This project addresses questions of the nature of intellectual humility (IH) in adolescence, how it relates to other virtues and attributes in that stage of life, and how to measure and capture improvements in IH in adolescents. It weaves together theoretical perspectives and insights from adolescents and the adults who know them. The project is motivated by the view that taking developmental context into account is necessary for understanding, measuring, and cultivating intellectual humility in adolescence.
Three research questions guide our work: 1. What is the nature of intellectual humility in adolescence? 2. How do we measure intellectual humility in adolescence? 3. How do we engage the public and create a foundation for future work on intellectual humility in adolescence?
The specific activities that we propose include: a multidisciplinary literature review and advisory group convenings; surveys of parents, teachers, and youth to inform our conceptual understanding; the development and validation of age-appropriate measures; and a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to further assess these measures and create a starting point for school-based interventions.
This project fuses theory and application, which is needed for the field to reach beyond academic discourse. A diverse set of voices will inform our conceptual model and measures, and, in turn, the work products will speak to diverse audiences. Deliverables include at least three academic articles, accompanying nonacademic reports, publicly available measures, and public/private events. This project will advance our conceptual understanding of intellectual humility in adolescence (e.g., directly taking on questions of proper calibration, or a "golden mean," for intellectual humility in this developmental stage) while producing tools designed for real-world use.
