How to Keep an Open Mind

It's common to feel defensive when someone challenges our views or suggests we may not have the full picture. We often instinctively believe we're right and others are mistaken. However, clenching tightly in this way limits our capacity to connect and broaden both our perspectives and relationships. Open-mindedness is connected to intellectual humility, acknowledging our own limitations and valuing others' insights.

Those who realize their beliefs could be flawed or incomplete tend to be more receptive to learning about differing viewpoints. Research demonstrates that incorporating new information expands our knowledge, boosts creativity and well-being, aids professional growth, fosters empathy, strengthens relationships, and broadens social networks.

Remaining within our comfort zones in social media and personal circles can trap us in echo chambers, solidifying pre-existing beliefs and limiting exposure to novel experiences. To foster open-mindedness, we should be willing to listen to differing perspectives, truly understand someone else's viewpoint before passing judgment, and avoid viewing them as uninformed or biased.

This process, even if it causes some anxiety, is about expanding our minds rather than changing our minds outright. An ideal state involves increasing our "latitude of acceptance," or our openness to consider others' ideas without feeling threatened. Hearing others' viewpoints without intent to change our own still counts as openness; true openness requires a readiness to listen and consider.

However, this can be challenging, especially on deeply personal topics like religion and politics. When practicing open-mindedness, it's best to start with less contentious subjects, like dog vs. cat companionship or at-home vs. cinema movie-watching preferences. It's also beneficial to assume those with opposing views have good intentions.

Vilifying those with different beliefs hampers tolerance and openness. My main advice to my patients is to loosen our grip on the notion that we know everything. We're human, so expecting every belief to be accurate is unrealistic. We may lack complete facts or full context. My patients should put on their detective hats, question their assumptions, and evaluate their thinking critically.

This applies to their self-perceptions, others, and the world. I also model open-mindedness by gathering data, considering multiple angles, and weighing information fairly. I interviewed Dr. Damion Grasso, a University of Connecticut psychiatrist, about his approach to openness. Dr. Grasso emphasizes its importance in trauma-exposed youth and family work, noting it helps set aside assumptions, recognize biases, and create a safe space for all parties.

In parenting, he stresses the importance of listening more than speaking and acknowledging one's own limitations. Cultivating receptivity to alternative viewpoints is a valuable trait to practice, particularly for modeling to children. To strengthen our open-mindedness, we can employ various strategies. Awareness training, teaching about cognitive biases like confirmation bias, helps us recognize our inclination to trust favored assumptions and ignore contradictory information.

Perspective-taking involves imagining another person's experiences and reasoning. This can be facilitated through visual aids like pictures, videos, or VR technology that deeply immerse us in their perspective. Sharing our perspectives on others' thinking can also be effective. Non-confrontational perspective-getting, where we ask others about their viewpoints without conflict, is another valuable tool.

Engaging face-to-face, asking open-ended questions, and using receptive language—expressing uncertainty, acknowledging errors, and finding common ground—can foster productive dialogue.