More serious-ish poll! Open-mindedness is defined by many people as a mindset that is characterized by (A) a willingness to learn, and (B) a willingness to be wrong. Open-minded people are willing to consider many perspectives and adjust their own worldview after hearing all the sides, even if the information they are confronted with is contrary to their initial expectations or their initial beliefs. One website that I found lists seven qualities that describe open-minded people. 1. Challenging ideas 2. Statements vs. Questions 3. Understanding 4. I Might Be Wrong, But… 5. Just Shut Up 6. Only One Sperm Gets In 7. Humble Pie 1. Do you consider yourself an open-minded or close-minded person? 2. Do you ever have difficulty admitting that you were wrong? Do you ever question your own beliefs? Do you prefer talking or listening? 3. Do you think it's better to be more open-minded or close-minded? Do you want to be more open/close-minded? 4. Is it possible to be too open-minded? What negative consequences can result from being too open-minded? What about too close-minded? 5. Are there certain topics that you refuse to be open-minded about? Do you have any dogmatic beliefs that you refuse to change?
I chose 100% cuz it's less of emphasizing and more of whatever man, if that's how you live your life that's cool, idc, you can eat humans or do some morally ambiguous stuff just don't let it bother my life.
understand yes empathize no Edit: This is for 100% btw. So just a few examples of ideas I can understand but not empathize with. holocaust instigators pedophiles serial killers So...
I think my biggest problem with "the world's" interpretation of "Open-Mindedness" is rather than being truly Open-minded, people tend to take it as "If you don't Accept or Agree with me, then you're just close minded". I.E. its become an excuse and justification for anything. But then that's just how people are.
i don't care who you are, what "flavor" you're into, what religion you are. as long as you leave me alone, we're good. but as soon you try anything or start preaching, then we have issues.
I read number 7 as human pie......erm yummy? I’d say I’m open minded. I can accept many things. Having said that I’ll just say coffee over tea and redheads are the best. How can people not agree with that? So should I choose 95%?
What I want to know is; will @lychee be open minded enough to accept that this poll and the definition of open minded is trash
Perhaps a small modifying suggestion. Open-mindedness necessitates actively searching for evidence contrary to your own beliefs, and weighing the evidence fairly. Seems like a pretty low bar if you're considered open-minded just because you're willing to learn (i.e. passively accepting info given to you). If there is no evidence or it's illogical/absurd, then while I can empathize why the person's circumstances may have led them to believe it (e.g. extreme poverty, deeply religious upbringing, etc), there should be no quarter given to adjust your own worldview to accommodate theirs. i.e. you can always agree to disagree after forming an educated opinion. It doesn't have to be polar opposites issues either. I find myself needing to refresh my scientific understanding of matters every couple of years, since there's often new evidence that refutes old theories. Probably one of the most popular notions is that most dinosaurs were lizard skinned. Now we know most are feathered.
The quotes that I pulled are kind of suspicious, IMO. It's kind of clear that the original source is heavily biased against "close-mindedness" and the author probably projected their own experiences into coming up with the list... although it may not be that generalizable in reality. Yes, it's an unfortunate way that the word has been abused in its usage
1. Do you consider yourself an open-minded or close-minded person? Going by that description you put, hopefully an open minded person 2. Do you ever have difficulty admitting that you were wrong? Do you ever question your own beliefs? Do you prefer talking or listening? Well, I make sure of my info before saying anything (when in a serious topic only ) so when someone tells me I am wrong I expect them to explain to me why and perhaps convince me, otherwise I can't believe them and I would have to go online searching for evidence or something backing what they said in order to have a better idea of what they said (if I find nothing then I wouldn't believe and I just keep what they said in mind) I don't question my beliefs (well, maybe sometimes ) and I prefer listening 3. Do you think it's better to be more open-minded or close-minded? Do you want to be more open/close-minded? I honestly don't know, it is just that sometimes, one would meet some weird situation that would make them reconsider their whole person, so I really, don't know, I am just content with the way I am and when I feel I acted in a wrong way or behaved strangely, I try to imagine how I might have acted in a better or more suitable way 4. Is it possible to be too open-minded? What negative consequences can result from being too open-minded? What about too close-minded? Well, (this is but my opinion) being too much open-minded might give people a bad image about you (like you simply don't care or maybe you are a loser or something, etc...), being too much close-minded might also give people a bad image about you (like you are a showoff, a harheaded moron, make people believe your bluffs which might result in bad decisions, etc...) So in both cases and if you care about your reputation, too much is bad 5. Are there certain topics that you refuse to be open-minded about? Do you have any dogmatic beliefs that you refuse to change? Well, in my case, I say there are topics which I hate talking about (not refuse) and rather not talk about, but yes I like hearing others opinions, compare my info (correct and update what I know when applicable, or best of all, learn something new) As for dogmatic beliefs, well, I think I got a few (otherwise my morals would get messed up )
i think the only open minded people are those that are not really concerned or a 3rd party who watch from afar. . .
