The Door of Your Mind: Why Critical Thinking Trumps Closed-, Narrow-, and Even Open-Mindedness. 27 min read

In 2020, it was risky business to be an affluent-looking male in Nigeria. SARS officers tended to profile, extort, and abuse mostly young males who looked that way.

There were reports that if they suspected you couldn’t afford your phone, it was enough reason to arrest you. 

During a stop and search, only males and their luggage were ransacked. 

What mostly began as periodic checkpoint harassment targeted at young men soon grew to berserk and uncontrollable raids. 

People reported SARS officers badging into their homes or hotel rooms unannounced, searching and even arresting young men without warrants. 

“Please don’t leave the house for any reason,” Mum practically begged. Not that I engaged in any criminal activity; we were just living by, and to pay bail fees reportedly over 100k (for just being a male) was not worth the risk. 

This lawlessness grew until it was not only the abused who cried out; parents, siblings, friends, kinsmen, and fellow citizens demanded the end of police brutality! 

The uprising allegedly began on Twitter (now X) with the hashtag #EndSARS. And the oppressors were not having it; they persisted to the point of the genocide of unarmed protesters. 

It was at this point the epidemic gained international traction, and the government (seemingly) dissolved the unit. 

So, what was the basis of keeping male youths on the edge? 

In a nutshell, allegedly: “If they have dreadlocks, tattoos, and a great fashion sense, they must be Yahoo boys (i.e., internet fraudsters); especially if they have iPhones, laptops, and drive exotic cars (like Mercedes Benz).” 

The claims seemed plausible as the majority of the SARS victims did fit into that description. 

Sadly, like SI units, they held their views as universal truth and, as a result, victimized a lot of innocent young men along the way (of course, this is not to endorse their approach in handling even the real criminals). 

In all, it was a chilling example of what being close-minded looks like. 

In this blog post, we will explore the dangers of being close-minded and why you not only have to be open-minded but have critical thinking to overcome some of the dangers. 

What Does Close-Mindedness Mean?

Close-mindedness is an attitude—a mindset, if you must—where someone is not open to exploring or acknowledging perspectives that differ from theirs.

It’s important to understand it so we can easily identify when we exhibit it, as we all can do so unconsciously; some in higher degrees and more areas than others.

It is mostly exemplary in religious contexts where a particular religious sect refuses to consider differing religious views. For example, Muslims believe Jesus Christ was only a prophet and not the Son of God, as opposed to the Christian belief. 

(No, the Muslim vs. Christian belief is not about who is right or wrong, it’s just a case study. And we will find out if being close-minded in itself is inherently negative or positive.)

In essence, being close-minded implies you are unwilling to consider opposing ideas, refusing to accept views that challenge your existing beliefs.

Why Are So Many People Close-Minded?

Contrary to popular opinion, being close-minded is a human feature, not a bug. 

It matters to understand this because it fosters self-awareness critical to personal growth as opposed to making poor decisions. 

Let us examine some of the main reasons many people are close-minded:

The Need for Cognitive Efficiency

Studies show our brains are wired to take shortcuts; it prioritizes efficiency over accuracy. That is why so many biases exist. 

Our brains help us avoid cognitive exhaustion and make quicker decisions by holding on to biases such as the status quo bias where we stick to things that are familiar (while avoiding or kicking against the unfamiliar), be it related to career paths, religious views, or even cultures in general.

Fear and Defence Mechanisms

We tend to use close-mindedness as a psychological tool to shield ourselves from uncertainties that feel threatening. 

This fuels things like the Dunning-Kruger effect and dogmatism. 

For instance, life’s complexity and the weight of wrong choices often lead people to cling to religious texts that simplify nuanced issues. This is evident in rigid stances on sexual orientation, LGBTQ+ rights, abortion, and divorce—views that can be archaic and, at times, harmful.

Indeed, without a comprehensive understanding of an idea, the most favourable approach might just be avoidance or rejection (of the unfamiliar). 

It explains why you might be skeptical that a particular online guru is legit.

Identity and Idea Transmission

We exhibit close-mindedness when we maintain core values we identify with. 

In the cultural context, mention of Igba-Boi and the Igbos typically come to mind (Igba-boi is an apprenticeship system common among the Igbos of Nigeria). 

