The Surprising Power of Intellectual Humility

Too many of us are overconfident in our beliefs and assumptions. It’s about time we ask ourselves: “What if I’m wrong?”

Have you ever felt frustrated by someone who refuses to change their mind about something, even when they’re clearly wrong? Have you ever found yourself arguing with someone who seems completely closed off to ideas that don’t align with their own? Have you witnessed a situation where someone was unwilling to apologize or admit they didn’t know something, even when it was obvious?

If you’ve ever been much on Facebook and Twitter, I suspect you have.

Confidence is a great thing — it makes us more sure of ourselves; more accepting of our flaws; and more willing to take risks and live our lives fully. However, there’s one domain of life where we would be better off with a little less confidence. When it comes to our beliefs and our opinions, most of us are more confident — or should I say, overconfident — than we should be.

There’s a word for it — intellectual arrogance, the tendency to believe that our intellectual capacity is higher than warranted. It’s everywhere, but that’s not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the opposite — intellectual humility.

So buckle up and let’s dive in.

What is intellectual humility?

Simply defined, intellectual humility is acknowledging that the things you believe in may in fact be wrong. It’s recognizing and accepting the blind spots in your thinking and being open to learning from the experience of others. It’s being more interested in understanding the truth than being right.

Understanding intellectual humility requires we first understand that the word “wrong” can have various meanings. Admitting the potential for being wrong could entail accepting that the beliefs you strongly hold may be erroneous, that the attitudes you presently possess might be based on insufficient or flawed evidence, or that the opinions you regularly express could be influenced by bias and could be subject to change if you are presented with compelling evidence against them.

The idea of intellectual humility is much older than the field of social psychology. Philosophers from the earliest days have grappled with this concept. Socrates famously said: “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” Epictetus said: “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.” Bertrand Russel talked about it when he said: “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are so certain of themselves, and wiser people are so full of doubts.” The 16th-century French philosopher Michel de Montaigne, who is credited with inventing the essay, wrote that: “The plague of man is boasting of his knowledge.”

So, yeah. The concept has been around for a very long time.

Social psychologists have discovered that intellectual humility is closely intertwined with other desirable character traits: people who score higher on intellectual humility tests are more open to opposing views. They pay more attention to evidence and have a stronger self-awareness when they answer a question incorrectly.

So, intellectual humility is kind of a mixture of self-awareness paired with curiosity, qualities that are hard to find in people these days. No wonder so many people blindly embrace conspiracy theories and fake news being shared and re-shared on social media with no evidence at all.

People with low intellectual humility are more prone to believing in conspiracy theories because it gives them a feeling of certainty. One study found that the extent to which an individual was willing to believe in batshit crazy stuff is less determined by their age, socioeconomic status, religion, political affiliation, race, or ethnicity, and more by the intellectual humility they possessed. Education, in many cases, only reinforced these findings — the more intelligent you are and the more education you gain, the better you become at rationalizing and justifying your existing beliefs — even if they’re wrong.

Further complicating the matter is the fact that we think we are well aware of the fallibility of our beliefs and the limitations of our knowledge — that we are conscious of our individual levels of ignorance from subject to subject and open to new ideas. But guess what, we’re wrong about that as well.

Why fewer people are intellectually humble?

As I was researching this article, I found one study after another citing the benefits of being intellectually humble — better arguments, healthier relationships, more rewarding interactions, to name a few. It made me wonder: Why can’t more people be like this? Why are most people so arrogant and certain in their beliefs, even when they’re wrong? There are several interconnected reasons for this, but the three overlapping causes are:

· It helped us survive: Roughly 180 cognitive biases have been documented in humans so far, and almost all of them are, to some extent, rooted in evolution. The same is true in this case. Back in the day, humans used to live in tribes — there were no supermarkets to browse for groceries, so they had to hunt animals and forage fruits to survive. It was crucial to fully understand the area they inhabited — which animals shared the space, which plants were poisonous, where to find water and shelter, which routes were safe to take and et al. They had to know all this with certainty, or they would not survive.

