People With Extremely Small Minds Usually Say 7 Phrases In Casual Conversation
Epic-film | ShutterstockPeople with small minds refuse to hear anyone out who disagrees with them. They're also not afraid to assert their opinions without any facts to back them up.
When people close themselves off to new information like this, their personal relationships and society as a whole suffer. Anyone who wants to avoid that toxicity can listen for certain phrases that serve as red flags.
When someone has an extremely small mind, they aren't shy about saying these phrases in social situations:
1. ‘Everybody knows that’
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There are some things that everybody really does know, but people with a small mind probably aren’t talking about the grass being green when they use this phrase. Instead, they’re trying to justify their refusal to change their mind by making the other person look wrong.
Because of the illusory truth effect, our brains cling to the things we hear over and over again until we believe them, even if we know it’s not true. This can make it look like information really is legit based on public opinion.
That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to the facts. But someone who’s small-minded will just stick to whatever they think is true instead of learning more.
2. ‘I don’t need to see the evidence’
Some people seem to be particularly skilled at ignoring the facts, whether that means they refute them or they don’t even take a look in the first place. That presents a pretty obvious problem, but we all do it sometimes without even realizing it.
Everyone is susceptible to falling for confirmation bias, which means they pick and choose what information they accept based on whether it backs up what they already believe. This is an even bigger issue when someone is small-minded because they won’t even be willing to consider there could be another piece to the puzzle that they’re missing.
3. ‘You’re overthinking it’
Someone with a small mind might accuse anyone who thinks differently than they do of thinking too much. This is really their way of saying that if the other person doesn’t agree with them, they would feel better if they didn’t think at all.
The human brain is wired to use rigidity as a coping mechanism. When someone is presented with too much information, they just don’t process all of it because it would be overwhelming. Some people choose to use this when they’re confronted with a different opinion, though. That’s when it becomes a problem that’s very familiar to narrow-minded people.
4. ‘I know that I’m right’
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It’s pretty awkward when someone insists they’re right when they’re obviously not. One of the biggest reasons that people do this is because they have such low self-esteem that being wrong feels like a threat to them.
No one can make it through life without ever being wrong, but living in such a deeply divided culture makes it harder to admit when that’s true. Being small-minded makes it even worse because that kind of person doesn’t really care about the facts.
5. ‘My mind is already made up’
This is one of those frustrating phrases people use when they aren’t open to new ideas. Someone could tell them the most logical thing in the world, but it wouldn’t matter because they’ve pretty much shut their mind down so nothing new can get in.
Being willing to listen to new ideas is actually part of openness, which is one of the Big Five personality traits. People with high levels of openness are more creative, and possibly more intelligent. Close-minded people, on the other hand, could easily feel like they’re stuck because they reject things they don’t already know.
6. ‘I shouldn’t have to explain myself’
Believe it or not, it’s not uncommon for small-minded people to have absolutely no evidence to support their views. And, instead of acknowledging that this creates a major problem, they get defensive and claim that there’s no reason for them to have to back up what they know to be true.
It’s easy to see how pride plays into this situation. These people expect everyone else to just take their word for it when they probably aren’t an expert. They know they can’t prove what they believe, but they also refuse to be honest and admit they’re afraid to be wrong.
7. ‘That’s just common sense’
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This kind of phrase is a pretty obvious attempt to shut down a conversation. Some people do this when they feel threatened in a conflict to return to a place of safety.
It’s not always a bad thing, but it usually is for the small-minded crowd. The threat they perceived came from someone getting too close to uncovering how much they don’t know instead of coming from true hurt. They shut down when they don’t have another option, not because they have a problem with conflict.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