Idc. You do you just as long as it won't affect my life. Saw some similar answers so maybe you can add this to the poll?
1) It almost sounds like bragging to say it this way but I think I'm pretty open minded when compared to most people. Even if I don't agree with their beliefs, I can understand why they would think that way (or that there should be some reason why they think that way) most of the time. 2) a) Obviously it can feel embarrassing or awkward when you realise you were wrong about something you were arguing about and have to admit it, but I think I handle it pretty well. When it comes to admitting that I'm wrong to myself, I have no problem with that since it happens quite often b) I think that I'm actually pretty ignorant of how most things actually work. I can argue in favour of something, but in the back of my mind will always be the nagging suspicion that there's some underlying system or factor that I haven't taken into consideration that will actually render everything I'm saying meaningless. c) I like both talking and listening. It's always fun to ramble on about your belief of how something works, but it's also fun to ask someone questions about what they think, and see if they can make you reassess your views. 3) a) I think that being open minded is better. I don't see the use in rejecting the possibility that you could be wrong, there's only new knowledge to be gained. b) I think that I'm open minded enough, but I'm open to hear any other opinions on that 4) Being so open minded that you have no conidence in any of your views is obviously problematic as it makes you easy to be tricked or scammed into believing something that has no foundations, like alternative medicines. Being open minded has to be accompanied by rational thought. On the other hand, being too close minded can lock you insided such beliefs, like flat earthers or anti-vaxxers. 5) Not really. As far as I'm concerned I might just be a brain in a jar put into some simulation. It's just that considering such a thing doesn't really impact how I would live my life. My morality is based on reducing the amount of human suffering, and that's pretty foundational, but if someone were to convince be that a morality system based on something else was more logical then I might end up changing my views on everything. I don't know, I don't see why people would ever close themselves off to opinions alternative to their own other than if they are ignorant or arguing in bad faith.
So agree. Couple of years ago in a town where I used to work there were these monks who went around talking about religion. The funny thing is I didn’t even contradict them. Their statement was akin to saying XYZ celebrity exists. I said yes he does. They were like, no, he really exists. I’m like sure, I know. It was really a weird conversation since I was not even arguing. But so what? Everyone knows that there are green apples, red apples, yellow apples and so on. But if you are allergic to apples or just don’t like them or if you already eating two apples a day all the time- why should you care that apple “exists”? Just eat it or don’t eat it. Those monks really annoyed me, it was very tempting to be rude to them and say F-off, but religious people and all that would be bad to be rude to as an average polite person. It’s like I know the benefits of apples, I eat them daily but those guys just came at me as if I’ve never seen an apple before. Or perhaps their own religious beliefs were not strong enough to understand that some people could believe in all sorts of religious stuff without having to publicize it... is there even a need to believe? Like you know that an apple exists or you know that it doesn’t. What’s with the whole “let’s join hands and believe together”? As for open mindedness... I don’t really care. If something interests me- I’ll research it properly (go as far as mtl-ing). I’m more of an obsessive compulsive (some days one some days the other, though probably it’s both, lol); if it doesn’t interest me (like religion being preached out on the streets when all you want is to go to buy some food for lunch) then I’m a very close minded person. I will disregard the opinion of others and go as far as to agree with them as I simply do not care to argue. I used to be a very passionate/hot blooded person, now I’m rather apathetic. It’s easier to be lazy and not care than waste time and energy on arguing. I feel that open mindedness requires a lot of energy. So long as I sort of understand what the other person is saying and if I can guess how much energy I will require to waste in order to please them- depending on my mood my open mindedness will vary.
