Intellectual Humility Research Proposal: Acknowledging What You Don't Know to Achieve Greater Things

Introduction

Intellectual humility is the ability to acknowledge one's nature to comprehend and value the intelligence of others. Lack of intellectual humility has led to several calamities that could have been avoided had the policymakers stopped to consider other people's opinions. The best CEOs across the globe and employees who have done greater things possess intellectual humility of the highest order. Acknowledging what you don't know creates room to learn because every day is a learning process. Some of the characteristics of intellectual humility are low defensiveness and appreciating other parties' mental strengths. Intellectual humility is recognizing that one's belief may be wrong and fallible (Hermann 2019). The act should not be interpreted for low self-belief but an understanding that their source of information may be wrong. Although intellectual humility is viewed as a branch of humility, several writers have disputed because; the general definition of humility does not acknowledge that one may have shortcomings in decision-making but concentrates on the thoughts held by people on their achievements. Based on this understanding, research on general humility has a direct link to intellectual humility. Intellectual humility is a cognitive phenomenon that is based on the thoughts of people and how they process information surrounding their world. Hermann (2019) observed that intellectual humility involves how people think about their beliefs. It is associated with the ability for one to reflect on personal feelings and compare them with other people's' views.

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Literature Review

Psychologists have shown interest for several years in the tendency of people to support their beliefs without having solid evidence. Research on intellectual humility began immediately after the Second World War as they sought to understand the authoritarian personality that had exhibited and the view that parties with diverse perspectives were always wrong and misguided. Authoritarianism is linked to right-wing politics and, that is why a study on dogma resumed in view to understanding particular independent beliefs.

Research on intellectual humility was complimented by studying characteristics of openness that include willingness to learn new ideas, actions, and values (Hermann, 2019). Apart from this, other characteristics that have been linked to open-mindedness include religious orientation, social vigilantism, and attitude correctness. The recent scholarly concern in intellectual humility falls under psychological constructs. In the process of understanding the constructs, the psychologists concentrate on three things that include the defining phenomenon, behavioral and cognitive features of the aspect, and the factors that inspired the phenomenon.

Gaps in The Literature Review

Intellectual humility has several definitions that all agree that it revolves around the acknowledgment that the beliefs and opinions held by an individual might be wrong (West-Burnham, 2009). Several theorists have combined behavioral, emotional, and motivational features in the bit to understand intellectual humility.

However, when the concepts of intellectual humility combine with accompanying motives, behaviors, and emotions make it difficult to be understood because; it will require that the definitions of the constructs be included to realize its measures. For example, when behavioral features are included in conceptualization and measure intellectual humility, then the person is required to exhibit these features to be considered intellectually humble (Hermann, 2019). However, the features not strongly correlated to intellectual humility, and therefore, they cannot be crucial characteristics.

The Present Study of Intellectual Humility and Academic Satisfaction

There exist no validated survey instruments that review intellectual humility concerning academic achievement because it is an emerging field. Therefore, my primary goal is to develop a means through which to gauge intellectual humility. Under this chapter, the results of the recent study on intelligence humility as it relates to people who respond to disagreements will be described.

General Humility Measurement

On the track to understand the measure of intellectual humility, a review on general humility was extensively performed. The research on general humility has encountered numerous challenges. It has been difficult for researchers to define humility and make it operational (West-Burnham, 2009). Scholars are also concerned that measures on humility might mistakenly unearth low confidence and low self-concept instead of bringing out true humility. Several scholars have raised concerns on the validity of self-reports studies on humility because describing oneself as humble is likened to bragging. Humble people are also considered to be modest and not willing to report their humility (Hess & Ludwig, 2017).

Despite facing numerous challenges, research on humility has expanded in the past two decades and numerous assorted measures of humility to come up. Some of these researches have attempted to expose self-report as biased because intellectual capacity is associated with frequently airing one's views that may be right or wrong (Samuelson, 2017). A section of the scholars has examined intellectual humility and academic prowess and suggested that they move hand in hand based on the questionnaires.

Purpose of The Study

The study on the link between intellectual humility and academic satisfaction is ripe because it seeks to establish how academic achievement contributes to a person being intellectually humble. There are efforts to create a new culture among social scientists where one will admit to being wrong when they fail. The research seeks to establish that there is room for scholars to accept that they can also be wrong. The study seeks to break the cultural standing where it has been difficult for one to admit mistakes.

Research Question

How does intellectual humility relate to academic satisfaction?

The Hypothesis of The Study

If I increase my academic qualifications, then I will attain intellectual humility

Data Collection

The data set is fifty people that include students, lecturers, and part those that have no academic qualification. Data will be collected through the administration of questionnaires. The data is meant to observe and make comparisons between academics and intellectual humility by comparing the views of both learned and those who were not able to attend school. The participants have been instructed to share the information freely as it is secure and will be used for purposes of this research. I have completed the required CITI training, and therefore, I am better placed in safeguarding the research data as well as carrying out research based on the set ethics and guidelines.

Statistical Analysis

The respondents will be identified randomly (n=50) and information collected through questionnaires. The sample population is from four universities that shown deep interest in understanding the correlation between intellectual humility and academic satisfaction.

I will use descriptive statistics to make a summary of the data set that will be a sample of the views held by the populace on the relationship between intellectual humility and academic satisfaction.

Conclusion

The analyses performed indicate that high intellectual humility is closely related to academic achievement, even though the paths to gaining stable intellectual humility are different because there varying motivations to attaining high grades that include being smarter than the rest. Therefore, the greatest motivation for intellectual humility and academic satisfaction is the ability to adapt and endure a range of life experiences.

References

Hermann, M. (2019). Learn to Lead, Lead to Learn: Leadership as a Work in Progress. Blue Ridge Summit: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/254/1/download%3Fid=23637&filename=how-do-school-leaders-successfully-lead-learning.pdf

Hess, E. & Ludwig, K. (2017). Humility Is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age. Williston, VT, USA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. https://www.publicradiotulsa.org/post/humility-new-smart-rethinking-human-excellence-smart-machine-age

Samuelson, P. (2017). Intellectual humility - an introduction to philosophy and science. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/rirt.13050

West-Burnham, J. (2009). Rethinking educational leadership: from improvement to transformation. [London]; New York: Network Continuum. https://anglia.rl.talis.com/items/8027058D-FD37-704F-5562-54527DBB5E8D.html?referrer=%2Flists%2F43DC6395-BE48-EE33-E1B5-453EB5A45073.html%23item-8027058D-FD37-704F-5562-54527DBB5E8D