Open-mindedness is receptiveness to new ideas. Open-mindedness relates to the way in which people approach the views and knowledge of others. Jason Baehr defines an open-minded person as one who "characteristically moves beyond or temporarily sets aside his own
doxastic commitments in order to give a fair and impartial hearing to the intellectual opposition". Jack Kwong's definition sees open-mindedness as the "willingness to take a novel viewpoint seriously".
According to Wayne Riggs, open-mindedness springs from an awareness of the inherent fallibility of one's beliefs; hence, open-minded individuals are more inclined to listen to, and seriously consider, alternative viewpoints.
There are various scales for the measurement of open-mindedness. Harding and Hare argued that schools should emphasize open-mindedness more than
relativism
Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to absolute objectivity within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assess ...
in their
science instruction, because the
scientific community
The scientific community is a diverse network of interacting scientists. It includes many "working group, sub-communities" working on particular scientific fields, and within particular institutions; interdisciplinary and cross-institutional acti ...
does not embrace a relativistic way of thinking.
Among other things, involves an open-minded outlook with respect to one's beliefs.
Open-mindedness is generally considered an important personal attribute for effective participation in
management team
Senior management, executive management, or upper management is an occupation at the highest level of management of an organization, performed by individuals who have the day-to-day tasks of managing the organization, sometimes a company or a cor ...
s and other
groups. Open-mindedness is usually encouraged in group settings, within different cultures and new environments.
According to David DiSalvo, closed-mindedness, or an unwillingness to consider new ideas, can result from the brain's natural dislike for ambiguity. According to this view, the brain has a "
search and destroy
Seek and destroy (also known as search and destroy, or S&D) is a military strategy which consists of inserting infantry forces into hostile territory and directing them to search and then attack enemy targets before immediately withdrawing. Fi ...
" relationship with ambiguity and evidence contradictory to people's current beliefs tends to make them uncomfortable by introducing such ambiguity. Research confirms that belief-discrepant-closed-minded persons have less tolerance for
cognitive inconsistency.
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Virtues contrasting with open-mindedness include steadfastness,
loyalty
Loyalty is a Fixation (psychology), devotion to a country, philosophy, group, or person. Philosophers disagree on what can be an object of loyalty, as some argue that loyalty is strictly interpersonal and only another human being can be the obj ...
, and
fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguis ...
.
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{{Logic-stub
Mental states
Psychological concepts