Intellectual Humility Clarification

Intellectual humility differs from general humility, modesty, perspective-taking, and open-mindedness. General humility involves how people think about their shortcomings and strengths. Modesty emphasizes increased social awareness and not wanting to monopolize the spotlight or draw too much attention to one’s accomplishments. Perspective-taking is the ability to recognize and understand alternative points of view. Open-mindedness refers to unbiased or fair consideration of different views regardless of one’s beliefs. None of these, however, may consider the limitations of one’s own knowledge or beliefs. Intellectual Humility is the is the ability to recognize shortcomings or potential limitations in one’s own point of view and identify one’s own ignorance and intellectual fallibility.

Porter, T., Elnakouri, A., Meyers, E.A. et al. Predictors and consequences of intellectual humility. Nat Rev Psychol 1, 524–536 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-022-00081-9  September 2022