Measuring qualities needed for interdisciplinary work: The Intellectual Virtues for Interdisciplinary Research Scale (IVIRS)

Academic research is increasingly centering on interdisciplinary work. Strong interdisciplinary research (SIR), involving researchers from very different fields, such as scientists and humanists, is often encouraged, if not required, by funding agencies. I argue that two intellectual virtues, open-mindedness and intellectual humility, are crucial for overcoming obstacles to SIR and achieving success. In part I, I provide a primer on intellectual virtue and the two virtues in question. In part II, I distinguish SIR from weak interdisciplinary research (WIR), which involves research teams from neighboring fields, such as physics and chemistry, and from disciplinary research (DR), which involves researchers from the same discipline. I also outline what counts as success in SIR, and explain why it’s more challenging to attain than in WIR and DR. In part III, I explain how both intellectual virtues are essential for achieving success in SIR and for overcoming obstacles that can arise in its pursuit.

This paper presents a conceptual framework for the intellectual virtues in the context of online search. Intellectual virtues are dispositions and skills that enable good thinking and wise reasoning, such as intellectual humility and attentiveness. Despite their importance, today the intellectual virtues tend to be underdeveloped across society. In light of the institutional role that online search plays in life today, there is an opportunity (perhaps an obligation) for online search to facilitate the development of intellectual virtue. The framework presented in this paper locates this development in three areas: the Searcher, the System, and Society. Major issues in information ethics and virtue epistemology are discussed for each of these areas, leading to recommendations for education, design, and research. This paper provides specific suggestions in this regard along with an agenda for future research at the intersection of ethics, epistemology, and online search.

The main objective of this paper is to develop a scale that can facilitate a comprehensive assessment of intellectual virtues. To our knowledge, no instrument has been designed to assess virtuous intellectual character as a global construct, and this article aimed to fill this research gap through two studies. The first study aimed to investigate the construct validity and reliability of the scale, while the second study aimed to confirm the factorial structure observed in Study 1 and to analyze the convergent validity of the new scale. Study 1 included 545 college students (mean age = 19.57 years, SD = 1.41) enrolled in 33 undergraduate degree programs at Argentinean universities. Study 2 included 700 college students (mean age = 18.07, SD = 0.95). The EFA carried out in Study 1 identified five dimensions of the VICS (attentiveness, open-mindedness, curiosity, carefulness, and intellectual autonomy), and the CFA carried out in Study 2 validated the five-factor structure. A bifactor model indicated that each group of items was related to a specific virtue while simultaneously being linked to a bifactor or global construct, i.e., “a virtuous intellectual character.” Our results confirm the existence of a global construct while preserving the specificity of each virtue. The results of Study 2 indicated that the VICS total score and its five factors are associated with intellectual humility, deep thinking, bravery, academic engagement, and social and psychological well-being. However, all intellectual virtues were only weakly associated with emotional well-being. Finally, both studies indicated good reliability of the VICS.

The aim of the research: To describe the intellectual humility of a teacher as strength in the processes of forming and developing knowledge. Intellectual virtues presuppose the objective of deep, factual perception with a possibility to make mistakes. A lot of pedagogues lack the activities important for virtues without dependence on mood or similar supporting means (the total level of virtue). A teacher who distinguishes with intellectual humility, who belongs to the virtues of the first range (the initiation of learning process and its guiding towards the right direction) and has connection with other intellectual virtues, aims for coordinated learning relationship where the sense of equality is present, as well as broaden perspective, distinguishes with flexibility while re-considering convictions, fear which is felt by an intellectually humble person when he/she misses information or something is not understood. An intellectually humble teacher, developing his/her knowledge, distinguishes with the constant pursuit for development, ability to self-evaluate strengths and weaknesses, seeing relationship with others as perspective for development The definition of intellectual humility is usually related with the recognition that your convictions and opinions can be wrong. This virtue is concerned with the strengths of a teacher. Being an intellectually humble person opens possibilities to the independence of a learner while forming or developing knowledge and understanding. In this process the potential of colleagues is recognized, strong and weak points are firmly pointed out, intellectual arrogance is avoided. This presupposes more possibilities for the change of learning both to a learner and the one dependant on him/her.

