An Intellectually Humbling Experience: Changes in Interpersonal Perception and Cultural Reasoning across a Five-Week Course
Abstract
Finding ways to foster intellectual humility (IH)—the willingness to own one’s limitations—is an important goal for facilitating effective learning. We report the results of a longitudinal, quasi-experimental study, conducted across six undergraduate, culturally diverse (58% racial/ethnic minority) introductory philosophy courses, that evaluates how social perceptions and cross-cultural reasoning change following a course on epistemology and social ethics. Critically, we manipulated whether each class received a standardized lesson in IH at the start of the course or not. Participants provided self-ratings of IH, gave round-robin judgments of their classmates, and completed a wise-reasoning writing exercise focusing on a cultural conflict at both the beginning and end of the summer course session. Results revealed no change in self-reported IH, but an increase in perceived peer IH and conscientiousness within classes where IH was taught. Moreover, an analysis of the participants’ writing suggested greater levels of compromise-seeking when dealing with a cultural conflict among the students taught about IH, relative to those in the control classes. This study provides initial insights regarding the relationship between IH and cultural humility, as well as the efficacy of facilitating the development of IH among undergraduate students.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In a quasi-experimental study, students who received a lesson on intellectual humility showed greater levels of compromise-seeking in conflicts and were perceived by peers as having higher intellectual humility than controls, but the lesson did not increase self-reported intellectual humility.
“At the end of the course, students who received the lesson showed greater levels of compromise- seeking in conflicts and were perceived by their peers as having higher intellectual humility than those in a control group. However, the lesson did not increase self- reported intellectual humility 126 .”
From Predictors and consequences of intellectual humility (2022) · cites this paper as [126]
Cites
A very brief measure of the Big-Five personality domains
Gosling, S. D., Rentfrow, P. J., & Swann, W. B. (2003) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/s0092-6566(03)00046-1 · Cited by 8,307 · see citing works
A MEASURE OF STYLES OF HANDLING INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT.
Rahim, M. A. (1983) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.2307/255985 · Cited by 1,588 · see citing works
Interpersonal Perception: A Social Relations Analysis
Kenny, D. A. (1988) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/026540758800500207 · Cited by 1,516 · see citing works
Cultural humility: Measuring openness to culturally diverse clients.
Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., Owen, J. J., Worthington, E. L., & Utsey, S. O. (2013) · Journal of Counseling Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0032595 · Cited by 1,111 · see citing works
Who knows what about a person? The self–other knowledge asymmetry (SOKA) model.
Vazire, S. (2010) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0017908 · Cited by 1,080 · see citing works
Egos inflating over time: A cross-temporal meta-analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory
Twenge, J. M., Konrath, S., Foster, J. D., Keith Campbell, W., & Bushman, B. J. (2008) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2008.00507.x · Cited by 972 · see citing works
Intellectual Humility: Owning Our Limitations
Whitcomb, D., Battaly, H., Baehr, J., & Howard‐Snyder, D. (2017) · Philosophy and Phenomenological Research · doi:10.1111/phpr.12228 · Cited by 610 · see citing works
A meta-analytical integration of over 40 years of research on diversity training evaluation
Bezrukova, K., Spell, C. S., Perry, J. L., & Jehn, K. A. (2016) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/bul0000067 · Cited by 601 · see citing works
Cognitive and Interpersonal Features of Intellectual Humility
Leary, M. R., Diebels, K. J., Davisson, E. K., Jongman-Sereno, K. P., Isherwood, J. C., Raimi, K. T., Deffler, S. A., & Hoyle, R. H. (2017) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167217697695 · Cited by 539 · see citing works
Individual Differences in Analytic Versus Holistic Thinking
Choi, I., Koo, M., & Choi, J. A. (2007) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167206298568 · Cited by 451 · see citing works
Modeling zero-inflated count data with glmmTMB
Brooks, M. E., Kristensen, K., van Benthem, K. J., Magnusson, A., Berg, C. W., Nielsen, A., Skaug, H. J., Mächler, M., & Bolker, B. M. (2017) · doi:10.1101/132753 · Cited by 440 · see citing works
Relational Humility: Conceptualizing and Measuring Humility as a Personality Judgment
Davis, D. E., Hook, J. N., Worthington, E. L., Tongeren, D. R. V., Gartner, A. L., Jennings, D. J., & Emmons, R. A. (2011) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1080/00223891.2011.558871 · Cited by 368 · see citing works
Twenge, J. M., & Foster, J. D. (2010) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550609355719 · Cited by 365 · see citing works
Reasoning about social conflicts improves into old age
Grossmann, I., Na, J., Varnum, M. E. W., Park, D. C., Kitayama, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1001715107 · Cited by 327 · see citing works
Intellectual humility and openness to the opposing view
Porter, T., & Schumann, K. (2018) · Self and Identity · doi:10.1080/15298868.2017.1361861 · Cited by 314 · see citing works
The Development and Validation of the Comprehensive Intellectual Humility Scale
Krumrei-Mancuso, E. J., & Rouse, S. (2016) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1080/00223891.2015.1068174 · Cited by 314 · see citing works
Grossmann, I. (2017) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691616672066 · Cited by 306 · see citing works
Boosting wisdom: Distance from the self enhances wise reasoning, attitudes, and behavior.
