ABSTRACT
Open-mindedness is a psychological resource that facilitates the development of individuals, societies, and cultures. Progress is rather easy to measure in science, but more difficult within the domain of morality. Closed-mindedness is present among people who are both religious and non-religious; among those who believe in supernatural phenomena and those who mock such beliefs; among those who defend the rights of animals and those who give a whit for animals; among advocates of veganism and those who eagerly consume meat. Closed-mindedness thus implies a tendency to maintain in one’s mind a single perspective along with the conviction of its unquestionable correctness, which leads to the rejection of other perspectives. Closed-mindedness leads people to believe they are in possession of an absolute truth, which is why they uncritically trample on the convictions of others as fundamentally false and bad.