It’s a cultural practice that has helped them preserve the communal spirit that enabled them to survive and empower the next generation even after the civil war, shaping their identity. 

The empowered generation from the Igba-Boi system also tends to pay the favor forward, hence ensuring the system’s survival far into the future.

It is in this way, close-mindedness ensures perpetuity of identity and transmission of ideas that have been helpful in the past.

Focus and dedication

In our career endeavors, close-mindedness fuels the focused determination required to drive success. 

Just as you need horse-blinkers to avoid your horse getting distracted while you’re riding it, people often take on a closed-mind when chasing their careers. They use it to resist the temptation to dabble into too much at once. 

This also comes to play for (loyal) people in committed relationships, who turn down (better) alternatives to try making things work with a (good) partner at hand.

You can think of other scenarios as well.

Ego and Social Validation

The need to always be right can entrench close-mindedness. 

An opposing belief may suggest you’re wrong and that can be a huge blow to a fragile ego.

For example, a public figure may refuse to admit they were used as a pawn to oust a government—even if they were ignorant—in the face of supporting evidence. This mostly because accepting it means admitting their previous assertions were wrong.

This illustrates how ego protection can lead even influential people to reject clear evidence that challenges their established beliefs. 

The fear of admitting error often proves stronger than the pursuit of truth.

(This ego-driven resistance tends to increase with public statements and status. The more publicly someone has defended a position, the harder it becomes to change course.)

Cognitive Dissonance

It is usually a struggle to act in ways that oppose your cognition, beliefs, or principles. 

Like in a religious setting, it can be very uncomfortable growing up in a Christian home and then later told that most of what you were taught were lies. 

You may not even want to listen to such claims at all. 

Struggles of that kind can be unpleasant, you surely don’t want it, so you tend to avoid it by resisting ideas that don’t align with your interests (even though such discomfort can be necessary for growth). 

Laziness or Apathy

You may just lack the emotional willingness to put in the effort required to consider an alternative. 

It could just be too much stress you do not want. 

For example, someone may support GMO foods without verifying opposing claims of its dangers just from being too lazy.

Well, our energy is limited and tends to deplete fast so it’s natural to protect it. 

On the other hand, most people just have apathy, indifference, or intellectual complacency. (They are simply too lazy to open their minds).

Trauma

Unpleasant experiences from the past can foster resistance to new ideas or experiences. 

For instance, a lady who was raped by a man, may tend to have an immense hate for men and then choose not to get married, or even choose to become a lesbian. Or they may go the rest of their lives only seeing the worst in people.

Close-mindedness from trauma can keep people in their shells so they tend to avoid new ideas and stick to their convictions, rather than risk being open-minded and experiencing it again. 

In this context, it’s mostly a matter of a survival response. 

And so on. 

In essence, close-mindedness is neither a virtue nor a vice.

While it can be negative sometimes, it can also give us an edge in certain situations; it’s a tool used based on context. 

It’s important to note this because being close-minded is not always a matter of right or wrong; it is nuanced. Hence, it helps to discuss it in a non-pejorative, non-negative sense. 

What Problems Arise From Being Close-Minded?

Problems arise from close-mindedness when we resist new ideas that can be beneficial to us, cling to outdated beliefs, or fail to acknowledge nuances in viewpoints.

The reason we must acknowledge this is to ensure we avoid pitfalls in our decision-making and problem-solving. 

Consider how most societies confine women to domestic roles: “A woman’s place is in the kitchen”, they believe. 

She not only cooks but does the laundry and cleans the house. 

She tends to the children if there are any. She breast-feeds them, cleans their vomit and poop, and soothes them (when they wail). 

And it’s not just the house and kids, she must also tend to her husband; especially his sexual needs. 

And because she is not a man, the school is not a place for her, including professional endeavors being out of the question. 

She shouldn’t drive. 

She shouldn’t even vote or be voted for. 

Those are exclusively masculine roles. 

To think otherwise is a taboo.

This extreme patriarchal system is a good example of some of the problems associated with being close-minded.

Close-mindedness, choosing to not consider any contrary idea or rebuttal can have some of the following problems:

Discrimination

Being close-minded tends to reinforce stereotypes and even bigotry which can be discriminatory. 

