Predictors and consequences of intellectual humility

Porter, Tenelle; Elnakouri, Abdo; Meyers, Ethan Andrew; Shibayama, Tamaki; Jayawickreme, Eranda; Grossmann, Igor

doi:10.1038/s44159-022-00081-9

Cited by 71 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 148 publications

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“…Under this model, a person generalizes their lack of knowledge of one phenomenon to other phenomena. This could represent a temporary boost to intellectual humility (Porter et al, 2022) where after attempting (and failing) to explain something, people might recognize the extent of their ignorance about that phenomenon (Meyers et al, 2020), which they then generalize to their knowledge of other phenomena as well. For instance, failing to explain how a speedometer works might lead someone to question their knowledge of how snow forms because the person attributes a general feeling of ignorance to the rest of what they think they know.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broad effects of shallow understanding: Explaining an unrelated phenomenon exposes the illusion of explanatory depth

Meyers¹,

Gretton²,

Budge³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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People often overestimate their understanding of how things work. For instance, people believe they can explain even ordinary phenomena such as the operation of zippers and speedometers in greater depth than they really can. This is called the illusion of explanatory depth. Fortunately, a person can expose the illusion by attempting to generate a causal explanation for how the phenomenon operates (e.g., how a zipper works). Researchers have assumed for two decades that explanation exposes the illusion because explanation makes salient the gaps in a person’s knowledge of that phenomenon. However, recent evidence suggests that people might be able to expose the illusion by instead explaining a different phenomenon. If true, this would challenge our fundamental understanding of how the illusion works. Across three preregistered studies we tested whether the process of explaining one phenomenon (e.g., how a zipper works) would lead someone to report knowing less about a completely different phenomenon (e.g., how snow forms). In each study we found that explaining led people to report knowing less about various phenomena, regardless of what was explained. For example, people reported knowing less about how snow forms after attempting to explain how a zipper works. We discuss alternative accounts of the illusion of explanatory depth that might better fit our results. We also consider the utility of explanation as an indirect, non-confrontational debiasing method in which a person generalizes a feeling of ignorance about one phenomenon to their knowledge base more generally.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broad effects of shallow understanding: Explaining an unrelated phenomenon exposes the illusion of explanatory depth

Meyers¹,

Gretton²,

Budge³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…Thus, a positive attitude toward oneself and others may distinguish intellectually humble people. Moreover, previous studies have shown that intellectual humility is positively associated with variables that form the essence of a positive outlook, such as life satisfaction, 62 , 63 self-esteem 18 and optimism, 28 but there is no research investigating the relationship between intellectual humility and positive orientation.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Preliminary Validation of the Polish Version of the Comprehensive Intellectual Humility Scale (CIHS)

Kroplewski¹,

Krumrei-Mancuso²,

Bielecka³

et al. 2022

PRBM

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Background In the last few years, empirical research on intellectual humility has grown notably, involving the elaboration of promising measures that provide a different outlook on the construct. Although all of them offer valid, theoretically sound, and meaningful contributions, we selected the 22-item Comprehensive Intellectual Humility Scale (CIHS) by Krumrei-Mancuso and Rouse for validation. The rationale for choosing this questionnaire for Polish validation stands in its multidimensional nature, which enables the study of various nuances of this psychological concept. Methods The research was carried out with the participation of 260 adults (Study 1) and 210 adults (Study 2). The respondents completed a Polish translation of the original version of the CIHS, the Gratitude Questionnaire—Six Item Form (GQ-6), the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), and the Positive Orientation Scale (P-Scale). Results The findings obtained in both studies support the four-factor model of the CIHS with the higher order factor. The good fit indices of the CFA and MGCFA show the psychometric solidity of the 22-item structure of the Polish version of the CIHS. With respect to convergent validity, the validation study (Study 2) confirmed that gratitude, self-efficacy, and positive orientation are significant correlates of the CIHS. Conclusion Since intellectual humility is still a little-known psychological construct, both as a concept and as a possible antecedent or consequence, it would be worth examining it in the future with other variables of an intraindividual and interindividual nature.

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“…Epistemic humility (also referred to as intellectual humility by some researchers)-the meta-cognitive ability to acknowledge the strengths and limits of one's knowledge of the human experience-is also an important component of wisdom (Nusbaum & Schneider, 2020). While SELF-TRANSCENDENCE & WISE REASONING 5 some measures of wise reasoning include items that measure the recognition of one's own intellectual fallibility in interpersonal conflicts (Grossmann et al, , 2020, epistemic humility has also been theorized and studied as an intellectual virtue on its own (e.g., Dormandy, 2018;Porter, Baldwin et al, 2022;Porter, Elnakouri et al, 2022;Tanesini, 2018;Whitcomb et al, 2017). Socrates suggested intellectual virtues, like epistemic humility, would be at the heart of wisdom (Ryan, 2020).…”

Section: Going Beyond Ourselvesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Going beyond ourselves: the role of self-transcendent experiences in wisdom

Kim

Nusbaum

Yang

2022

Cognition and Emotion

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Having good moral character often involves shifting one's focus of attention from the self to others and the world. Across three studies (N = 605 adults), we found converging evidence that self-transcendent experiences, specifically awe and flow, enabled the expression of wisdom, as captured by wise reasoning and epistemic humility measures. Study 1 found that dispositionally awe-and flow-prone people have stronger wise reasoning and epistemic humility abilities, over and above dispositional happiness. Consistent with Study 1, Study 2 found that, across diverse recalled experiences, individuals who experienced more awe showed greater wise reasoning, and those who experienced more flow showed greater epistemic humility. In Study 3, using situated interventions, we induced awe (watching a video involving vast nature scenes) and flow (composing a song using an online music maker) and compared them with neutral and amusement experiences. Compared to these control conditions, eliciting awe and flow facilitated one's (1) ability to address interpersonal conflicts with wise reasoning, (2) ability to acknowledge one's epistemic gaps, and (3) willingness to improve those aspects and one's general moral character. Altogether, these findings reveal the promising role of self-transcendent experiences in motivating people to appreciate others' perspectives beyond one's own.

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Predictors and consequences of intellectual humility

Cited by 71 publications

References 148 publications

Broad effects of shallow understanding: Explaining an unrelated phenomenon exposes the illusion of explanatory depth

Broad effects of shallow understanding: Explaining an unrelated phenomenon exposes the illusion of explanatory depth

A Preliminary Validation of the Polish Version of the Comprehensive Intellectual Humility Scale (CIHS)

Going beyond ourselves: the role of self-transcendent experiences in wisdom

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