Objectives Intellectual humility refers to a tendency to recognize and accept that one’s personal beliefs or knowledge may be fallible and limited. The purpose of this study is to examine whether preschool teachers’ intellectual humility predicts self-development needs and teamwork, which in turn, predict professional knowledge. In other words, the current study investigates the dual mediating effects of self-development needs and teamwork in the relationship between intellectual humility and professional knowledge in preschool teachers. Methods A total of 206 teachers across 32 preschools participated in this study. The participating teachers completed questionnaires on intellectual humility, self-development needs, teamwork, and professional knowledge. SPSS 25.0 was used to test the mediating effect of self-development needs and teamwork on the relationship between intellectual humility and professional knowledge in teachers. In addition, PROCESS macro version 3.4 (Hayes, 2017) was used to confirm the indirect effect. Results The teachers’ intellectual humility predicts professional knowledge via self-development needs and teamwork. In other words, teachers who acknowledge their own intellectual limits and are open to new experiences and learning opportunities have a higher level of professional knowledge in teaching, and this relation is mediated by both self-development needs and teamwork. The bootstrapping results also suggest that the indirect effect is statistically significant. Conclusion This study is the first to introduce and apply a new concept of intellectual humility in a Korean sample. By showing the relationship between intellectual humility, self-development needs, teacher teamwork, and professional knowledge, the study highlights the importance of intellectual virtue in preschool teachers. Keywords: intellectual humility, self-development needs, teacher teamwork, professional knowledge

Four studies examined intellectual humility-the degree to which people recognize that their beliefs might be wrong. Using a new Intellectual Humility (IH) Scale, Study 1 showed that intellectual humility was associated with variables related to openness, curiosity, tolerance of ambiguity, and low dogmatism. Study 2 revealed that participants high in intellectual humility were less certain that their beliefs about religion were correct and judged people less on the basis of their religious opinions. In Study 3, participants high in intellectual humility were less inclined to think that politicians who changed their attitudes were "flip-flopping," and Study 4 showed that people high in intellectual humility were more attuned to the strength of persuasive arguments than those who were low. In addition to extending our understanding of intellectual humility, this research demonstrates that the IH Scale is a valid measure of the degree to which people recognize that their beliefs are fallible.

Intellectual humility (IH), defined as the extent to which one is aware of one’s own intellectual limitations, is an understudied construct in organizational research. As a moral virtue, IH has been studied in philosophy and religion for decades. As a psychological and behavioral tendency construct, IH has gained significant attention among psychology researchers over the past decade due to rising extremism regarding social and political issues in the US and around the world. One reason for the increased research interest in IH includes the potential benefits from IH in terms of reducing social and political polarization and reducing stress and anxiety, which may improve individual overall well-being. This article provides an overview of IH as a multi-dimensional construct, its psychometric properties and nomological network, and its potential benefits in organizations and employee well-being. The article concludes with a call for more interdisciplinary research on improving our knowledge and theories of IH as well as its construct measurement considering the recent coming-of-age adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) models to harness the power of IH in sustaining individual well-being.

This chapter provides accounts of four character traits: intellectual modesty and acceptance of intellectual limitations (which together constitute intellectual humility); proper pride in one’s epistemic achievements and proper concern for one’s intellectual reputation. It argues that these are intellectual virtues. The main difference between humility (as comprising of modesty and of acceptance of limitations) on the one hand, and pride and concern for esteem on the other, lies in the nature of social comparisons on which they are based. Humility relies on appraisals of the worth of one’s qualities that might be gauged by comparing oneself to other people and which are driven by a concern for accuracy. The chapter also makes a case that overlapping clusters of attitudes serving knowledge and value expressive functions are the causal bases of these character traits.