This paramount need to know everything with utmost accuracy meant that there was no room for doubt and uncertainty. Imagine an ancient human on her way to the camp when she hears susurration in the nearby tallgrass. She can interpret the sound in two ways:

1. “That’s definitely a snake. I should avoid this route lest it bits me.”

2. “That’s the wind rustling. Let’s continue with the journey — no danger here.”

(Okay maybe she wouldn’t have framed it that way, but you get the point)

Now, if she followed the former interpretation, she would survive, even if It was just the wind making the sound. In this case, the certainty of the (wrong) belief paid off — it would help her survive through similar situations in the future. But if she followed the latter interpretation, and it turned out there was a snake there, she would’ve been bitten and dead in minutes. She would’ve had no future to practice caution in.

Certainty and arrogance made our human ancestor fitter to their environments and helped them survive. We no longer live in tribes or hunt animals, but we still carry with us the vestiges of our ancestors’ psyche. Intellectual arrogance is a manifestation of that.

· It protects us from discomfort: As we grow up, different beliefs are hammered down our throats by our parents, teachers, friends, and society. These beliefs come to define us later in life. As we segue from childhood to adolescence and then to adulthood, we start increasingly associating ourselves with them. And when we come across evidence that conflicts with these beliefs, it makes us uncomfortable and anxious — it feels as if our entire identity is unravelling. Most of us deliberately never challenge our long-held beliefs and assumptions, because doing so is disorienting and confusing.

Opening yourself to the vastness of your ignorance is suffocating. You have but a small mind — a tiny, leaky boat on which to voyage the tumultuous waves in the vast ocean of knowledge with no clear map. It is for you to chart your way through these waters, which is threatening.

Some people never wrestle with these waters. They stand on the bank, squint their eyes and transform the sea into a puddle in their minds. It is only when you fully open your eyes and stare into the horizon that you see how vast the knowledge of the ocean is, and you haven’t even dabbled a foot in it.

Discomfort is the personal cost of intellectual humility. No wonder why so many people avoid it.

· It is looked down upon: Our culture values intelligence, which in itself wouldn’t be such a bad thing if it wasn’t confused with overconfidence. When we the word “smart”, we imagine a sleek-jawed bespectacled genius who has all the answers and is never wrong. We are willing to believe their opinions or follow their lead simply because we assume that they know what they’re talking about. Our culture also rewards those who are confident and assertive, even if they are not necessarily the most knowledgeable or qualified.

Again, upbringing plays a substantial role in this. People who’ve grown up in environments where intelligence and confidence are highly valued and praised, and where mistakes and uncertainty are discouraged, develop a greater tendency towards overconfidence and reluctance to admit when they are wrong about something.

Combine this with several other factors and you’ll get an idea why so many people naturally gravitate to blowhards like Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump, while experts like Anthony Fauci struggle to make themselves heard.

Why intellectual humility is good for you?

The science of intellectual humility is growing, and there is a consensus among scientists that intellectual humility has far-reaching benefits in our personal and professional lives. It also affects how you approach and address failures, and connect with people who hold different viewpoints from you. Here are a few benefits of cultivating intellectual humility, backed by science:

· It helps you learn new things: This is a no-brainer. Learning is a trial-and-error process, and the secret to being a lifelong learner is questioning your beliefs and assumptions, accepting the flaws in your knowledge, and being willing to improve. A series of five studies published in the journal Learning and Individual Differences explored the connection between intellectual humility and what the authors called “mastery behaviours” — seeking out challenging tasks and continuing to work on them despite failures. The core element here is curiosity — intellectually humble people are genuinely interested in learning and are much more likely to persist in the face of difficulties. Being overconfident and inflexible in your beliefs is inoculating yourself against growth.

