A Word to the Wise: Be Humble, Forgiving and Kind

Abstract: We review humility, a trait characterized by (a) an ability to accurately acknowledge one’s limitations and abilities and (b) an interpersonal stance that is other-oriented rather than self-focused. We explore two key contexts of humility, intellectual and cultural; explain why humility is important; and identify open questions for future research.
Daryl Van Tongeren and research team, Hope College

Humility: Characterized by an ability to accurately acknowledge one's limitations and abilities and an interpersonal stance that is other-oriented rather than self-focused.

Humility, a vital characteristic, is hard to fake as a personality trait. Francesco Ciccolella, The New York Times

"Research on humility has been growing, and fast."
"It was time to bring people up-to-date and lay out in the open questions to guide further research."
"One of the thorny issues is that the people who are the most open and willing to cultivate humility might be the ones who need it the least."
"And vice versa: those most in need could be the most resistant."
Daryl Van Tongeren, psychologist, Hope College, Michigan

"These kinds of findings may account for the fact that people high in intellectual humility are not easily manipulated with regard to their views."
"[The findings may also] help us understand how humility can be associated with holding convictions."
Elizabeth Krumrei Mancuso, Pepperdine University, Malibu, California

People scoring high on the humility index scored concomitantly lower on measures of political and ideological polarization, irrespective of whether they fall into the conservative or liberal camp. People who score high for humility, according to research, tend to be less aggressive, less judgemental toward those belonging to religious groups other than their own, as opposed to less humble people.

In a series of experiments, Dr. Krumrei Mancuso scored volunteers on a measure of intellectual humility, construed as an awareness of how incomplete and fallible were their personal views on political and social issues. She discovered that this particular type of humility had no relation to IQ measures, nor with political affiliation; rather it was linked to curiosity, reflection and open-mindedness.

The latest issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science published a paper where a research team reviewed studies of the personal trait of humility. It is only relatively lately that social and personality psychology has recognized humility as a trait ripe for study. Its study derives from an effort dating from the 1990s to construct a "positive" psychology, allied with reaching a more complete vision of sustaining qualities like pride, forgiveness, grit and contentment.

Another study still in development by Dr. Krumrei Mancuso linked to questionnaires given to 587 adults for the purpose of measuring levels of intellectual humility where participants rated whether or not they agreed with a number of statements. Such as: "I feel small when others disagree with me on topics that are close to my heart", and, "For the most part, others have more to learn from me than I have to learn from them."

As in: from hubris to humility.

In the review paper of which Dr. Van Tongeren was the lead author, he and his colleagues proposed a number of explanations why humility, intellectual or otherwise, becomes a valuable portion of an individual's personality. Chief among them, that a humble disposition could be critical in sustaining a committed relationship. It may as well, nourish the capacity of a psychological resource to set aside grudges, suffer fools patiently and be kinder to oneself.

With the growing interest in humility as a positive and admirable character trait, Dr. Van Tongeren posits a number of open questions such as whether humility is able somehow to be taught, even integrated into psychotherapy. It is understood that between ten percent and 15 percent of adults achieve high scores on humility measures. Somewhat reassuring for the ability of people to be moderate in their responses toward others.

To expand that trait to others within society through a modulation of character traits, exposing people to the positive elements to be gained by acquiring a more tolerant attitude toward others along with patient perseverance and acceptance would be of huge societal benefit.