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Key points
- Our overall open-mindness may reflect both our childhood bubble and adulthood bubble.
- If you want to be more open-minded, try to make the best-case argument for the other side.
- You'll also be more open-minded if you deliberately seek out friends, classes, and media that have a bias different from your own.
Morality binds and blinds. It binds us into teams but thereby makes us go blind to objective reality…Once they accept a particular narrative, they become blind to alternative moral worlds. —Jonathan Haidt, Professor of Ethical Leadership, NYU
Most people claim to be open-minded or at least aspire to be, but it’s not so easy. How open are we really to core views other than our own? A few examples: liberal vs conservative, religious vs atheist, or if you’re in psychology, psychodynamic versus cognitive-behavioral therapy.
And some people don’t want to be more open-minded, perhaps because they enjoy the certitude of their "rectitude," or because they feel they've sufficiently considered an issue and don’t want to spend more time on it.
But if you might want to become more open-minded, the following may help.
Possible causes of closed-mindedness
Your childhood bubble. If your parents modeled rigid thinking, you’re more likely to be that way. For example, your parents took an extreme position and were impervious to even intelligent disagreement. And if you attended a school that attempted to inculcate a particular perspective and didn’t welcome disagreement, you’re more likely to be closed-minded.
Your adult bubble. Birds of a feather have long flocked together, but it seems more so today: Polarization and antipathy to people on the other side are stronger than I’ve seen in my lifetime. If only to gain approval and avoid discomfiting contrary views, we tend to focus on what supports our existing beliefs. That's comforting, avoiding disequilibrium. It has been said that the only person who welcomes change is a wet baby.
How to become more open-minded
If you'd like to be more open-minded, one or more of the following should help:
Seek out credible opposing views. In such conversations, feel free to respectfully disagree but, really listen, open-mindedly, to the response. Similarly, when reading or watching something with a bias, consider that viewpoint. Don't necessarily change your mind, but consider it fair-mindedly.
Make the best case you can for an opposing view. Whether it's in conversation or writing, make the best case you can for an opposing position. That's difficult, so take the time to be your most intelligent self and picture yourself debating the issue with someone who is even more intelligent.
Attend talks or classes whose instructor has a different worldview. You can infer a lot about an instructor by reviewing the course description, syllabus, required readings, or student reviews. In class or during office hours, feel free to ask a question that respectfully reflects a different position and then consider the instructor’s response in a statesman-like way.
The takeaway
Haidt wrote, “(People) have strong gut feelings about what is right and wrong, and they struggle to construct post hoc justifications for those feelings. Even when the servant (reasoning) comes back empty-handed, the master (intuition) doesn’t change his judgment.“
Judgment should be based on full-dimensioned, not narrow thinking. So it’s worth seeking out thoughtful disagreement with even your core beliefs. That could benefit you, your loved ones, friends, and maybe even society.
I read this aloud on YouTube.
