibility that they might be incorrect,

• consider the perspectives of other informed people (including those whose viewpoints differ from theirs), and

• revise their views when evidence warrants.

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MAJOR POINT: Research on the overconfidence bias shows that people regularly overestimate their abilities, knowledge, and beliefs.

 

Psychologist Scott Plous has noted that overconfidence is not only the most pervasive bias that plagues human thinking and decision-making, but it’s also the most “catastrophic” in that it leads to bad decisions and other negative outcomes.

 

The first step in dealing with overconfidence is for people to realize that much of what they believe to be true might, in fact, be incorrect. Psychologists call this awareness of one’s fallibility “intellectual humility.”

 

People who are intellectually humble know that their beliefs, opinions, and viewpoints are fallible because they realize that the evidence on which their beliefs are based could be limited or flawed or that they may not have the expertise or ability to understand and evaluate the evidence. They understand they might need to revise their views at any time.

 

We all shows signs of low and high intellectual humility from time to time, some people tend to be more intellectually humble overall than other people are.

 

MAJOR POINT: Because they realize that their beliefs might be wrong, intellectually humble people pay more attention to the quality of the evidence on which their beliefs are based.

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MAJOR POINT: In a study in which participants read sentences about controversial topics, intellectually humble participants spent more time reading sentences that expressed viewpoints counter to their own opinions than participants low in intellectual humility, suggesting that they were thinking more deeply about ideas with which they disagreed.

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Another study found that people higher in intellectual humility were more interested in understanding the reasons that people disagree with them.

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MAJOR POINT: Intellectual humility is also associated with the desire to learn new information. Their higher curiosity seems to be motivated both by the fact they enjoy learning new information and by the distress they feel when they lack information or do not understand something. They consider the perspectives of other people.

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MAJOR POINT: People with high intellectual humility revise their view when evidence warrants.

One possible downside of thinking so much about the accuracy of one’s beliefs may be lower efficiency when making decisions. People who are higher in intellectual humility may consult more sources of information (including other people), consider information more carefully, and weigh more alternatives than people lower in intellectual humility. Because there is a trade-off between speed and accuracy when drawing conclusions, intellectually humble people may take longer to make decisions. At the same time, they may also be more accurate.

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Given they are more open to other people’s ideas and less contentious when others disagree with them, people higher in intellectual humility are liked better than those lower in intellectual humility. Even after only 30 minutes of interaction, people rate those who are high in intellectual humility more positively than those who are low.

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My research group conducted a study that examined how intellectual humility relates to people’s ratings of their partners and relationships. The study found that men who were higher in intellectual humility were more satisfied with their partners and relationships than men low in intellectual humility. Perhaps more importantly, the female partners of men high in intellectual humility were more satisfied, as well.

 

What influences intellectual humility? What leads some people to be more intellectually humble than others?

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Not much work on this question has been conducted, but we can speculate based on research in related areas.

 

Given that virtually every personal characteristic has at least a weak genetic basis, it would be surprising if intellectual humility was not partly heritable.

 

Learning also plays a role in intellectual humility as children observe how parents, teachers, and others express certainty and uncertainty about their beliefs, manage disagreements with other people, and change—or do not change—their minds when evidence warrants. Some parents may also encourage their children to explain and justify their beliefs, attitudes, and decisions, thereby teaching the importance of basing one’s views on evidence and reason. Parents also differ in the degree to which they encourage their children to be open to new ideas and experiences, which may contribute to intellectual humility.

 

Education may also affect intellectual humility—but in two opposing ways. On one hand, the more people learn, the more they see how much they do not know and come to realize that knowledge is exceptionally complicated, nuanced, and endless. On the other hand, the more people learn, the more justifiably confident they become the areas in which they develop expertise.

 

Cultures vary in the degree to which they value openness and tolerate uncertainty. Some cultures lead people to experience anxiety in situations that are ambiguous or unpredictable, and these cultures are structured in ways that make the world seem more stable and predictable through strict rules and laws, shared beliefs, and circumscribed ways of behaving. Such cultures probably discourage intellectual humility because they regard uncertainty as threatening and encourage people to adopt a common set of beliefs.

 

Certain belief systems may also discourage intellectual humility. For example, most religions teach that they alone have the truth and strongly discourage people from considering that those beliefs might be wrong. Of course, nonreligious people may also be low in intellectual humility; atheists are often as convinced that their views are correct as religious fundamentalists are.

 

Interestingly, though, neither religiosity (the degree to which people believe in and practice a religion) nor political orientation or affiliation is consistently related to intellectual humility. What matters is the extremism of their beliefs: As religious and political views become more extreme—in whatever direction—intellectual humility falls.

 

How can we become more intellectually humble?

 

People can increase in intellectual humility both through a personal decision to be more intellectually humble and through interventions that help people confront their intellectual overconfidence and take steps to reduce it. 

 

KEITH'S WRAP-UP — 

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We are typically overconfident in our abilities, knowledge, and beliefs. The extent of our confidence is informed by the level of our "intellectual humility". We increase our intellectual humility by accepting our knowledge and beliefs may be wrong. The research suggests this kind of humility results in better decisions, relationships and outcomes.

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Notes by Keith Grossman

Educator-at-Law, Mediator, Collaborative Attorney