The psychologists predicted that intellectual humility would be linked to better results on coursework — but this wasn’t the case.
People who are confident in their intellectual abilities tend to have a higher IQ, a study finds.
Those who have confidence bordering on arrogance do better in academic tests.
People with higher IQs tend to agree with statements like “I believe my own ideas are superior to others.”
The intellectually arrogant tend to be seen by others as dominating the group and being extraverted.
Intellectually arrogant people tend to be the centre of attention and also score higher marks in tests, the study found.
On the down side, the intellectually arrogant are not liked as well as their peers who are more humble.
Professor Wade C. Rowatt, study co-author, said:
“One possibility is that people who view themselves as intellectually arrogant know what they know and that translates to increases in academic performance.”
The conclusions come from a study of over 100 students.
The authors thought that intellectual humility would be linked to better results on coursework.
However, it was the intellectually arrogant who got the best scores.
Dr Benjamin R. Meagher, the study’s first author, still thinks humility is a vital trait:
“What I think is important about intellectual humility is its necessity for not only science, but for just learning generally — and that applies to the classroom, a work setting, wherever.
Learning something new requires first acknowledging your own ignorance and being willing to make your ignorance known to others.
People clearly differ in terms of their willingness to do something like that, but that willingness to learn, change one’s mind and value the opinion of others is really needed if people and groups are going to develop and grow.”
The study was published in the Journal of Research in Personality (Meagher et al., 2015).
