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Journal ArticleDOI

Intellectual Humility: Owning Our Limitations

TL;DR: The usual manner of presenting philosophical work puzzles me as discussed by the authors... it is written as though their authors believe them to be the absolutely final word on their subject, but it is not, surely, that each philosopher thinks that he finally, thank God, has found the truth and built an impregnable fortress around it.
Abstract: . . .the usual manner of presenting philosophical work puzzles me. Works of philosophy are written as though their authors believe them to be the absolutely final word on their subject. But it’s not, surely, that each philosopher thinks that he finally, thank God, has found the truth and built an impregnable fortress around it. We are all actually much more modest than that. For good reason. Having thought long and hard about the view he proposes, a philosopher has a reasonably good idea about its weak points; the places where great intellectual weight is placed upon something perhaps too fragile to bear it, the places where the unraveling of the view might begin, the unprobed assumptions he feels uneasy about.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
G. W. Smith1

1,991 citations

01 Mar 2005
TL;DR: The author explores the Biblical tale of Adam and Eve, Milton's Paradise Lost, and the phenomenon of shame and guilt, its connection with religion, and its place and significance in human society.
Abstract: The author explores the Biblical tale of Adam and Eve, Milton’s Paradise Lost, and the phenomenon of shame and guilt, its connection with religion, and its place and significance in human society. Key words Other – shame – guilt Resumo O autor explora a lenda de Adao e Eva, contada no livro de Milton “Paraiso Perdido”, e o fenomeno da vergonha e da culpa, a sua ligacao com a religiao e o seu lugar e significância na sociedade humana. Palavras-chave Outro – vergonha – culpa

913 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This research demonstrates that the IH Scale is a valid measure of the degree to which people recognize that their beliefs are fallible.
Abstract: Four studies examined intellectual humility-the degree to which people recognize that their beliefs might be wrong. Using a new Intellectual Humility (IH) Scale, Study 1 showed that intellectual humility was associated with variables related to openness, curiosity, tolerance of ambiguity, and low dogmatism. Study 2 revealed that participants high in intellectual humility were less certain that their beliefs about religion were correct and judged people less on the basis of their religious opinions. In Study 3, participants high in intellectual humility were less inclined to think that politicians who changed their attitudes were "flip-flopping," and Study 4 showed that people high in intellectual humility were more attuned to the strength of persuasive arguments than those who were low. In addition to extending our understanding of intellectual humility, this research demonstrates that the IH Scale is a valid measure of the degree to which people recognize that their beliefs are fallible.

209 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: There was no association with eye dominance, and therefore the Coren and Porac finding could not be repeated, but there was however a very significant association with handedness, left-handed subjects tending to report that the stimulus in the right eye looked larger, and right- handed subjects reporting that the stimuli in the left eye looked smaller.

170 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Replication-an important, uncommon, and misunderstood practice in psychology-is gaining appreciation in psychology as discussed by the authors , and the 2010s might be characterized as a decade of active confrontation.
Abstract: Replication-an important, uncommon, and misunderstood practice-is gaining appreciation in psychology. Achieving replicability is important for making research progress. If findings are not replicable, then prediction and theory development are stifled. If findings are replicable, then interrogation of their meaning and validity can advance knowledge. Assessing replicability can be productive for generating and testing hypotheses by actively confronting current understandings to identify weaknesses and spur innovation. For psychology, the 2010s might be characterized as a decade of active confrontation. Systematic and multi-site replication projects assessed current understandings and observed surprising failures to replicate many published findings. Replication efforts highlighted sociocultural challenges such as disincentives to conduct replications and a tendency to frame replication as a personal attack rather than a healthy scientific practice, and they raised awareness that replication contributes to self-correction. Nevertheless, innovation in doing and understanding replication and its cousins, reproducibility and robustness, has positioned psychology to improve research practices and accelerate progress.

97 citations

References
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Book
01 Jan 1974
TL;DR: In Anarchy, State, and Utopia as discussed by the authors, Nozick argues that the state is justified only when it is severely limited to the narrow function of protection against force, theft and fraud and to the enforcement of contracts.
Abstract: Robert Nozicka s Anarchy, State, and Utopia is a powerful, philosophical challenge to the most widely held political and social positions of our age ---- liberal, socialist and conservative. "Individuals have rights," Nozick writes in his opening sentence, "and there are things no person or group may do to them without violating their rights." The work that follows is a sophisticated and passionate defence of the rights of the individual as opposed to the state. The author argues that the state is justified only when it is severely limited to the narrow function of protection against force, theft and fraud and to the enforcement of contracts. Any more extensive activities by the state, he demonstrates, will inevitably violate individual rights. Among the many achievements of the work are an important new theory of distributive justice, a model of utopia, and an integration of ethics, legal philosophy and economic theory into a profound position in political philosophy which will be discussed for years to come.

7,183 citations

Book
08 Apr 2004
TL;DR: The classification of strengths presented in this article is intended to reclaim the study of character and virtue as legitimate topics of psychological inquiry and informed societal discourse, by providing ways of talking about character strengths and measuring them across the life span.
Abstract: The classification of strengths presented in this book is intended to reclaim the study of character and virtue as legitimate topics of psychological inquiry and informed societal discourse. By providing ways of talking about character strengths and measuring them across the life span, this classification will start to make possible a science of human strengths that goes beyond armchair philosophy and political rhetoric. We believe that good character can be cultivated, but to do so, we need conceptual and empirical tools to craft and evaluate interventions.

3,758 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
G. W. Smith1

1,991 citations


"Intellectual Humility: Owning Our L..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Mary routinely exhibits an unusual response when 1 Nozick 1974, xii....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is confirmed that the self-serving attributional bias is pervasive in the general population but demonstrates significant variability across age, culture, and psychopathology.
Abstract: Researchers have suggested the presence of a self-serving attributional bias, with people making more internal, stable, and global attributions for positive events than for negative events. This study examined the magnitude, ubiquity, and adaptiveness of this bias. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of 266 studies, yielding 503 independent effect sizes. The average d was 0.96, indicating a large bias. The bias was present in nearly all samples. There were significant age differences, with children and older adults displaying the largest biases. Asian samples displayed significantly smaller biases (d = 0.30) than U.S. (d = 1.05) or Western (d = 0.70) samples. Psychopathology was associated with a significantly attenuated bias (d = 0.48) compared with samples without psychopathology (d = 1.28) and community samples (d = 1.08). The bias was smallest for samples with depression (0.21), anxiety (0.46), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (0.55). Findings confirm that the self-serving attributional bias is pervasive in the general population but demonstrates significant variability across age, culture, and psychopathology.

1,071 citations

BookDOI
30 Jul 2009
TL;DR: The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology as mentioned in this paper provides an array of interventions that are relatively simple to comprehend and can be used in the field of positive psychology, but they are not easy to use.
Abstract: the field of positive psychology offers an array of interventions that are relatively simple to comprehend In S. J. Lopez & C. R. Snyder (Eds.), Oxford handbook. PDF DOWNLOAD The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology Download Oxford Handbook. A case for positive psychology. In Lopez, S.J. & Snyder, C.R. (Eds.) (2009). Oxford Handbook of positive psychology. (pp. 3) New York: Oxford University Press.

1,025 citations