For example, in a job application scenario, a close-minded boss may tell his HR team, “All muslims are violent! Can’t you see all terrorist groups are Islamic?! Do you want a suicide bomber here?! Whether Aisha qualifies for the job or not, don’t give it to her.” 

However, statistically many Muslims are quite peaceful and reject violence in the name of Islam. 

This form of discrimination can extend to not just religion but tribe, gender, and race.

Stifled personal growth

Another way close-mindedness can be limiting is that it can stunt your improvement (whether in your capabilities, skills, self-awareness, etcetera). 

This means you can miss out on knowledge, experiences, and even people who can help you grow up, level up, and step up. 

For example, men can succumb to social pressure, conforming to roles that emphasize strength and stoicism. 

This can make them miss out on emotional and creative development. 

It mostly stems from a need to stick to common, familiar practices. 

Economic Inefficiency

Even at the national level, close-mindedness can have an adverse effect on the economic growth of a country. 

This is evident in situations where there is gender inequality against women in their professional endeavors. 

In such a situation, women don’t get to work because they are believed incapable compared to their male counterparts, so about half the population can’t contribute to the nation’s economy. 

Studies even show gender diversity in workplaces leads to better decision-making, increased innovation, and higher productivity. 

Imagine losing all of that due to being close-minded. 

Cultural Stagnation

The culture of a society is not spared with regard to the effect of being close-minded. 

A close-minded society may not grow or develop as they typically are obstinate with traditional values, resisting potentially beneficial new ideologies that serve modern needs. It then won’t evolve while the world outpaces it. 

You can imagine what a community would look like resisting mechanized farming and other forms of technological advancements to preserve their way of life.

It is difficult to fathom an outcome not far from under-development and even potential extinction. 

What doesn’t grow dies.

Psychological Distress

Those who are close-minded hardly evade emotional suffering because suffering is mostly a natural result from resisting a reality that won’t change (despite your differing opinions). 

You can see it in this era where most creatives refuse to use AI. 

Like it or not, it’s here to stay, and if you don’t use it, others will (your competition who uses it can have an edge over you); so you might as well. 

It should mostly rather be a question of using it with caution so you don’t become too dependent on it like a case of drug abuse. 

Interpersonal Conflict

Also, You can have a relationship-ruining disagreement with someone when you’re too close-minded to consider their ideas. 

This is apparent in situations where there is an absence of empathy, understanding, and respect for differing viewpoints. 

In a case where a husband doesn’t see his wife as a partner but a subordinate, he may be unable to relate to her fairly, respectfully, not to mention equally. 

Abuse may come into play, potentially leading to a divorce and a case where when two elephants (the parents) fight, the grass (the children) suffers. 

Ultimately, being close-minded has the potential to be self-sabotage. 

And in our fast-paced world that’s constantly evolving, refusing to be flexible with our ideas can hinder our personal and societal growth. 

Now that you see some of the problems associated with close-mindedness, you may want to consider narrow-mindedness (that’s if you don’t already mistake them to be the same).

The question is, is being narrow-minded a better alternative?

What Is The Difference Between Being Close-Minded and Narrow-Minded? 

Most people use the words “close-minded” and “open-minded” interchangeably like they were the same; they’re not. 

To put it simply, both entail the mindset approach towards new, opposing ideas; the difference—albeit subtle—is someone who is close-minded WON’T CONSIDER opposing ideas, while someone who is narrow-minded may consider yet NOT ACCEPT them. 

To understand the distinction between them is important so you can identify when either one is at play, enabling you to handle them better. 

Let’s explore their distinction using a typical instance of the transatlantic slave trade:

At that time, African slave traders collaborated with European and American slave traders.

The African slave traders (mostly African rulers and warlords) would raid villages and capture individuals as prisoners of war. 

In some cases, they kidnapped individuals from their homes or working in their farmlands and forced their victims on “coffle marches” to the coast of awaiting European ships where the African traders directly negotiated with their European counterparts. 

They haggle over prices, exchanging guns, alcohol, textiles, beads, and other goods for their captives; each priced based on age, sex, health, skill, etcetera. 

Once they agreed on terms, the African traders moved their “goods” to the ships while the European merchants received and “packaged their purchase” in cramped spaces below the ship decks, chained together.

