The Fine Line Between Intellectual Humility and Arrogance: Perceiving Humility among the Intellectually Humble and Narcissistic

Prior research suggests that acknowledging limitations in one's knowledge - i.e. intellectual humility, is generally positively perceived. However, findings presented here demonstrate that individual differences in trait intellectual humility and trait narcissism moderate how positively it is viewed, as well as how intellectually humble or intellectually arrogant it is perceived to be. Across three studies (N = 734) participants rated others expressing intellectual humility (vs. intellectual arrogance) as higher in warmth and competence, with trait intellectual humility amplifying the effect and trait narcissism minimizing the effect. Moreover, statements acknowledging limitations in one's knowledge were perceived as lower in intellectual humility as trait intellectual humility decreased and as trait narcissism increased. In contrast to perceiving others, experimental evidence suggest that people expected themselves to be perceived as lower in warmth and competence when discussing how they could learn more about a topic, compared to discussing why they are knowledgeable about a topic.