· It is a vaccine against extremism: It might seem obvious that intellectual humility is a cure for political polarization and religious dogmatism, and research suggests that this is indeed the case. In two seminal papers on the topic, researchers from Duke University found that intellectually humble people are less likely to be extreme supporters or opponents of hot-button political and social issues, like abortion, euthanasia, government use of drone strikes, and the impact of religion on society. Intellectually humble people had more “centrist” views on controversial issues — neither hardline supporters nor diehard opponents.

· It breeds tolerance: Another research, also from Duke University, studied the link between intellectual humility and how the subjects perceived their opponents. The study found that intellectually humble people had a more favourable opinion of people they disagreed with on issues like abortion and immigration. They were also more likely to befriend or follow people with contradicting views on social media.

· It improves your relationships: So far we’ve discussed how intellectual humility can enhance our academic and social lives, but its benefits are evident in the personal realm too. The link might not be so obvious, but it is there. Consider this: Would you rather have a conversation with someone who is inflexible in their beliefs and adamant that they are right, with no regard to the credibility of their evidence — or someone who sees the weight and value in your opinions and is open to learning and the possibility of being wrong?

Studies have shown that people with high intellectual humility are more likely to be perceived as communicative, open-minded, warm, and friendly. Other studies have explored the link between intellectual humility and “prosocial qualities” like gratitude, empathy, and altruism, which happen to be the bedrock of healthy, rewarding relationships.

Results from another study complemented these findings — intellectually humble were less likely to feel significantly intense negative emotions, like anger, disgust, and contempt, towards their opponents. These and countless other studies clearly show that people with high intellectual humility are more tolerant and accepting of opposing viewpoints, which is essential for social cohesion and democracy.

How to cultivate intellectual humility?

Intellectual humility comes naturally to some people, but that doesn’t mean it cannot be cultivated. Here are three ways I try to incorporate intellectual humility in my life, and that you can start practicing right away:

· Have fewer opinions: One of the most important things we can do in our lives is limit the number of opinions we have. In the age of social media, where FOMO is ubiquitous and where everyone has a platform to voice their stance, people think they have to have an opinion on everything. Your anti-vaxxer hairstylist thinks he’s an expert on epidemiology because he read a blog post by another anti-vaxxer who thinks he knows that thousands of scientists around the world don’t know. The barista at your favourite coffee shop thinks she’s an expert on criminology because she saw a random dude on YouTube saying that hanging all the criminals would solve all crime. Or maybe it’s that obnoxious, asshole of an uncle who ruins every gathering by spewing out his unfiltered opinion on everything from women’s rights and the #MeToo Movement to the Holocaust and invasion of Iraq.

Here’s something I wish more people could realize: just because you can have an opinion does not mean you should have an opinion. Believe it or not, it is possible to not have an opinion on something. Opinions take objective situations and wrap them in meaning, making them good, bad, essential, and outrageous. It also takes things that have nothing to do with us and makes them problems for us.

Never thought I’d be using a cheesy visual from Instagram, but here we are

So, before you make that emotionally-charged social media post on an issue, stop for a moment and ask yourself: Do you have to have an opinion on this? Are you contributing a new perspective to this issue? Do you have the credentials it requires to have an opinion on this?

Try that. It will declutter your mind of all the unnecessary — and probably wrong — assumptions and allow you to spend that time worrying about things that are genuinely important to you. Having fewer opinions makes life much, much easier.

And if you can have an opinion on something, have an opinion on having fewer opinions. That’s it.

· Doubt: Doubt does to your beliefs what lifting heavy weights does to your muscles — it breaks them down to make them even stronger. Uncertainty causes anxiety. Our rigid, inflexible beliefs rid us of anxiety, which is why people would rather accept fringe, ridiculous conspiracy theories than say: “I don’t know.”

Anxiety evolved to protect us from getting killed. Seeing a grizzly bear in the woods makes us anxious. That’s because if we were totally chilled out and relaxed with bears roaming around, there wouldn’t be any humans left.

Doubting ourselves generates anxiety. It forces us to acknowledge that we may be believing in something that might get us (or others) killed. And instead of leaning into the discomfort of being in doubt, we have decided to push anxiety to the side and be as certain as possible of our half-baked ideas that may be wrong at best and disastrous at worst.

