intellectual humility
Definition
Intellectual humility refers to the recognition and acceptance of the limitations of one's own knowledge and views, coupled with a willingness to acknowledge uncertainty, scrutinize information critically, and remain open to revising beliefs in light of credible evidence. This construct encompasses metacognitive awareness of one's thinking and limitations, alongside relational and emotional features such as respect for others' viewpoints, openness to conflicting ideas, and reduced intellectual overconfidence. Research demonstrates that intellectual humility is associated with greater ability to distinguish between true and false claims (misinformation discernment) and enhanced metacognitive insight—the capacity to accurately assess the accuracy of one's own judgments—but this improved performance is driven by genuine discernment rather than conservative response bias or excessive skepticism.
Sources: Bowes & Fazio (2024), Prike et al. (2024)
Related Terms
Applications
Intellectual Humility and Misinformation Receptivity
Intellectual humility is related to less belief in misinformation and greater intentions to move away from misinformation, with effects strongest when using comprehensive measures of intellectual humility that capture metacognitive, relational, and emotional features rather than narrow measures.
Sources: Bowes & Fazio (2024)
Intellectual Humility and Metacognitive Discernment
Individuals with higher intellectual humility demonstrate significantly greater metacognitive discernment—the ability to distinguish between their own correct and incorrect responses, providing convergent validity for intellectual humility measures and supporting the claim that awareness of one's limitations is genuinely associated with better self-assessment.
Sources: Prike et al. (2024)
Intellectual Humility and Response Bias
Intellectual humility is not associated with response bias, meaning that intellectually humble individuals do not simply adopt a conservative tendency to label all claims as false; rather, their improved misinformation discernment reflects genuine ability to distinguish true from false information rather than excessive skepticism.
Sources: Prike et al. (2024)
