The Overwhelming Lack of Intellectual Humility
We humans all think we know more than we really do. That’s why we argue about everything.
When I have an argument with someone, I’m almost always right. You probably are, too. I know these things because when researchers asked people to reflect on disagreements they’ve had, 82% of them were confident they were usually right.
I’m no math whiz, but something doesn’t add up there.
“Most of us overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and opinions, often badly, with little consideration of the possibility that we might be wrong,” says Mark Leary, PhD, emeritus professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University and the guy who led that research.
Leary is totally right about this. He and other researchers have done experiments, over and over, that reveal the incredible overabundance of unwarranted human confidence.
Sure, we can be a rational, thoughtful, creative species. But evolution has equipped us with an overwhelming propensity to think too highly of our own thoughts, which causes us to get into deep mental grooves and stay there. Right, wrong or otherwise, it’s in our nature to become comfortable in what we think we know, commiserating with like-minded individuals, fearful of who and what we don’t…
