How Intellectual Humility Can Make You More Empathetic
Humility is a positive trait which denotes honesty, integrity and unselfishness. These are positive traits that everyone should aspire to.
Intellectual humility is different. It has to do with understanding the limits of one’s intelligence, according to The Cut, and an openness to new ideas. These are important qualities that all people should aspire to achieve.
Fixed-mindsets vs. growth-mindsets
Some people have a tendency to over estimate their own knowledge. These are the people that cling to their own beliefs even if the facts do not add up. This is true in religion, politics, end even lifestyles. This rigidness closes them off from other people. That’s why social scientists began to look closely at the concept of intellectual humility.
Since people can learn and grow from others they disagree with, being rigid in a fixed-mindset – a term that was coined by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck –, closes the door to many opportunities. They believe that they already know everything.
On the flip side, people who have growth-mindsets view intelligence as something that can be strengthened, something that is flexible, and allow openness to the ideas of others.
“When we’re more engaged and listening to the other side, the disagreements tend to be more constructive,” Tenelle Porter, a postdoctoral researcher in psychology at the University of California, Davis, told The Cut.
Intellectual humility can lead to other virtues
Having intellectual humility can make you more empathetic. If you are stuck on the idea that people who are poor are lazy, or all homeless people are drunks, then you cannot feel empathy, you cannot walk in their shoes or feel compassion towards them. Intellectual humility will allow you to be open to the facts and to act accordingly.
You can also gain wisdom through intellectual humility. A 2012 study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, found a correlation between intellectual humility and wisdom. “Three important dimensions of wisdom involve recognizing that the world is in flux and the future is likely to change, recognizing that there are limits associated with one’s own knowledge, and possessing a prosocial orientation that promotes the ‘common good,’” researchers Ethan Kross and Igor Grossmann wrote in the study.
Intellectual humility also leads to open-mindedness, according to a blog on Psychology Today. Being open to the ideas of people you do not agree with or do not personally hold is important. Being able to see the other side of important issues, can make you a stronger, more resilient, and compassionate person.
