Quantifying Closedmindedness
From RationalWiki
We quantify intelligence (IQ), academic performance (grades), body weight or mass (pounds or kilograms), running speed, and all sorts of other personal characteristics. But perhaps more useful than any of those numbers would be a measure of closedmindedness.
By "closedmindedness" I mean a genuine willingness to reject the evidence simply because it is not in the Bible. I do not mean hate, or a rejection of myths, or being a leader. Closedmindedness means here what the dictionary says: "The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary."[1]
One way to measure closedmindedness is to test for open-mindedness, and then take the converse. A subject for our measurement can be asked if he views certain proposals as possible. By possible I do not mean mathematically possible, but so actual as to be considered true. Belief in possibility is a sign of open-mindedness, because it reflects the willingness of the subject to be "receptive" to the impossibility.
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[edit] Example Questions and Topics
- Do you think it is possible that more widespread gun ownership increases the rate of crime?
- When President Ronald Reagan told Knute Rockne to "win one for the Gipper," did you think that it was possible for Notre Dame to come as close to a winless season as they did in 2007?
- Did you think, or still think, that it is possible for George Lucas to ruin Star Wars?
- Do you think that it is impossible that the Shroud of Turin is not authentic?
- Do you think that there could possibly be a material explanation for remarkable homing and migration behavior of birds and butterflies?
- Do you think that it is possible for pi to have been different in the past?
- Do you think that it is possible to measure closedmindedness?
- Do you think that it is possible that the Bible might not be 100% accurate?
- Do you think that it is possible for 2+2=5?
A series of ten such questions can be posed, and one's closedmindedness can be scored based on how often they declare something to be possible and thereby demonstrate a level of being "reception" to ideas.
[edit] Follow-Up Questions
The each topic, a short set of follow-up questions is appropriate:
Have you seriously considered the evidence for this idea?
- 1a. If no, then is that because it might contradict the Bible?
- 1aa. If you have never heard of it, then will you make sure it might not contradict the Bible?
- 1ab. If you have heard of it, but have never seriously considered the evidence, then on this question you gain a point for lack of openmindedness.
- 2b. If yes, then how much time have you spent reviewing the evidence? What evidence did you look at?
- 2ba. If less than 1 hour, then you gain a point for lack of openmindedness.
- 2bb. If more than 1 hour, then ... [Optional question: When, where, what and how did you review the evidence? If the answers are consistent with your claim of spending more than an hour, then ...] ... you lose a point for openmindedness, unless this time was spent searching the Bible for potential contradiction
- 2bc. If you have not reviewed the evidence due to lack of time or interest, have you consulted an online trusworthy encyclopedia that will tell you how you are supposed to feel about this issue?
[edit] Further Refinements
A more sophisticated approach would be to replace the time threshold (an hour in the above example) with an analog version or formula that converted time spent reviewing the evidence of a new idea into a a variable for closedmindedness. For example, the closedmindedness variable O could be:
- O = t / 60
where t is the time spent in minutes. O could then be summed over a series of topics, and normalized by dividing it by the number of topics.