Now, a close-minded person may reject the idea that African traders were instrumental to the slave trade. 

“Africans were only victims, never perpetrators. It was solely a European/American endeavor.”, they may argue (even when you provide them with historical evidence or scholarship that proves otherwise).

On the other hand, someone narrow-minded might acknowledge the role of African traders but only consider it through a very limited lens. 

They mostly use “Yes, but…” statements. 

They might say, “Yes, African traders sold slaves to Europeans but only because they were manipulated or it was lucrative.” In this instance, they try to cop-out the people they support, denying their role in the injustice…ignoring the human suffering, the internal African politics, or the long-term effects on both African and diaspora communities. 

Both mindsets limit understating in different ways. The close-minded individual tends to deny or simplify complex truths, while the narrow-minded one recognizes parts of the truth but refuses to connect the dots. 

The point is—as I hope is obvious to you by now—narrow-mindedness is not an ideal alternative to close-mindedness. 

Well, what about open-mindedness? Isn’t it a better alternative?

Is It Better To Be Open-Minded?

It’s understandable to consider open-mindedness—the willingness to consider new ideas and readiness to challenge your existing beliefs—an alternative to close-mindedness because they belong on opposing sides of the mindset spectrum. 

Well, my argument is, while it can be a positive approach, we can take it a step further to circumvent its downsides; yes, it does have them. 

And the reason it matters for us to take those potential blind spots into account is so we don’t end up confused or too flaky in our stance. 

Consider the story of Google and Yahoo!. 

In 1998, during the early years of Google, its founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin tried to sell it to Yahoo! (a then bigger, more popular software company) for 1 million US dollars. 

Yahoo! refused to buy Google. 

The asking price wasn’t the problem; they just didn’t believe in the potential of the new technology. 

And even when Google gained more traction (due to its speed and superior functionality), Larry and Sergey offered their technology yet again to the tech giant, Yahoo! for 5 billion dollars in 2002. 

They bade them down to 3 billion dollars and got No for an answer.

However, today, we can agree this disappointment proved to be a blessing. 

Now, imagine Larry and Sergey were open-minded enough to consider that their technology didn’t have as much potential as Yahoo! had expected. 

Also, imagine if Yahoo! was open-minded enough to consider the potential of Google and bought it when they had the chance. 

This is the paradox you tend to face when you are too open-minded: making decisions becomes a nightmare. 

So, should you consider what is new and be brave enough to see if it works, or stick to what already is working?

Should you be open-minded or close-minded?

The Problem With Being Open-Minded

It is important to understand them—and you should—if you want to avoid the pitfalls of open-mindedness, especially because these problems can be subtle and you lose sight of them while they do their damage.

Here are some of the various problems connected with being open-minded:

Indecision or Confusion

Being open-minded might lead us to hesitate in taking a stance.  

You might evaluate several new ideas but hesitate to adopt them due to indecision. 

Think of it as standing at a buffet with too many choices; you end up hungry because you can’t decide what to eat.

Take Google’s founders: had Larry Page and Sergey Brin gotten lost exploring every possible direction, they might never have built their search engine; they could have had decision-making paralysis. 

They would have delayed or not had a definitive stance at all. 

That may mean a world without Google. 

When you entertain endless possibilities, you risk never choosing any of them. (Weighing options is good, but at some point you must act.)

False Balance

Here’s another perspective: with open-mindedness, you can have intellectual relativism. This means believing ideas are only relative to particular individuals, cultures, or historical contexts, rather than being universal and absolute. 

For example, in some parts of Nigeria, if a child has kerosene poisoning—drinking kerosene (mostly accidentally), leading to bodily harm—their parents give them Pam oil to drink as a home remedy. 

This reportedly worsens the situation; taking them to the hospital is the far better alternative.

But someone open-minded may view this home remedy as not inherently right or wrong. 

“It’s just a different medical approach specific to culture”, they may say. 

However, the truth is, taking the child to the hospital is the absolutely most objective and better thing to do. 

Cognitive Stress

With open-mindedness, where you consider numerous ideas, it’s only a matter of time till your mental energy and attention run out. 

This is common among writers like myself. 

In writing, research is key—something you must do being open-minded—which more often than not leads to information overload. 