Kross, E., & Grossmann, I. (2012) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/a0024158 · Cited by 292 · see citing works
Humility: Review of measurement strategies and conceptualization as personality judgment
Davis, D. E., Worthington, E., & Hook, J. (2010) · The Journal of Positive Psychology · doi:10.1080/17439761003791672 · Cited by 288 · see citing works
Cultural humility and racial microaggressions in counseling.
Hook, J. N., Farrell, J., Davis, D. E., DeBlaere, C., Tongeren, D. R. V., & Utsey, S. O. (2016) · Journal of Counseling Psychology · doi:10.1037/cou0000114 · Cited by 266 · see citing works
McElroy, S. E., Rice, K. G., Davis, D. E., Hook, J. N., Hill, P. C., Worthington, E. L., & Van Tongeren, D. R. (2014) · Journal of Psychology and Theology · doi:10.1177/009164711404200103 · Cited by 208 · see citing works
Humble Beginnings: Current Trends, State Perspectives, and Hallmarks of Humility
Chancellor, J., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2013) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/spc3.12069 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
Haggard, M., Rowatt, W. C., Leman, J. C., Meagher, B., Moore, C., Fergus, T., Whitcomb, D., Battaly, H., Baehr, J., & Howard-Snyder, D. (2018) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2017.12.014 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Self-citationHoyle, R. H., Davisson, E. K., Diebels, K. J., & Leary, M. R. (2016) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.03.043 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Cultural Humility in Psychotherapy Supervision
Hook, J. N., Watkins, C. E., Jr., Davis, D. E., Owen, J. J., Tongeren, D. R. V., & Marciana, J. R. (2016) · American Journal of Psychotherapy · doi:10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.2016.70.2.149 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Wise Reasoning in the Face of Everyday Life Challenges
Grossmann, I., Gerlach, T. M., & Denissen, J. J. A. (2016) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550616652206 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
Microaggressions and Perceptions of Cultural Humility in Counseling
Davis, D. E., DeBlaere, C., Brubaker, K., Owen, J. J., Jordan, T. A., Hook, J. N., & Tongeren, D. R. V. (2016) · Journal of Counseling & Development · doi:10.1002/jcad.12107 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Aging and Wisdom: Culture Matters
Grossmann, I., Karasawa, M., Izumi, S., Na, J., Varnum, M. E. W., Kitayama, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2012) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797612446025 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
Psycholinguistics and Plato's paradoxes of the Meno.
Weimer, W. B. (1973) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/h0034089 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Knowing what you know: Intellectual humility and judgments of recognition memory
Deffler, S. A., Leary, M. R., & Hoyle, R. H. (2016) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.03.016 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Contrasting self-report and consensus ratings of intellectual humility and arrogance
Meagher, B. R., Leman, J., Bias, J. P., Latendresse, S. J., & Rowatt, W. (2015) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2015.07.002 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Quiet Virtue Speaks: An Intervention to Promote Humility
Lavelock, C. R., Worthington, E. L., Davis, D. E., Griffin, B. J., Reid, C. A., Hook, J. N., & Tongeren, D. R. V. (2014) · Journal of Psychology and Theology · doi:10.1177/009164711404200111 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Religious intellectual humility, attitude change, and closeness following religious disagreement
Rodriguez, D., Hook, J. N., Farrell, J., Mosher, D. K., Zhang, H., Tongeren, D. R. V., Davis, D. E., Aten, J. D., & Hill, P. C. (2017) · The Journal of Positive Psychology · doi:10.1080/17439760.2017.1388429 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
A model of flexible thinking in contemporary education
Barak, M., & Levenberg, A. (2016) · Thinking Skills and Creativity · doi:10.1016/j.tsc.2016.09.003 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Still Waters Run Deep: Humility as a Master Virtue
Lavelock, C. R., Worthington, E. L., Griffin, B. J., Garthe, R. C., Elnasseh, A., Davis, D. E., & Hook, J. N. (2017) · Journal of Psychology and Theology · doi:10.1177/009164711704500404 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Meagher, B. R., & Kenny, D. A. (2012) · Psychology of Religion and Spirituality · doi:10.1037/a0030438 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Self-citationZhou, Q., Chan, S. S. C., Stewart, S. M., Leung, C., Wan, A., & Lam, T. H. (2015) · The Journal of Positive Psychology · doi:10.1080/17439760.2015.1025421 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Judgments of Religiosity following Minimal Interaction
Meagher, B. R. (2016) · Archive for the Psychology of Religion · doi:10.1163/15736121-12341318 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Predictors and consequences of intellectual humility
Porter, T., Elnakouri, A., Meyers, E. A., Shibayama, T., Jayawickreme, E., & Grossmann, I. (2022) · Nature Reviews Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44159-022-00081-9 · Cited by 248 · see citing works
Recent work on intellectual humility: A philosopher’s perspective