Internalize this: doubt is healthy; doubt is a virtue. It makes you more resilient, and, if done correctly, it makes you more curious. It tests your beliefs and makes them stronger. We are living in a post-truth world — disinformation is everywhere; thousands of conspiracy theories are flying around on social media every day. Your attention is the greatest asset — social media algorithms are specifically designed to harvest your attention and sell it to the highest bidder. It is important more than ever to focus on a few things and take everything you see on social media with a pinch of salt.

So, cultivate doubt in your life. Be unsure. Acknowledge that you can’t know everything with utmost certainty, and lean into the discomfort of not knowing. The feeling of having your view change when didn’t want it to, or weren’t expecting it to, can be disorienting, like putting in a new pair of prescription glasses. But you quickly learn to appreciate the resulting clarity it brings.

· Challenge your beliefs: You have beliefs about yourself, probably way more than you thought and more fucked up than you realize. You have beliefs about others, most of which are probably wrong. And you have beliefs about the world, which are definitely wrong. This is true for all of us — we all have our long-held, cherished pet theories and assumptions we’ve taken for granted and never questioned.

For me, if there’s one thing I can pride myself on, it’s my willingness to question everything — politics, religion, philosophy, societal norms, “common wisdom”, random uncles saying stupid shit, you name it. Nothing — nothing ­– to me is out of the bounds of rigorous scrutiny.

There’s a principle I’ve tried to incorporate in my life over the years — whenever confronted with empirical evidence and logical arguments that contradict my beliefs and assumptions, I would change my mind. It comes as no surprise that I always find myself at the opposite end of the spectrum on major issues as compared to the majority.

Okay, that’s enough self-touting for a day. What were we talking about? Oh, yeah. Right, challenging your beliefs.

Science has always fascinated me. And no, I’m not talking about the unprecedented strides in humanity’s collective knowledge or the cutting-edge technology that gives us God-like capabilities. I’m talking about the process that underpins all of science, the process of scientific thinking, a process deeply rooted in intellectual humility.

Science is a trial-and-error process. Scientists probably spend more time proving each other wrong than they do proving each other right. There is always room for improvement; the possibility of a theory being wrong is always open. Scientists accept their mistakes and learn from them, which is why science has progressed farther than theology ever would — one is rooted in intellectual humility; the other is inherently dogmatic.

You might be thinking “Okay, I get it: It’s important to challenge your beliefs. But how do I do that?” Here’s a starting point: Take a belief or an assumption that feels pretty important to you and ask yourself:

1. When did I first start believing this?

2. Who taught it to me? Did I teach it to myself, or did I take everything as given and believed it without scrutiny?

3. Have I read anything that contradicts my belief, or had a conversation with someone who disagrees with my viewpoint?

4. Did I choose this belief for myself, or was it instilled in me by others, like my family, teachers, friends, colleagues, or some douchebag on the internet?

You can go on and on with this, but you get the point. By the end of it, one of the two things is going to happen.

One, you will realize that the belief is incorrect and you would be more open to changing your mind on it. You will toss it in the trash can and move on.

Or you will challenge that belief and it will survive. This means now that belief will be stronger and you will be better able to defend it. It will feel more important to you and you will be better able to talk about it and debate it with people who disagree with you.

Either case, this is a win-win situation — you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Challenge your beliefs — open that thick skull of yours that’s been closed off for years. You’ll start seeing the world from different perspectives. (Credit: LUMO Magazine)

The sweet spot between conviction and humility

A common misperception is that intellectual humility involves never trusting yourself and your beliefs — nothing could be farther from the truth. Intellectual humility is about calibrating the strength of your beliefs to the evidence you’ve gathered and the limitations you face. It’s about striking a balance — a Goldilocks Zone of sorts — between uncertainty and conviction. It does not mean abandoning one’s beliefs altogether but being open to giving merit and weight to alternative perspectives and being willing to revise one’s beliefs in the light of new evidence.

