Intellectual humility in the sociopolitical domain

Abstract

A growing body of research has demonstrated the relevance of intellectual humility to a variety of interpersonal and social attitudes and behaviors. There is a need for further replication and expansion of findings about the role of intellectual humility in the sociopolitical domain. We examined sociopolitical intellectual humility (SIH), i.e., a non-threatening awareness of the fallibility of one's views about sociopolitical topics in relation to attitudes toward specific political groups and issues in a U.S. sample of adults (N = 587). We found SIH was distinct from political apathy and indifference and unrelated to belief in under-supported political claims. SIH was associated with less affective polarization with regard to political and religious groups. In addition, SIH was related to more responsiveness to information on the topic of immigration among individuals primed to think from a defense rather than accuracy motivated perspective. Finally, for individuals primed to think about the fallibility of their knowledge specific to immigration, having higher trait levels of SIH was associated with more responsiveness to information on the topic of immigration.

Sociopolitical intellectual humility as a predictor of political attitudes and behavioral intentions

“…This must be interpreted with caution, given the dislike/avoidance of political discussion construct was based on ad hoc items rather than a validated scale. Nevertheless, this finding is consistent with previously observed links between IH and political interest/engagement (Krumrei-Mancuso & Newman, 2020;Porter & Schumann, 2018) and may allay concerns that SIH is reflective of political apathy or diffidence.…”

Stepping Outside the Echo Chamber: Is Intellectual Humility Associated With Less Political Myside Bias?

“…Consistent with these conjectures, both domain-general and politics-specific IH are associated with less affective polarization and same-party favoritism (Bowes et al, 2020;Krumrei-Mancuso & Newman, 2020), raising the possibility that IH is negatively related to political myside bias. Intellectually humble individuals may be less susceptible to same-party cues when evaluating information given that such individuals may be less affectively connected with same-party cues and more open-minded when faced with politically incongruent information (Nadelhoffer et al, 2020;Stanley et al, 2020).…”

“…IH reflects the propensity to reflect on the accuracy of one's beliefs and seek information impartially (Leary et al, 2017). Preliminary evidence suggests that IH may temper political extremism (Krumrei-Mancuso & Newman, 2020;Porter & Schumann, 2018), insofar as it is linked with open-mindedness and respect for others. Hence, IH may be particularly germane to less political myside bias (Hodge et al, 2020a).…”

Teaching Intellectual Humility Is Essential in Preparing Collaborative Future Pharmacists

“…10 Recent research have identified significant implications and benefits of applying intellectual humility in various domains, for instance, sociopolitics, religion, education, business and leadership. 7,11,12 Based on the above conceptualization of intellectual humility, we propose that the trait is also beneficial in promoting interdisciplinary collaboration. As discussed below, the core dimensions of intellectual humility may facilitate effective collaborations among members of a health care team.…”