From Psychologies · Ava Skoupsky · · 1m 30s
Smart people admit it when they're wrong
Research links high intelligence to the humility that lets you say "I got that wrong" and move on.
In brief
Research links high intelligence to the humility that lets you say "I got that wrong" and move on. Owning a mistake is not a weakness in your thinking, it's a sign of it. Intellectual humility tracks with intelligence, and it can be trained. Originally reported by Psychologies.
How do you react to being wrong
Some people deny every mistake. Others own it and adjust. That reflex says more about you than you'd think, and it shapes the quality of your relationships.
Kids showed it first
A 2017 study of 127 children aged 6 to 8 measured intellectual humility: knowing the limits of your own knowledge and accepting that someone else may know better.
The brightest were the humblest
In that study, the children with the highest intelligence scores also scored highest on intellectual humility. The two moved together rather than trading off.
Intelligence isn't just logic
Being smart isn't only reasoning power. It includes stepping back, questioning yourself, and reading emotions in yourself and others. That's emotional intelligence.
You can train it
Emotional intelligence isn't fixed at birth. Name the emotions that flood you, practice active listening, and accept that your read of a situation isn't everyone's.
Humility beats confirmation bias
A 2019 paper in Personality and Individual Differences found cognitive flexibility and intelligence both predict intellectual humility, the guard against believing only what you want to.
“Elle est donc essentielle pour éviter les biais de confirmation lors du raisonnement sur les preuves”
What matters most
Owning a mistake is not a weakness in your thinking, it's a sign of it. Intellectual humility tracks with intelligence, and it can be trained.