Being open-minded to a plethora of ideas can overwhelm you and harm your output; be it writing, or some other thing. 

Vulnerability Through Empathy

A typical open-minded person may want to understand different perspectives, wanting to demonstrate empathy. 

This can make your emotions get the best of you. 

A good example is the George Floyd effect, where the uprising against police brutality may have led to more black neighbourhood violence; an unintended consequence.

Proneness To Manipulation

Being open-minded can make you susceptible to negative influence. Why? Because excessive receptiveness to new ideas can lead to harm and deception.

It’s like leaving all your doors unlocked; while it welcomes friends, it also lets in intruders. Your receptiveness to new ideas, though admirable, may lead you down deceptive paths.

This is exemplary in most mainstream media platforms where the news can be mis/disinformation based on political propaganda. 

In essence, I’m saying open-mindedness has its downsides. 

And even the positives associated with it don’t make it enough on its own. 

So we have to take it a step further…

‘It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out.’ — Carl Sagan

Why Critical Thinking Surpasses All Kinds of Minds—Closed, Narrow, and Open.

When you don’t apply critical thinking, you risk appearing stupid. 

It’s like a “Did you think this through?” moment where someone reacts to your potentially unreasonable decision. 

It should matter to you because you want to ensure your judgments and decision-making are valid. 

Life is difficult enough (in many ways) to want to make things worse whether consciously or not. 

I still vividly remember one day when an idea popped into my head and I shared it on my WhatsApp status. 

My notification popped up and I had three comments on it. 

One was from David Dick, “What’s your source? And is there a study to prove this?” 

The other was from Ifeanyi David, “Careful not to hold ideas from certain authorities as the ultimate truth, Nwanne. Be wary of blind followership.” 

And the last was from my romantic partner, Chidera Nwazunku, “Let’s consider multiple possibilities and perspectives, B.”

They were trying to encourage me to objectively analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information about my ideas to reach logical conclusions; they were trying to make me employ critical thinking. 

Why is critical thinking important?

Cognitive Resilience

With critical thinking, your brain tends to maintain and recover cognitive function in the face of challenges, stressors.

You tend to stand firm on well-founded beliefs. 

It also means you remain flexible enough to adapt new, superior information or arguments.

Evidence Evaluation

Your claims and ideas tend to become fool- and most times, rebuttal-proof when you have critical thinking as you get to ensure they are verified and validated. 

You do so when you ask questions like “What evidence supports this idea?”, “How reliable is this evidence?”, and “Are there alternative explanations?” 

This rigorous evidence-based approach can keep you manipulation-proof.

Recognition of Context

When you have critical thinking, you tend to try to understand the circumstances that surround and factors that influence a particular event, giving you a well-informed perspective. 

You can achieve this when you consider the wide range of factors that can influence your ideas such as historical background, cultural influences, potential biases, religious and/or political rhetorics to name a few. 

When you acknowledge the various factors that come into play, you are better equipped to assess their validity and applicability.

Logical Consistency

You get to check whether new ideas are internally consistent and compatible with other well-established truths when you have critical thinking. 

You do so when you compare the internal components of an idea or a set of accompanying statements, identifying subtle contradictions and nuances within them. 

For example, someone may say “Gen Zs are all so lazy and entitled.” and then say “Uju [who is 22 years old] is such a hardworking and humble girl”.

The statement above is riddled with logical inconsistency which critical thinking would have prevented.

Impact Assessment

Having critical thinking can help you evaluate the potential effects of an idea. 

You tend to not adopt concepts that might seem attractive in theory while harmful in practice. 

And how you do that is when you have a structured process, identifying practical implications and potential consequences of accepting a new idea; considering the first, second, and third-order effects. 

Social and Political Awareness 

Critical thinking helps to not be easily influenced or manipulated by emotional reactions, misinformation, or mere political propaganda. 

You can implement it by engaging in more informed public discourse in social contexts, helping you make decisions influenced by thoughtful analysis rather than sentimentalities.  

Balancing Open-Mindedness

With critical thinking, you’re open-minded but without the risk of getting easily misguided. 

You get to be open to new ideas while also maintaining a healthy skepticism, staying closed to unverified ideas. 

It’s not about closing off to new thoughts but about opening the door with caution, checking what comes through.

