Badges awarded to users who demonstrate a high level of intellectual humility in their comments and posts.

Open-minded badges aim to encourage intellectual humility by signaling its reputational value. By prompting users to adopt more intellectually humble language, these badges can foster open-minded and respectful conversations.

Conducting a study on a simulated social media platform, van Loon et al. (2024) found tentative evidence that open-minded badges can increase some outcomes related to intellectual humility.  

Van Loon et al. (2024) used a simulated text-based social media feed to test the effect of an "open-minded badge" compared with that of a "popularity badge". In the treatment group, an open-minded badge signalled social status based on intellectual humility, while a popularity badge was used in the control group (van Loon et al., 2024). 

After an explanation of the badges, participants in the study engaged with posts on political topics in a feed for 10 minutes, and were required to write at least one comment and one post. In the treatment condition, where users saw the open-minded badge, researchers observed that participants' content was more intellectually humble (Cohen's d = .13). Participants also reported a more positive emotional experience (Cohen's d = .12) compared to the control group. (Note: we report effect sizes using the metrics in the authors' paper. All effects we include are statistically significant, unless otherwise stated.). However, the researchers found no differences in engagement with intellectually humble content and in more enduring outcomes, including political attitudes and affective polarisation. Also, compared to a "true" control group where no posts received badges, the researchers find no effect of the open-minded badge. 

To summarise, participants who saw the open-minded badge produced more intellectually humble content and reported a more positive emotional experience compared to the popularity badge, but the effect sizes are small and disappear when compared to a no badge control group.

Reputation on social media is often awarded in terms of popularity, which - some argue - rewards negative reactions and 'hot takes' rather than nuanced arguments. Incentivizing intellectual humility rather than popularity is one way to instead increase respectful engagement between users of differing opinions.