1. Do you consider yourself an open-minded or close-minded person? I’d think I’d be more open minded than close minded. 2. Do you ever have difficulty admitting that you were wrong? Do you ever question your own beliefs? Do you prefer talking or listening? So, yes in most arguments, if I find out I’m wrong I will admit it and apologize. Heck even when I’m not wrong, I apologize for getting angry at the person. Sometimes. I’ll rethink stuff now and again. Listening is normally what I’ll do, but I will occasionally butt in when it gets too out of hand. 3. Do you think it's better to be more open-minded or close-minded? Do you want to be more open/close-minded? I think being in the middle is the best and I’m fine with were I’m at. 4. Is it possible to be too open-minded? What negative consequences can result from being too open-minded? What about too close-minded? Yes for both. Being too open minded means that you can get hurt. Being too close minded means you could possibly lose people over it. 5. Are there certain topics that you refuse to be open-minded about? Do you have any dogmatic beliefs that you refuse to change? Well there are a few but I’m not in the mood to talk about them lol.
Another thread by the poll queen 1. Do you consider yourself an open-minded or close-minded person? More on the open-minded side. In some ways, it's very difficult though to be open-minded all the time, and it takes a lot of putting aside one's ego xD. So, well... I'm doing what I can. 2. Do you ever have difficulty admitting that you were wrong? Do you ever question your own beliefs? Do you prefer talking or listening? It's not really difficult, but I'm not 100% comfortable with it either. Especially when someone takes an aggressive stance and wants to rub it in your face that they're right and you're wrong, or comes across as condescending in some way, I find it difficult to actually examine the matter at hand logically rather than automatically getting stuck in defending my current position. I think I question my own beliefs somewhat frequently, especially when I notice they're not serving me well or sth strongly points to them being wrong. I generally prefer listening, and I like asking questions to make sure I get all the info I need to understand what the person speaking actually means. I also do like talking though, if it's about sth I'm interested in 3. Do you think it's better to be more open-minded or close-minded? Do you want to be more open/close-minded? I think it's better to be more open-minded. With understanding comes empathy (well it usually does, not necessarily but likely) and that can go a long way towards making life easier for everyone. If I can just understand the people around me, I can get along with them better, I will most likely like them more and be better equipped to help them cause I have more info. And I'm fine the way I am now 4. Is it possible to be too open-minded? What negative consequences can result from being too open-minded? What about too close-minded? This might not necessarily be the case but it seems possible that with increased open-mindedness and willingness to listen to others, you increase the amount of "wrong" or not very beneficial thoughts/opinions you acquire. Seems only natural though: you increase the amount of stuff you let in so more of the good will come but also more of the bad.... I guess xD. Maybe not, depends on how you filter of course. When you're too closed-minded, you uh.... might become a pain in the ass to interact with for people that are different compared to you. You might live your life believing in all sorts of falsehoods and get into conflicts with people over your beliefs. In some cases so much so that you'll end up killing them over it or getting killed yourself. And wouldn't that just be a shame ... 5. Are there certain topics that you refuse to be open-minded about? Do you have any dogmatic beliefs that you refuse to change? Lol this is kind of a funny question.... along the lines of "in your field of vision, is there sth invisible?" but not really, if yanno what I mean. Just reminded me of it cause oftentimes, it's precisely because we don't realize it that we can be so closed-minded/dogmatic about sth xD. I can't really think of anything specific rn... but one recurring topic regarding open-/closed-mindedness in my life would be veganism. My belief regarding that isn't about whether it's right or wrong to eat animal products though, it's about them having certain feelings I don't wanna cause any living being to have (my stance is I'm vegan not cause it'd be wrong to cause animals pain - or humans for that matter but this just seems like such a rabbit hole lol - but cause I personally prefer not causing pain). So you could say one belief I refuse to be open-minded about is that animals are capable of feeling at least pain and probably other emotions similar to like humans do? I mean, that just seems like totally basic common sense to me XD science-based at that, so that'll be hard to shake but who knows. Maybe it's a simulation? Lololol Anyway, the reason why I mentioned this is because this topic just seems to be filled with a lot of closed-mindedness on all sides. Especially looking at the emotions attached to it, it can be hard to put one's previously acquired identity aside for a moment and look at it without a lot of attachment. Kinda seems like emotional attachment increases the difficulty of being able to look at different things from a bigger perspective and considering a multitude of points of view. Lol that's kinda sweet about being emotionally detached, you get a bigger scope of view xD As for the poll options, I chose 99%. Not sure about 100 cause there's always cases where someone's brain is literally wired so differently from yours that you may not be able to understand them. But for the people that are somewhat "normal" in that area, I believe that with enough context and info, I can come to understand them; at least to a significant degree.
Hmm, while I agree with some of the points, I find most of the listed traits you have there to be rather, well, wrong. Or, at least, I would like to see some evidence and research, since I've read things that certainly disagree.
It’s an open forum! I literally copied over one of the first websites I opened, so if you have better resources and definitions, by all means share!