Intellectual Humility and Extremes of Moral Judgment: An Examination of the Mediating Role of Need for Closure

Previous research has demonstrated that individuals who are high in intellectual humility (IH) have a propensity to hold less extreme attitudes, but thus far, these studies have focused on the narrow context of political judgment. In the present study, we sought to extend this research to the moral domain and also test the dispositional trait of need for closure (NFC) as a novel mechanism that has not been explored in previous research. Specifically, we hypothesized IH would predict less moral attitude extremity (MAE) when rendering moral judgments and that NFC would mediate these relationships. To test these hypotheses, we first invited participants to complete the Comprehensive Intellectual Humility Scale and a shortened version of the Need for Closure Scale. Next, participants were asked to read a vignette that described a morally ambiguous situation (specifically intended to impart a sense of moral uncertainty) and then rate their perceptions of the morality of the actions and actor depicted therein. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found no significant relationship between total IH scores and MAE; however, a specific facet of IH—lack of intellectual overconfidence—predicted MAE, and, further, NFC fully mediated that relationship. Overall, the results of the study attest to the multidimensionality of IH and the need for future research to focus more deliberately on the specific individual facets of IH.