Lay Preferences for and Perceptions of Intellectual Humility Across Societal Roles

2025/04/01 by Jonah Koetke, Karina Schumann · 1 voice · 2 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Cultural Differences and Values #Social and Intergroup Psychology

paper · doi:10.1521/soco.2025.43.2.97

openalex publication_date 2025/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

Research on intellectual humility (IH)—the awareness of one's intellectual limitations—demonstrates that high levels of self-reported IH are associated with behaviors that are broadly beneficial for individuals and society. Here, we examined people's preferences for, and perceptions of, IH in others. In a repeated-measures experiment, we asked participants to report their ideal level of IH and their perceived level of IH for nine different societal roles with expertise or influence (e.g., teachers, doctors, politicians). We found that people believe targets in all roles should have high levels of IH, but they also see those in all roles as falling short of these ideal levels. Furthermore, we found that perceived levels of IH, as well as the discrepancy between ideal and perceived IH, significantly predict important perceptions (warmth, morality, competence) and global attitudes toward people in these roles. This work reveals that IH is a meaningful aspect of person perception.

Citations

• The BIAS map: Behaviors from intergroup affect and stereotypes.
• The effect of seeing scientists as intellectually humble on trust in scientists and their research
• Ideal Standards in Close Relationships
• Cognitive and Interpersonal Features of Intellectual Humility
• Predictors and consequences of intellectual humility
• Dimensions of wisdom perception across twelve countries on five continents

Cited by

• Intellectual Humility in the Eyes of Others: Implications for Social Perception and Trust
• Intellectual humility and trust

Discussions

• New paper alert! Published in Social Cognition, people want experts to be intellectually humble, but see all these experts as falling short of this ideal level of intellectual humility. We discuss imp [bsky, 10 points, 1 comments]

Related

• Intellectual Humility in the Eyes of Others: Implications for Social Perception and Trust
• Cognitive and Interpersonal Features of Intellectual Humility
• Metacognitive and Interpersonal Intellectual Humility Are Asymmetrically Associated with Well-Being
• Are There Consequences of Expressing Intellectual Humility Toward Claims Perceived as Established or Moral Truths? Implications for Judgments of Expresser’s Competence and Warmth
• The Art of Being Wrong: A Systematic Review and Integrative Model for Promoting Intellectual Humility