Today’s volatile political and social climate, is characterised by demagogues, populism, and increasingly AI driven misinformation, combined with growing global crises ranging from obesity to the environment. This eclectic collection brings together a diverse array of international contributors to tackle these crucial issues. These include leading thinkers, policymakers, and activists drawn from the world of business, politics, education, religion, law, the arts, science, medicine, health and social enterprise. The book explores how people engage with ideas, particularly the lure of dark ideas, and proposes innovative policy solutions to combat susceptibility to ‘dark’ ideas such as misinformation, conspiracy theories and science denial. Recent trends and events across the UK, US, and many European countries, including the war in Ukraine, Brexit, the election of Trump, numerous immigration crises, and the perceived lack of solidarity during the Covid-19 pandemic, suggest a shift away from an ‘ideas-informed’ democratic society. Demagogues, Populism and Misinformation examines two crucial factors that influence ideas engagement: the allure of ‘dark ideas’ and the necessary preconditions for effective engagement with ideas, such as tolerance, intellectual humility, intellectual empathy (a willingness to engage with other perspectives), and intellectual curiosity.

Intellectual humility involves recognizing one’s own epistemic limitations and is associated with several beneficial outcomes. This work presents a French version of the General Intellectual Humility Scale (Leary et al., 2017) to investigate this concept in French-speaking populations. We translated the scale and, across five studies (NTotal = 2172), provide evidence of its structure (through EFA, CFA, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and measurement invariance across French and English speakers) and the validity of its scores (convergent, divergent, and predictive). Study 1 showed that the scale related to need for evidence. Study 2 revealed that the scale (a) positively related to openness and need for cognition, (b) negatively related to dogmatism, and (c) had a negligible relationship with social desirability. In Study 3, scores predicted attention paid to the quality of persuasive arguments over and above need for closure. Study 4 showed that the scale correlated positively with another self-report measure of intellectual humility. A test-retest analysis also indicated adequate reliability for the French version of the scale. Finally, Study 5 tested measurement invariance and revealed that the structure of the scale was similar between French and English speakers and that their latent scores were comparable. Overall, this work offers evidence of the (French) General Intellectual Humility Scale as a valid measure of intellectual humility.

This chapter carries out an analysis of the Qur’ānic verses that pertain to the concept of taqwā in order to understand the Qur’ānic conception of virtue. It is argued that taqwā appears to be a comprehensive reflective and motivational conscience comparable to similar concepts in Kant and Butler. However, taqwā covers both the moral and epistemic spheres of human life and is constitutive of virtue in general. The chapter discusses the ways taqwā, as a stable acquired disposition for virtue built upon our natural capacity to distinguish right from wrong, is related to specific intellectual virtues that flow from it. Taqwā as the general disposition for virtue functions as a pivot for all specific epistemic and moral virtues. After identifying the basic features of taqwā, the chapter examines additional verses of the Qur’ān to highlight some additional intellectual virtues. The chapter closes by noting the concept of virtue and an overall list of intellectual virtues.

This paper applies a virtue epistemology approach to using the Internet, as to improve our information-seeking behaviours. Virtue epistemology focusses on the cognitive character of agents and is less concerned with the nature of truth and epistemic justification as compared to traditional analytic epistemology. Due to this focus on cognitive character and agency, it is a fruitful but underexplored approach to using the Internet in an epistemically desirable way. Thus, the central question in this paper is: How to use the Internet in an epistemically virtuous way? Using the work of Jason Baehr, it starts by outlining nine intellectual or epistemic virtues: curiosity, intellectual autonomy, intellectual humility, attentiveness, intellectual carefulness, intellectual thoroughness, open-mindedness, intellectual courage and intellectual tenacity. It then explores how we should deploy these virtues and avoid the corresponding vices when interacting with the Internet, particularly search engines. Whilst an epistemically virtuous use of the Internet will not guarantee that one will acquire true beliefs, understanding or even knowledge, it will strongly improve one’s information-seeking behaviours. The paper ends with arguing that teaching and assessing online intellectual virtues should be part of school and university curricula, perhaps embedded in critical thinking courses, or even better, as individual units.

