In a time of societal acrimony, psychological scientists have turned to a possible antidote — intellectual humility. Interest in intellectual humility comes from diverse research areas, including researchers studying leadership and organizational behaviour, personality science, positive psychology, judgement and decision-making, education, culture, and intergroup and interpersonal relationships. In this Review, we synthesize empirical approaches to the study of intellectual humility. We critically examine diverse approaches to defining and measuring intellectual humility and identify the common element: a meta-cognitive ability to recognize the limitations of one’s beliefs and knowledge. After reviewing the validity of different measurement approaches, we highlight factors that influence intellectual humility, from relationship security to social coordination. Furthermore, we review empirical evidence concerning the benefits and drawbacks of intellectual humility for personal decision-making, interpersonal relationships, scientific enterprise and society writ large. We conclude by outlining initial attempts to boost intellectual humility, foreshadowing possible scalable interventions that can turn intellectual humility into a core interpersonal, institutional and cultural value.
Though there are many views on the nature of wisdom, a common thread emerging in philosophical, folk, and scientific discourse is the importance of wise reflection or “reasoning” for sound judgment. In this chapter, we briefly highlight this common thread in historical perspectives on wisdom before moving on to discuss its further development through contemporary personality- and performance-oriented traditions in the empirical study of wisdom. These empirical traditions serve as forerunners to the recent methodological and experimental innovations in the study of wise reasoning. We detail the strengths and weaknesses of existing measures of wisdom, and the subsequent development and validation of the Situated Wise Reasoning Scale to address the limitations of previous approaches. We highlight work demonstrating the importance of the situation for measuring wise reasoning. Further, we address cultural differences in wise reasoning, and highlight ways to boost people’s propensity to reason wisely. Finally, we outline some of the theoretical and practical implications of wise reasoning for wisdom writ large.
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