Intellectual humility is a metacognitive process characterized by recognizing the limits of one's knowledge and acknowledging one's fallibility. It involves several components, including not thinking too highly of oneself, refraining from believing one's own views are superior to others', lacking intellectual vanity, being open to new ideas, and acknowledging mistakes and shortcomings. It is positively associated with openness to new ideas, empathy, prosocial values, tolerance for diverse perspectives, and scrutiny of misinformation. Individuals with higher levels of intellectual humility experience benefits such as improved decision-making, positive social interactions, and the moderation of conflicts. There is a long history of philosophers considering the importance of intellectual humility as a 'virtue'. The modern study of this phenomenon began in the mid-2000s.
Intellectual humility is a psychological process, a metacognitive entity, defined as "the recognition of the limits of one’s knowledge and an awareness of one’s fallibility."[1]
Intellectual humility is "a multifaceted and multilayered virtue"[2] which involves several key components that shape an individual's intellectual disposition. An intellectually humbler person will:
It is positively associated with:
There are a variety of benefits to individuals who have higher intellectual humility including:
At a social level there are also benefits including the moderation of conflicts and may lead to greater compromise.[4]
The consequences of the reverse - i.e. overconfidence - can be problematic. As social psychologist Scott Plous wrote, "No problem in judgement and decision making is more prevalent and more potentially catastrophic than overconfidence."[5] It has been blamed for lawsuits, strikes, wars, poor corporate acquisitions,[6][7] and stock market bubbles and crashes.
A large study of nearly 50,000 participants from over 68 countries the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020) found that "open-mindedness turns out to be the strongest predictor for rejecting conspiracy beliefs" (and support for public health measures) related to COVID-19.[8]
A study found that users of an online tool could experience small- to medium-sized increase in their intellectual humility.[3]
Exercise with rationale | Sample applications |
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Reason about a challenging situation from a third-person rather than a first-person perspective. Thinking about a situation from a third-person perspective creates psychological distance, which increases objectivity about the situation. It also shifts people from an individual to a relational focus. |
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Shift toward a growth mindset of intelligence: the belief that intelligence can be developed and grow rather than that it is a trait that cannot be changed. People who hold a growth mindset of intelligence may feel less threatened to acknowledge what they don't yet understand and feel more comfortable acknowledging the intellectual strengths of others. |
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Critically evaluate the limitations of one’s knowledge on a particular topic or in a particular situation.32 When people assess the limits of their knowledge in a particular situation or on a particular topic it can make their general intellectual humility more salient in the moment, on the topic in question. |
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Identify previous examples where acknowledging flaws in one’s thinking or ideas resulted in positive change. Thinking about practical examples of intellectual humility brings this concept out of the theoretical to promote applied understanding. This exercise can minimize fears about intellectual humility by highlighting the ways in which intellectual humility has resulted in positive outcomes for a person in the past. |
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Recognize general human intellectual fallibility.36 Acknowledging that all humans have intellectual fallibility can help people realize they are no exception. This allows people to embrace intellectual humility as an aspect of their shared humanity and may help leaders accept their own and their followers’ intellectual fallibility. |
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For millennia, philosophers have championed "a recognition of one's epistemic limit" and have named it an epistemic virtue.[1]
Perhaps the first recorded instance of intellectual humility is when Socrates (in The Apology) remarked: "Although I do not suppose that either of us knows anything really beautiful and good, I am better off than he is – for he knows nothing, and thinks he knows. I neither know nor think I know."[1]
Waclaw Bąk et al. identify Socrates as "the ideal example" of intellectual humility. Studies by Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Gordon Allport discuss humility with regard to one's knowledge without using the phrase "intellectual humility.[10] [check quotation syntax] Notwithstanding this long history, attention from social and behavioural scientists is much more recent - roughly starting in the mid-2000s.[11] One of the first focused studies of intellectual humility was conducted by Roberts and Woods in 2003.[12]