Background: Interdisciplinary research has the potential to optimize communication, accelerate discoveries and their translation into practice. Interdisciplinary collaboration is useful in bringing together professionals from different disciplines in order to share new ideas, express different perspectives and create new solutions that emerge from interdisciplinary collaboration and catalyse scientific innovations (VanWormer, Lindquist, Robiner, & Finkelstein, 2012) . Little is known about student’s involvement in interdisciplinary practice-based research specially concerning their perception about their participation in this kind of research process. This paper is part of a larger interdisciplinary practice-based research project named Help2Care. Help2Care involves students, teachers and stakeholders aiming to empower the informal caregiver and the dependent person by integrating multimedia resources and technology in healthcare. Students were involved in the development of resources that optimize care among caregivers, dependent person and health care professionals, integrating networks of formal and informal care. Objectives: the main objective is to analyze the experience of students involved in an interdisciplinary team, collaborating in the design of multimedia resources that impact the quality of life of informal caregivers of the dependent person. Methods: This is a qualitative study, using thematic content analysis. Ethical issues were taken into account according to Helsinki declaration. Students from different health backgrounds (nursing, nutrition and rehabilitation) participated and were interviewed in an online (20 students) and in a face to face interview (7 students). After the free-floating reading, data were analyzed independently by each of the two researchers according to Bardin (2004). Afterwards the researchers cross-checked the categories in order to assure the validity of the content analysis. Results: The students express positive feelings regarding this experience. The exchange of knowledge, experiences and contributions regarding different health themes is highlighted. The contact with each other allowed them to perceive that they have different visions taking into account the same health topics which enabled them to develop a complementary and integrated vision. Considering the SWOT analysis strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats were identified, regarding the collaborative team work in the development of innovative health solutions. Conclusions: This research reveals the importance of implementing interdisciplinary teaching-learning processes in health professions higher education.

Grounded in the Systemic–Transactional Model, this study developed the Perceived Stress Scale in Romantic Relationships and evaluated its psychometric properties in adults currently involved in a romantic relationship. Using a scale development design, data were collected from two independent samples of individuals who had been in a romantic relationship. The exploratory analyses were conducted with 571 participants (age range 20–63 years), and the confirmatory analysis was conducted with 246 participants (age range 21–64 years). Construct validity was examined using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Item functioning and precision were further evaluated using a graded response model within the item response theory framework. Discriminative power was tested by comparing lower and upper score groups, and criterion-related validity was examined through correlations with couple burnout, relationship satisfaction, and relationship consensus. Results supported a unidimensional five-item short form. Confirmatory analyses indicated good model fit, and multi-group confirmatory factor analysis supported strict measurement invariance across gender. Internal consistency was high in both samples. Criterion-related validity evidence showed strong positive associations with couple burnout and negative associations with relationship satisfaction and relationship consensus. Item-level results indicated adequate discrimination and that the scale provided the most precise measurement at moderate to high levels of perceived stress. Overall, the Perceived Stress Scale in Romantic Relationships appears to be a brief, valid, and reliable measure for assessing relationship-specific perceived stress.

The purpose of this study is two‐fold: (1) to explore the communication barriers and challenges that interdisciplinary researchers might encounter when collaborating with their counterparts from other disciplines, and (2) to survey how the researchers mitigate the hurdles in the collaboration processes. Eight interdisciplinary researchers from a research institute were recruited to participate in the study. They were individually interviewed with a semi‐structured protocol. The interview transcripts were then analyzed using a grounded theory approach that consists of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding in sequence. The preliminary results show that the major communication hindrances include: domain disparity; discrepancies of individual researchers in terms of their perspectives, preferences, and behaviors; varied interpretations on the meanings of shared artifacts used by the interdisciplinary research groups; and divergence of personal motivation and engagement levels toward interdisciplinary collaboration. The participants considered active and constant learning to be the most useful strategy to cope with these communication obstacles. These findings yield some novel insights into the interdisciplinary collaboration effort and provide new empirical evidence to substantiate what previous studies have found. In addition, this study generates a deeper understanding about communication difficulties that interdisciplinary researchers might face, which can in turn be translated into practical implications for administrators and policy makers who are responsible for managing interdisciplinary collaborations.