How Specialization Can Close the Mind

What field do you specialize in? According to new studies, your deep knowledge in a particular field, whether in politics, chemistry, or playing a musical instrument, comes with a major drawback.

Research conducted by Loyola University in Chicago indicates that being an expert in a field can close a person's mind in their way of thinking and, as a result, make them less creative. These studies have concluded that people who consider themselves experts are less receptive to new ideas and alternative viewpoints.

These findings reveal something known as the "earned dogmatism" effect, that is, the tendency to think in a more closed-minded or dogmatic way.

Dr. Victor Ottati, a professor of psychology at Loyola University and the lead author of the report, told the Huffington Post: For example, if people are told they have succeeded in a political knowledge test, they temporarily become dogmatic in their attitude toward political science. When individuals consider themselves experts, they feel they have earned the privilege of thinking and behaving in a more dogmatic way.

The suggestion of these research findings is that the best way to achieve mastery in a field is to strive on the path to gaining expertise while simultaneously reminding ourselves that we still do not know many things.

Huffington Post, translated and summarized from the Institute for Cognitive Science Studies

This study was published in November 2015 in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.