How parents talk about uncertainty may shape children’s intellectual humility

A study examining the transmission of intellectual humility from parents to children suggests that the relationship may depend on how this psychological trait is measured. Parents who self-reported higher levels of intellectual humility tended to have children who were less intellectually humble. In contrast, parents who expressed lower humility in their behavior also tended to have children who were less humble. The findings were published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

Intellectual humility refers to the recognition that one’s knowledge is limited and that one’s beliefs might be incorrect. It involves openness to new evidence, a willingness to revise one’s views, and an acknowledgment of uncertainty. People high in intellectual humility tend to consider opposing viewpoints more carefully rather than rejecting them reflexively.

Importantly, intellectual humility is not the same as low self-confidence. It reflects a combination of confidence, curiosity, and self-awareness. This quality is associated with reduced bias and overconfidence, and it supports better decision-making and more constructive dialogue—especially when dealing with complex or controversial topics. Research also links intellectual humility to greater empathy, tolerance, and openness to learning.

Study author Candice M. Mills and her colleagues set out to explore whether intellectual humility is transmitted from parents to children. Specifically, they examined how different measures of parental intellectual humility related to the intellectual humility of their 7- to 10-year-old children.

The study included 108 parent-child pairs. The average age of the children was 8.2 years, and 55 were girls. Over half of the families reported an annual household income above $100,000, and most participants lived in Texas or Kentucky.

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The researchers assessed parental intellectual humility in two ways: through a behavioral task and a self-report questionnaire. The behavioral assessment was based on the Prompted Explanation Task (PET), in which parents were asked to respond aloud to eight science-related questions (e.g., “How do bees make honey?”), as if answering their child.

Researchers analyzed these responses for two key features: how often parents acknowledged uncertainty or suggested seeking out more information (e.g., “I’m not sure, let’s look it up”), and how often they expressed uncertainty when giving an incorrect answer. These markers were interpreted as behavioral signs of intellectual humility.

The self-reported measure of intellectual humility was the Comprehensive Intellectual Humility Scale, which includes items related to openness to revising beliefs, respect for other viewpoints, and a lack of intellectual overconfidence.

Children’s intellectual humility was assessed behaviorally. They were shown images and asked explanatory “how” questions about both common and uncommon animals and vehicles. After each question, they rated how much they thought they knew about the topic. This method aimed to capture their awareness of knowledge gaps, a core aspect of intellectual humility. Children also completed a standardized test of verbal intelligence.

The study found no correlation between parents’ self-reported intellectual humility and their behavior in the explanation task. In other words, how humble parents said they were did not align with how they behaved when explaining science questions.

Notably, children of parents who rated themselves as highly intellectually humble tended to rate their own knowledge higher—suggesting lower intellectual humility. On the other hand, children of parents who failed to express uncertainty when giving incorrect answers also tended to give higher knowledge ratings, indicating a similar lack of humility.

“These findings support that there are links between parent and child intellectual humility, but the pattern may depend on how parent intellectual humility is measured,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific knowledge about intellectual humility. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any causal inferences to be derived from the results. Additionally, it remains unknown how stable or generalizable the displayed level of intellectual humility is. It is possible that a different set of questions would invoke different levels of intellectual humility.

The paper, “Does Intellectual Humility Transmit Intergenerationally? Examining Relations Between Parent and Child Measures,” was authored by Candice M. Mills, Judith H. Danovitch, and Natalie B. Quintero.