Cultivating intellectual humility and doubt is essential, but it holding convictions is necessary for navigating the complex and ever-changing currents of information. Without convictions, we may find ourselves adrift and directionless, uncertain of where to go or what to do.

So, how do you find the “sweet spot” between humility and conviction? Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all formula for finding an ideal balance between the two. It depends on individual circumstances and contexts. Here’s how you can approach it and find your personal “sweet spot.”

You can hold convictions about scientific principles that are grounded in extensive evidence and have been tested and validated through rigorous research. These types of convictions — the Earth is round, vaccines do work, biological evolution is a fact — are not based on personal opinion or preferences, but rather on empirical evidence and rational thinking. Scientific principles are objective — they are not influenced by your opinion. Gravity will not disappear just because you stopped believing in it, so you might as well believe in it.

Similarly, convictions about moral principles, such as the importance of treating others with respect and kindness, regardless of their race, religion, or gender, are based on ethical reasoning and reflection. Similarly, one may also hold convictions about the value of honesty, integrity, and compassion. These principles can provide a moral compass for our actions and guide us in making decisions that are consistent with our values.

But in areas where ambiguity and disagreement, intellectual humility can be especially valuable. In multifaceted topics like politics or ethics, there are often multiple valid perspectives and no one “right answer.” In these cases, being open to considering alternative viewpoints and recognizing one’s fallibility can help promote constructive dialogue and mutual understanding.

Find your middle ground — away from the either extreme

The nature of change

Whether you’re trying to change the world, your life, or just your current situation, you can’t do it without changing your beliefs first. Our beliefs shape our identity and define ourselves to the world. Changing your beliefs is a difficult and grueling process that requires blood, sweat, and tears. No wonder it is scary for so many people.

Changing your beliefs does not happen overnight — it’s a long and difficult process that may take months, or years, to so show any significant results. You rarely come across a piece of information that forces you to do a 180 on your beliefs. It’s rare; almost never happens. And when it does happen, it takes a very extreme event — the death of a loved one, a major terrorist attack, a global pandemic — to change your worldview in a significant way.

Belief changes are gradual, nuanced, and long-term. It’s an open-ended and messy process — your beliefs change by tiny details over a long stretch of time. Maybe someone pokes a hole in your bubble, disproving a cherished assumption. Or maybe you read something somewhere that forces you to see the world, or yourself, in a way you never did.

Instances like these open you up to the possibility of change. You hone and refine your beliefs you go along until one day you wake and realize: “I no longer believe that thing” or “I’m not as zealous about this belief as I was a year ago.” You realize you are no longer prone to making bold statements. You see the world in terms of probabilities rather than absolutes. That’s real, meaningful change.

But then again, you can’t tread this path until you are willing to admit that you might be wrong. Intellectual humility is the first step in the process. Without it, there is no going anywhere.

Summary:

Hey, Reader! Yeah you, I’m talking to you. The fact that you made it this far tells me something — you’re genuinely interesting in growth and development. Just to make sure you squeeze the maximum out of this article, here’s what I want you to walk away with:

• Intellectual humility is accepting the gaps in our knowledge, and the limitations in our beliefs, and admitting the possibility of being wrong.
• People are so certain of themselves because a) certainty helped our ancestors survive, b) it protects us from discomfort, and c) It is looked down upon by society.
• A growing body of scientific literature is clear on the benefits of intellectual humility — it makes us lifelong learners, cures extremism and intolerance, and helps foster healthier relationships.
• To cultivate intellectual humility, have fewer opinions, integrate doubt in your life, and frequently challenge your beliefs.
• Too much humility and you’d be lost and directionless — too much conviction and you’d vaccinate yourself against growth and learning. Everyone has a sweet spot between humility and conviction. Try finding yours.
• Changing your beliefs is a gradual, long-term, nuanced, and messy process — be patient, be humble, and embrace the change when it comes.