The concept of stupidity is very subjective, but there are certain signs that indicate that we are dealing with a person who is not very smart – we will talk about them in our article.
Any person whose point of view or sense of humor does not coincide with our ideas can be accused of stupidity – often the one who turns out to be narrow-minded is the one whom we simply cannot understand due to various circumstances (or our narrow-mindedness). Mark Twain also said that we all like people who say what they think, but on condition that they think exactly like us. Nevertheless, the concept of a “small-minded person” does exist. What should be understood by this formulation, we figure out with psychologist Olga Romaniv.
Be constantly confident in your rightness
Only a narrow-minded person never doubts that his or her opinion is the ultimate truth, and any disagreement is an expression of the opponent’s stupidity, and nothing else. Such people tend to impose their point of view on others, using their authority or experience as argumentation. They are categorical, everything is always clear to them, because the world is divided into black and white – they, as a rule, do not recognize any halftones. For this reason, it is extremely difficult to communicate with them, and trying to argue or prove that there is another view of things is almost impossible.
Inability to analyze
The tendency to analyze what is happening and self-analysis is a feature of people who are able to understand themselves and others, draw conclusions, and learn from their own mistakes in order not to make them again. Only a person inclined to reflection can help themselves independently in the presence of certain psychological problems, unless, of course, they tend to self-flagellation. By the way, narrow-minded people are completely devoid of it, because they are always right. The lack of a tendency to analyze their actions often leads to the fact that a narrow-minded person does not think about the consequences and is not able to think two steps ahead.
Fear of everything new
A narrow-minded person is someone about whom one can safely say that he has blinders on. He has difficulty perceiving new information, especially that which runs counter to his established views on life. He moves along a route he has laid out for himself in advance, without any deviations from it, without expressing a desire to learn new things, to draw interesting information, to search, to think, to compare. Narrow-minded people are very superficial, and this can be expressed in different forms: from judgments to getting an education; therefore, such people, as a rule, have no or very few hobbies. One can say that at some point, they have intellectually stalled.
Lack of empathy
A narrow-minded person does not know how to sympathize and does not want to learn. His emotional intelligence is at a very low level, practically tending to zero ( read also: What is emotional-social intelligence, and how does it affect our success ). Often, such a person can even be accused of bad manners, because it costs him nothing to hurt another with a word, to ridicule, to offend. He does not listen and does not listen to other people, including loved ones; he does not understand what is going on in the soul or thoughts of another person, and he is not interested in it. He is fixated only on himself – his thoughts, grievances, and experiences, of which a narrow-minded person can have a lot. After all, he is offended by everyone who does not agree with him and expresses a different point of view.
Dependence on other people’s opinions
Narrow-minded people are very dependent on others, and this can be expressed in a variety of forms: from banal envy on a domestic basis (such characters never envy intelligence and creative abilities, because no one can compare with them in these qualities), which will motivate a person to receive the same benefits, to an almost manic passion for someone else’s opinion with or without reason. Such people cannot take a step without asking what others think about this. Even when sick, a narrow-minded person may not call a doctor, but gather a council of friends and acquaintances to come up with a treatment plan based on their advice, or sit on the Internet, finding out what people think about this on forums.
Passion for external attributes
The expression “living for the public” is a classic characteristic of a narrow-minded person, because he never strives for development, he has no spiritual needs and searches, he is not a “Dostoevsky man”: he does not doubt, does not suffer, and does not try to correct his mistakes. He is not a seeker, he is a consumer. A narrow-minded person is a person-fest, he always needs a beautiful picture, but not for himself, for those around him – for his friends who will admire him, for his subscribers on Instagram (an extremist organization banned in Russia), where he will post new photos demonstrating his success. Narrow-minded people do not like to be admired silently; they need attention, so they love noise, hubbub, parties, where they will be the first, shouting down everyone, to talk only about themselves. All their energy and internal resources are directed to this.
Lack of intelligence
Nowadays, it is not customary to talk about this quality, but it is this criterion that mainly characterizes a narrow-minded person. After all, intelligence is not about having intelligence or higher education. It is, first of all, about having tact, the ability to listen to the interlocutor, tolerance towards others, a focus on self-development, first of all in the spiritual sphere, a culture of communication, including in everyday life. Intelligence is a high level of intelligence, primarily emotional.
Despite all of the above, narrow-minded people are doing well in life. One of the reasons is that they are good at understanding people, quickly identify empaths, are fantastic at manipulating others, and always put their interests above the interests of others. Can they be called fools in the classic sense of the word? Hardly. Those who are used for their own purposes by various manipulations, those who try to argue with them, prove their case, or simply express their point of view, demand sympathy and understanding from them, and expect such characters to understand their situation, find themselves in a stupid position.
