False beliefs pose significant societal threats, including health risks, political polarization and even violence. In two studies (N = 884) we explored the efficacy of an individual‐based approach to correcting false beliefs. We examined whether the character virtue of intellectual humility (IH)—an appreciation of one's intellectual boundaries—encourages revising one's false beliefs in response to counter‐information. Our research produced encouraging but also mixed findings. Among participants who held false beliefs about the risks of vaccines (Study 1) and the 2020 US Election being rigged (Study 2), those with higher IH explored more information opposing these false beliefs. This exploration of opposing information, in turn, predicted updating away from these inaccurate health and political beliefs. IH did not directly predict updating away from false beliefs, however, suggesting that this effect—if it exists—may not be particularly powerful. Taken together, these results provide moderate support for IH as a character trait that can foster belief revision but, simultaneously, suggest that alternate pathways to combat false beliefs and misinformation may be preferred.

中文翻译：

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知识谦逊作为对抗错误信念的工具：基于个人的信念修正方法


错误信念构成重大社会威胁，包括健康风险、政治两极分化甚至暴力。在两项研究中（氮= 884）我们探索了基于个人的方法纠正错误信念的功效。我们研究了智力谦逊（IH）这一品格美德——对一个人智力界限的欣赏——是否鼓励人们根据反信息修正错误的信念。我们的研究得出了令人鼓舞但也有好坏参半的结果。在对疫苗风险（研究 1）和 2020 年美国大选被操纵（研究 2）持有错误信念的参与者中，IH 较高的参与者探索了更多反对这些错误信念的信息。反过来，这种对相反信息的探索预示着人们会摆脱这些不准确的健康和政治信仰。然而，IH 并没有直接预测人们会摆脱错误信念，这表明这种效应（如果存在的话）可能不会特别强大。总而言之，这些结果为 IH 作为一种可以促进信念修正的性格特征提供了适度的支持，但同时表明，打击错误信念和错误信息的替代途径可能是首选。