Ultimately, critical thinking enables you to optimize your decision-making, problem-solving, and independent thinking. 

The beauty of this solution is you get to make the most of well-established and useful ideas while maintaining intellectual openness which helps you develop better judgment. 

I’m not saying you should be less open to new ideas, but rather be more skilled at processing them; and critical thinking helps you achieve that. 

It helps you avoid extremes (which are often harmful), become flexible, and choose relevant ideas over others (without undermining them).

Consider critical thinking as a type of close-mindedness that doesn’t use a fence but trained discerning security guards, and a type of open-mindedness that doesn’t just allow water to flow in but uses a filter.

It is all about welding control over the door of your mind, being conscious of what goes in and out. 

“Every day, stand guard at the door of your mind.” – Jim Rohn

How Do We Develop Critical Thinking?

At its core, you develop critical thinking by being intentional about your thought process. 

It requires you to be mindful about what claims/ideas you accept as true. You have to cultivate curiosity; be open to constructive criticism; allocate time for reflection, avoid snap judgments; and embrace complexity and nuance.

Developing critical thinking is important because it helps you discern between ideas and improve your decision-making which can have a positive ripple effect in all areas of your life, making it better. 

Imagine you tune in to your favourite news channel and the newscaster reports about climate change being the problem of Africa. You’re curious; is it really? 

You believe it though. 

But why do you believe it? 

Did the newscaster provide evidence compelling enough? 

Is it merely because they are an authority?

Let’s fact-check the claim. 

You look for evidence from credible sources on the internet. Oh, there are indeed opposing claims. 

You have to be open-minded to consider the new information. 

You don’t have to accept them yet though. 

You pause your rebuttal; it mustn’t cloud your judgment. This stage is about understanding the reasoning behind the argument, steelmanning it before critiquing it.

And then, you take it a step further. 

You analyze the argument; you check for logical coherence and fallacious reasoning. You break it down: did they mistake correlation for causation?

Okay, now let’s consider alternatives. 

How does this argument fare against various viewpoints? 

A warning though: you have biases (notably, confirmation bias). You have to be self-aware of them and be willing to adjust your views based on new, compelling evidence. 

That is an example of critical thinking in effect. 

You can engage in critical thinking by making some of the following exercises a lifestyle:

• Reading articles and actively identifying logical fallacies.
• Discussing complex topics with others who will challenge your thinking. 
• Join debate clubs, forums or idea lab communities (like the Pawns VIP community) where you’re forced to argue from different sides of an issue, which sharpens your ability to see multiple angles.
• Writing out your reasoning on important issues to expose gaps in logic and biases. 
• Engage in activities or puzzles that require you to devise solutions, like chess, coding, or strategy games to build your problem-solving.
• Attend workshops and seminars where they teach critical thinking.
• Leverage online resources that promote critical thinking through websites, social media, and podcasts. 

Like a muscle that strengthens with regular exercise, your critical thinking skill improves with practice; it is a lifelong continuous learning journey—not a destination—that requires patience and consistency. 

You may make mistakes along the way; each error an opportunity to refine your thinking process. 

Understand: Critical thinking entails you acknowledge most conclusions are tentative; they are subject to change in the face of new, scrutinized, and validated evidence. 

So you have to embrace uncertainty to prevent dogmatic thinking while maintaining intellectual rigor. 

Conclusion: Think Critically

You must think critically to perform efficiently, and effectively. 

The importance of considering nuances can’t be over-emphasized yet what’s even more important is the ability to identify and choose an ideal conclusion. 

Given it’s in our nature to be close-minded about some things and open-minded about others—meaning there’s no escaping it—it’s expedient to correctly apply their respective utility through critical thinking.

Will you always get it right with critical thinking? Not always with how complex life can be; the answer though is most likely. 

That’s the goal: to improve. To be closer to the right ideas, perspectives, and approaches. 

It’s not to completely eliminate close-mindedness or to accept everything through reckless open-mindedness but to know when each approach serves you best through critical thinking. 

So the next time you find yourself dismissing an idea outright or accepting something without question, pause and engage your critical thinking skills. 

Your mind is like a door – it shouldn’t be permanently closed or left wide open, but rather equipped with a proper lock and the wisdom to know when to use it.