Most of us like to think we are open minded. We change our views when the evidence is good, we listen to people who disagree, and we do not cling to beliefs just because they are ours. At least, that's the story we like to tell ourselves.

Psychologists have a name for the real version of that trait: intellectual humility. Most of us have less of it than we think. The encouraging part, from the research so far, is that it behaves less like a fixed trait and more like a habit you can practice.

What intellectual humility is

Intellectual humility is not low confidence, and it is not refusing to hold opinions. In a 2017 paper in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Mark Leary and colleagues at Duke University defined it as "the degree to which people recognize that their beliefs might be wrong."

That definition is narrow, and on purpose. You can be confident, opinionated and decisive and still be intellectually humble, as long as you keep the possibility of error in view. The opposite is not confidence. It is certainty that cannot be revised.

It also differs from general humility. A person can be modest about their achievements and still be completely sure they are right about every political question. Intellectual humility is specifically about how you hold your beliefs.

What the research found

Leary's team developed a short questionnaire, the Intellectual Humility Scale, and ran four studies with it. Their abstract summarizes the results:

  • In the first study, intellectual humility was "associated with variables related to openness, curiosity, tolerance of ambiguity, and low dogmatism."
  • In the second, people high in intellectual humility were "less certain that their beliefs about religion were correct and judged people less on the basis of their religious opinions."
  • In the third, they were "less inclined to think that politicians who changed their attitudes were 'flip-flopping.'"
  • In the fourth, they "were more attuned to the strength of persuasive arguments than those who were low."

That last result is the one most worth pausing on. People who were more intellectually humble were better at telling strong arguments from weak ones. Humility, in this sense, is not softness. It is a kind of accuracy.

A separate line of work by Tenelle Porter and Karina Schumann, published in 2018 in the journal Self and Identity, looked at intellectual humility and openness to opposing views. Their studies linked intellectual humility to a greater willingness to engage with people who disagree, and to more respectful explanations of why others disagree. They also reported evidence that intellectual humility can be encouraged, for example by exposing people to the idea that intellectual abilities can grow, the same idea covered in our look at what the growth mindset research really shows.

Why it is hard

If intellectual humility is so useful, why is it so rare? A few forces push against it.

Being right feels good. Holding a belief is comfortable. Questioning it takes work, and admitting error can feel like a loss of status.

Beliefs get tied to identity. When a view becomes part of who you are, a challenge to the view feels like a challenge to you. That is why arguments about politics and religion get heated so quickly.

Changing your mind looks weak. Leary's third study captures this. Many people see a politician who updates a position as unreliable rather than thoughtful. We apply the same standard to ourselves.

We confuse familiarity with understanding. It is easy to feel that you understand a topic because you have heard a lot about it. Trying to explain it step by step often reveals gaps.

Practices that build it

Because intellectual humility is about how you hold beliefs, it can be strengthened with deliberate habits. None of these require you to abandon your views.

Rate your confidence

When you state an opinion, privately put a rough number on how sure you are. Are you 95 percent sure, or closer to 60? The act of estimating separates "I believe this" from "I am certain of this." Over time, notice how often your 95 percent beliefs turn out to need revision.

Ask what would change your mind

For any belief that matters to you, ask: what evidence would make me think I was wrong? If the honest answer is "nothing," that is a sign the belief has moved from a conclusion to an identity.

Explain the other side

Before disagreeing with someone, try to restate their view so well that they would agree with your summary. It's harder than it sounds, and it often reveals that the disagreement is smaller, or different, than you assumed.

Separate the idea from the person

Leary's second study found that people high in intellectual humility judged others less on the basis of their opinions. Practice judging an argument on its merits, apart from who is making it and whether you like them.

Treat updating as a skill

When you do change your mind, notice it and name it. Saying "I used to think X, and now I think Y because of Z" models the behavior and makes it easier next time. In a reflection journal, a short entry called "something I was wrong about" is one of the most useful prompts you can keep.

Seek out good disagreement

Read or listen to the strongest version of a view you reject, not the weakest. A trusted mentor who will tell you when you are wrong is valuable for the same reason. Our guide to asking a busy person for advice covers how to find one.

Humility is not the same as having no views

A common worry is that intellectual humility leads to endless fence sitting. The research doesn't back that up. Leary's participants who scored high still held beliefs. They were simply less certain and more responsive to evidence.

It helps to think of beliefs as having a volume knob rather than an on and off switch. Intellectual humility turns the volume to match the evidence. Some beliefs deserve to be loud and firm. Others deserve a quieter, provisional setting. The skill is in matching the two.

An old idea with new evidence

The idea itself is ancient. In Plato's Apology, Socrates explains that he is wiser than a man who thinks he knows something he does not, because Socrates at least does not think he knows what he does not know. What modern research adds is evidence that this stance has measurable benefits: clearer thinking about arguments, more charity toward people who disagree and more room to keep learning.

If wisdom is partly the ability to grow, then intellectual humility may be one of its foundations. It keeps the door open for the next thing you have yet to learn.

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