Mental Stiffness

The word ‘ narrow-mindedness ‘ has been used in the popular language for a long time. We use it to describe people who show mental rigidity, or people who don’t understand or don’t want to understand another point of view. Or people who, just to be right, try to convince you that you are wrong.

When we talk about narrow-minded people, we are conventionally  talking about people who reject other people’s approaches, ideas, and perspectives  so that they can remain locked into their own ideas and mental schemes. These are people who are trying to change the world according to their own ideas and not the other way around.

This word, along with many others that have become popular, has more depth when viewed from a psychologist’s perspective. The word narrow-minded has several variants in psychology. We will focus on two of them here because their meaning is similar.

Mental stiffness

Mental rigidity means a lack of flexibility and open-mindedness when it comes to seeing ideas from different perspectives,  resisting criticism of something we believe in, and live rather than survive. This term is often used in clinical psychology as a phenomenon, a symptom, and a personality trait. Here are some examples:

•  As a clinical phenomenon, psychoanalysis describes mental rigidity as a patient’s resistance to change or something else they want to avoid. This definition is similar to the way we use it on a daily basis. An example is a person’s mental rigidity when it comes to love and commitment, which makes these two things even more difficult to achieve.

• The concept of mental rigidity also often comes up when we talk about the comfort zone. Mental stiffness chops off the wings you need for imagination, improvement and exploring new areas.
• As a symptom you can see mental stiffness in mental disorders like Asperger syndrome, dementia and OCD. In those cases, it has the same meaning as we mentioned earlier.
• The most commonly used form of the expression “mental rigidity” is as a personal characteristic. In clinical psychology, it generally means a number of mental, emotional, and behavioral (but especially mental) characteristics that co-exist. So there is a spectrum of mental stiffness with two opposite poles: high and low stiffness.

The need for cognitive closure

The second definition of mental rigidity puts a slight twist on the idea of ​​narrow-mindedness. The need for cognitive closure refers to the need to eliminate insecurities that arise from certain thoughts and situations. This need motivates the person to find a quick answer. The greater the need for closure, the more energy they will put into accepting that response and defending it.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the answer is right, or true, sincere, or even sane. But what does this have to do with narrow-minded people? It’s simple. Imagine that one day ash begins to fall from the sky. Something that is inexplicable at first glance, as there is no volcano nearby, nor is there anything else in the area that can produce ash on such a large scale. A narrow-minded person, or someone with a high need for closure, will say that it is not ashes, but gray snow. And with that the stocking is over. They don’t think about it anymore. As we’ve said,  the greater the need for closure, the more urgent it is to find an answer, even if it isn’t true.

Now imagine a situation in which emotions play a role. Let’s say a family member has passed away. Someone with a high need for closure – and let’s not forget individual differences – would try to answer the great uncertainty of death in an empathetic and painful way. They channel their anger by blaming doctors or feel guilty about the mistakes they made regarding the deceased relative.

There are many possible scenarios, but they all share the trait of urgency, although urgency doesn’t help in this type of situation. This is how the need for cognitive closure and narrow-mindedness are related:  urgency and low tolerance for uncertainty compel them to find a quick answer without looking for the right thing.

Are you narrow-minded?

The answer to that question consists of two parts. We’ve already talked about mental rigidity as a type of personality trait and as the need for cognitive closure, both of which fulfill a need we all know to some degree: overcoming uncertainty.

The first part of the answer involves honesty with yourself and asking yourself whether you are seeking or willing to provide explanations. If you let your friends finish talking, if you sometimes let curiosity override the temptation to stick with the first statement, or if you’re able to live with unanswered questions, you’re probably anything but narrow-minded. .

As we’ve seen,  whether you have mental stiffness or not is a personal one,  so there’s no point in saying you’re less stiff than anyone else, because everyone has their own yardstick for this.

On the other hand, when it comes to the need for closure, it must be said that there are ways to measure it, but when it comes to everyday life, we all have to deal with this. There is nothing more humane than seeking mental efficiency and avoiding the stress caused by not understanding something,  especially when emotions are involved. Who could blame the relative in our earlier example for having feelings about death?

Don’t forget the gist of this article: this all happens within a certain spectrum. It’s hard to tell whether someone is stiff or not, whether they need closure or not. Ultimately, despite being able to measure these factors, we are the only ones who can truly fathom our stiffness. So maybe it’s not about being stiff or not, it’s about understanding why you are and how it can hurt you.