Open Mind, Yes, But Your Brain Must Not Fall Out Of It
Children naturally show faculties which never cease to amaze adults. One of them is the ability to view the world with a very small amount of preconceived ideas. Therefore, their resistance to learning is very low. Children therefore represent the paradigm of the open mind.
Adults, on the other hand, work with already elaborate patterns which they modify, refine and perfect. These patterns make the world more predictable and, at times, make us reluctant in the face of novelty. They feed our fear of change. Science is perhaps the showcase for this idea. Copernicus, Galileo or Einstein saw all the force that could be deployed from an erroneous point of support but well in force.
Moreover, according to the study by Sierra and Pérez Vega (National Autonomous University of México), these patterns influence aspects as important as educational practices and the possible problems of infantile behavior that result from them.
Open mind and first impressions
If we go back to the microscopic level, the personal level, we see how difficult it is to change the first impression we have of a person. Why ? Because from that first impression, we start to infer intentions or assumptions about everything around that person. It is a real sandcastle that requires a significant cognitive effort, like the poker player who tried a bluff and we followed until the end of the game.
Thus, we like to see others as consistent beings, dismissing with a hand one of our main certainties: we are a real contradiction. Beings interested in variable interest. Emotional beings with changing moods. And people with a personality, who learn and try to adapt.
Staying open-minded therefore means partially giving up a position that makes us feel comfortable. It means questioning what we already know, what we have built. If we think Peter is generous, we tend to interpret his actions as being of genuine concern to others. On the other hand, if we think he is selfish, we will interpret an act of generosity as a way of having a clear conscience.
You might think that, basically, it doesn’t matter. Pierre is what he is. However, our interpretation of the world is based on preconceived ideas and therefore has important consequences. On how we treat others, for example. We will accept help from a Peter whom we consider generous and will have suspicion towards a Peter whom we deem selfish.
Thus, staying open-minded allows you to have a flexible mind, willing to change patterns that have already been worked on. However, how much can being overly open-minded affect us?
An open mind but without putting aside the ability to analyze
An excess of open-mindedness can be harmful in the face of these new currents which develop thanks to word of mouth and dissolve when we examine them through the inquisitive magnifying glass of science. Many phenomena were discovered during a first study and could not be proven during the following ones. Many others were born out of personal experience and only existed through confirmation bias.
Moreover, every year we hear or read articles about people who have given up on medical treatment to put all their faith and hope in an alternative treatment praised by the marketers but to no avail. Open-minded people, ready to face new things, who needed a point of support. A need that made them place their hopes and their future in the hands of interventions whose effectiveness has never been demonstrated by studies.
Being open-minded can therefore enrich us, help us find solutions, but is of no use to us if, along the way, we let down our will, our critical thinking and our prudence. Newness can sometimes have disastrous consequences and we cannot overlook this point.
Our thoughts If you learn to be flexible, you will be able to choose the posture that best meets your interests.