Ballantyne, N. (2021) · The Journal of Positive Psychology · doi:10.1080/17439760.2021.1940252 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Wong, I. H. M., & Wong, T. T. Y. (2021) · Learning and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2021.102012 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Intellectual humility in conversation: Distinct behavioral indicators of self and peer ratings
Meagher, B. R., Leman, J. C., Heidenga, C. A., Ringquist, M. R., & Rowatt, W. C. (2021) · The Journal of Positive Psychology · doi:10.1080/17439760.2020.1738536 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Self-citationHumility in novice leaders: links to servant leadership and followers’ satisfaction with leadership
Krumrei-Mancuso, E. J., & Rowatt, W. C. (2023) · The Journal of Positive Psychology · doi:10.1080/17439760.2021.1952647 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Educating for intellectual pride and ameliorating servility in contexts of epistemic injustice
Battaly, H. D. (2022) · Educational Philosophy and Theory · doi:10.1080/00131857.2022.2033212 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
An assessment of self and informant data for measuring intellectual humility
Meagher, B. R. (2021) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2021.111218 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Self-citationIn search of convergent creativity: content analysis of research on intellectual humility
Davis, D. E., Bowes, S. M., McLaughlin, A. T., Hsu, W., Gazaway, S., McElroy‐Heltzel, S. E., Tongeren, D. R. V., & Hook, J. N. (2022) · The Journal of Positive Psychology · doi:10.1080/17439760.2022.2154706 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Intellectual Humility and Humbling Environments
Bland, S. (2024) · Review of Philosophy and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s13164-024-00732-1 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Gómez, J. M., Hendy, N. T., & Montargot, N. (2023) · The International Journal of Management Education · doi:10.1016/j.ijme.2023.100836 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Hendy, N. T. (2022) · Advances in human resources management and organizational development book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-6684-4023-0.ch005 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Back to the Relational Roots of Humility: A Critical Narrative Review of Dyadic Studies
Davis, D. E., Woo, H. C., Lee, Y., McLaughlin, A. T., Coleman, J. S., Hook, J. N., & Tongeren, D. R. V. (2025) · Journal of Prevention and Health Promotion · doi:10.1177/26320770251359597 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Knöchelmann, L., & Cohrs, J. C. (2024) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/vrdma · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Knöchelmann, L., Janßen, A., Dörbaum, J., Heck, D. W., & Cohrs, J. C. (2025) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.3177 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Developing intellectual humility: questions, dilemmas, and future directions
Musholt, K., Ronfard, S., Rottman, J., Porter, T., Baehr, J., Cimpian, A., Danovitch, J. H., Davis, D., Harris, P. L., Keil, F. C., et al. (2026) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-025-08608-y · Cited by 3 · see citing works
The Role of Intellectual Humility in Sustainable Tourism Development
Hendy, N. T., & Montargot, N. (2025) · Administrative Sciences · doi:10.3390/admsci15050185 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Intellectual Humility in the Workplace
Hendy, N. (2024) · Encyclopedia · doi:10.3390/encyclopedia4040121
Democracy and Citizenry Competence
Boeri, M. D., & Brasi, L. D. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-90859-0_6
Teacher educators’ perception-practice tensions in the enactment of intellectual virtues pedagogy
Larsen, E., Fanshawe, M., Burke, K., Salton, Y., & Oliver, M. E. (2025) · Journal of Further and Higher Education · doi:10.1080/0309877x.2025.2575071
Migration research and insider/outsider positionalities: the ‘black box’ metaphor
Tewolde, A. I. (2026) · Social Identities · doi:10.1080/13504630.2026.2667941
Intellectual Humility: A Wisdom-Related Resource
Schäfer, M., & Kunzmann, U. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-16951-8_26
Hartke, L., Gugssa, S. D., & Cohrs, J. (2026) · Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/casp.70297
- Authors
- Meagher, B. R., Gunn, H., Sheff, N., & Van Tongeren, D. R.
- Affiliations
- Hope College (US)
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- University of Connecticut (US)
- Hope College, USA
- Corresponding author
- Meagher, Benjamin R.
- Venue
- Journal of Psychology and Theology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2019-04-01
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 217-229
- ISSN
- 0091-6471 (ISSN-L)
- 2328-1162
- OpenAlex
- W2931654871
- Cited by
- 22
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 2.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Psychology and Theology (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- John Templeton Foundation
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Forgiveness and Related Behaviors
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Keywords
- intellectual humility, cultural humility, interpersonal perception, cultural reasoning, wisdom, cultural conflict, conscientiousness, culturally diverse students, racial and ethnic minorities
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
