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People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge

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Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge

#111

Post by evandev »

Isamu wrote: post #28

A questionnaire from the article: 1) I am willing to admit if I don't know something. 2) I like to compliment others on their intellectual strengths. 3) I try to reflect on my weaknesses in order to develop my intelligence. 4) I actively seek feedback on my ideas, even if it is critical. 5) I acknowledge when someone knows more than me about a certain subject. 6) If someone doesn't understand my idea, it's probably b…

> Also (3) I don't get, because while I am extremely motivated by intellectual curiosity, I have maybe zero motivation to "develop my intelligence" like it was some kind of fitness thing.

It would be more apt to, if you were writing code that has some level of networking involved. During this you think "I don't remember/know much of the OSI model, so I should go read up on the model to better understand the code I am writing". Instead of just trying different things and adapting examples not understanding what it is actually doing.

Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge

#112

Post by evandev »

Isamu wrote: post #72
anoncake wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also (3) I don't get, because while I am extremely motivated by intellectual curiosity, I have maybe zero motivation to "develop my intelligence" like it was some kind of fitness thing. What's the difference between curiosity and a drive to develop your (crystallized) intelligence?

I mean I'm not driven to be "smarter", whatever that is. I am immersed in finding out more about everything that interests me. Like I don't read to be well read. I don't listen to news to be informed. I read and listen out of my interests.

And during the process of learning what interests you, do you ever find that something tangentially related, you don't fully understand and should learn more about it.

I don't think anyone literally thinks, I need to know this to improve my intelligence as it is a weakness. It's usually more abstract.

Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge

#113

Post by oh_sigh »

itsangaris wrote: post #106

It's likely the inverse: the more knowledge, the more intellectual humility, which is just rephrasing Aristotle, “The more you know, the more you know you don't know.”

I wouldn't be positive about that. Someone with more intellectual humility may be more likely to seek out more information and to continue learning than someone who doesn't.

Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge

#114

Post by bunderbunder »

oh_sigh wrote: post #113
itsangaris wrote: post #106

It's likely the inverse: the more knowledge, the more intellectual humility, which is just rephrasing Aristotle, “The more you know, the more you know you don't know.”

I wouldn't be positive about that. Someone with more intellectual humility may be more likely to seek out more information and to continue learning than someone who doesn't.

I wouldn't be positive about that either. It could be that both are true, and create a virtuous cycle.

Or it could be that neither is true, and it's really that both characteristics are engendered by having a curious temperament.

Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge

#115

Post by toasterlovin »

bunderbunder wrote: post #114
oh_sigh wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't be positive about that. Someone with more intellectual humility may be more likely to seek out more information and to continue learning than someone who doesn't.

I wouldn't be positive about that either. It could be that both are true, and create a virtuous cycle. Or it could be that neither is true, and it's really that both characteristics are engendered by having a curious temperament.

FWIW, I'm not sure that a curious temperament is materially different from intellectual humility.

Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge

#116

Post by trickstra »

nordsieck wrote: post #37
0815test wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and when that individual is not open to those factual shortcomings. That's when you should play the part of being stubborn and close-minded yourself, if this is what it takes to ensure that your points are heard. Intellectual humility is the best case, but sometimes it is best to cut one's losses.

>> and when that individual is not open to those factual shortcomings. > That's when you should play the part of being stubborn and close-minded yourself, if this is what it takes to ensure that your points are heard. Do you honestly believe that this is an effective technique in spreading your ideas?

While I cannot 100% agree with 0815test's statements (mainly because I don't see discussion as a win/lose battle, counting points, cutting losses...), there is in fact a certain motivation to take the stubborn position. When you look at the real world examples of people who successfully spread their ideas, unfortunately quite often there will be a certain degree of stubborness. It might be called different names - determination, believing in one's goals, but the effect is the same - at a certain point they will refuse to accept an alternative idea, even without any hard data. And by doing that, they might earn a social position that allows them to spread the ideas among many. Sometimes they even turn out to be right, sometimes not, but it was the aura of close-minded belief in themselves that brought them followers. Honestly, I'm a little disappointed that it works like this, because I would really prefer if deliberate polite factual discussion was always the norm.

Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge

#117

Post by duxup »

ben509 wrote: post #23
tsomctl wrote: post #2

> The fact is, people who base their self-worth on being right about everything prevent themselves from learning from their mistakes. They lack the ability to take on new perspectives and empathize with others. They close themselves off to new and important information. From The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck.

> They lack the ability to take on new perspectives and empathize with others. It often feels like this, "everyone is dead inside but me", and when we make these sweeping generalizations we'll find plenty of instances to justify them. But we really can't peer in each others' heads, and over time I realized that when I acted on these kinds of assumptions, I behaved like a fucking tool.

https://xkcd.com/610/

It can be a bit uncomfortable to realize that what we think of as "us" these thoughts and feelings we internalize and think of as unique... aren't so I can understand some resistance to recognize the depths and thoughts of others... or being like everyone else.

Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge

#118

Post by oblib »

A good friend once told, after listening to me bitch about someone who loved to comment on my work, "You can learn something from everyone".

I spent some time trying to dismiss that before considering that if he was right I'd already missed out on a lot, and that certainly humbled me because when I started looking for it I found he was right.

The flip side to this is sharing what you know when it contradicts what others are envisioning as a result can result in those same others responding with animosity.

Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge

#119

Post by joe_the_user »

itsangaris wrote: post #106

It's likely the inverse: the more knowledge, the more intellectual humility, which is just rephrasing Aristotle, “The more you know, the more you know you don't know.”

Not necessarily. At one point, before the rise of Google, most of my answers to various general knowledge questions would be more or less just a somewhat selective average of things I'd heard and read from sources. I have an educated family and background so these answers were probably "about average" for the educated but still entirely wrong a significant part of the time.

At a certain point in my development, I got in the habit of asking myself "how do I know that" and Googling if I didn't know. Which is to say I think the more intellectually humble someone is, the more likely they are actually verify their ideas through research.

The thing about all this is, it is happening in the era of Google, where if one has some humility, nothing keeps you from learning more (though having a basic background is needed to filter out idiocy also). Pre-Internet, the situation might have been different.

Re: People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge

#120

Post by ddingus »

dyarosla wrote: post #107
ddingus wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not judging on "sound", just pointing out that self consistency is the core exception. That statement on "values", coupled with the other ones, all support strong self consistency. How people evaluate things can, does, will vary from a highly rational POV.

Is logical consistency not a core tenant of a rational argument? I’ll concede that some people don’t value logical consistency - but that doesn’t make them more rational in their arguments. If there is subjectivity in a ‘logical inference’, I’ll err on the side of being open to it.

It absolutely is.

However, people are often not entirely rational creatures.

Advocacy, for a very effective example, is a combination of reason, emotion and character.

How people feel matters. Who they are interacting with and or referencing matters.

Roll all that up, and we are likely to encounter people who are not self consistent.

That is OK, human. I just noted that being a predetermination, that's all.

Secondly, there is no requirement they be more rational in their arguments. They may not even see something as one, depending on what it is.

They may, for example, seek better mutual understanding.

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