In recent years, researchers have been exploring the nature and benefits of “intellectual humility”—defined, most simply, as “the degree to which people recognize that their beliefs might be wrong” (Leary et al, 2017)—like never before: More than 10 times as many empirical studies of intellectual humility have been published since 2014 than were published over the previous two decades.
This research is timely: Today we are arguably facing a crisis of intellectual humility. Recent surveys suggest that social and political polarization in the United States is getting so intense that 73 percent of Americans say Democrats and Republicans don’t only disagree on matters of opinion and policy but can’t even “agree on the basic facts.” Indeed, at a time when people seem almost exclusively drawn to beliefs with which they already agree, and disparage or dismiss other viewpoints, practicing intellectual humility offers a welcome alternative—and finding ways to encourage this skill seems increasingly vital to the health of our democracy, as well as to interfaith dialogues, conversations between the realms of science and religion, effective leadership, and even to the quality of our close relationships.
That is why the Greater Good Science Center is undertaking this three-year project to raise awareness of research on intellectual humility and its implications, in partnership with the John Templeton Foundation.
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