Question
Are people better at making observations, discoveries, and decisions if they remain neutral and impartial? Why or why not?
Answer
In a limited sense, yes. If you are talking about creative observations, decisions and discoveries in the sense of scientific work.
A better phrase is "open minded." In negotiations for example, when the parties go in with the expectation that new ideas will be discovered through debate, more creative outcomes are generally created (there is some early work by Axelrod on this, don't know if there has been much follow up).
"Neutral and impartial" (usually shortened to just 'disinterested') really doesn't mean anything outside of legal/financial contexts (there, it simply means somebody who has no obvious conflict of interest or financial interest in a specific outcome; this is obviously an imperfect condition, since you cannot possibly eliminate all possible biases and prejudices).
In cognitive psychology terms, there is always some sort of mental model at work, with its biases and predispositions. The best you can expect is that the person isn't married to that mental model and is open to changing it if new ideas are presented. You cannot expect neutrality and impartiality in the sense of a blank slate.
There are also obviously situations where the reverse is true. For example, entrepreneurs would do better to be somewhat non-neutral. An optimism bias helps. Parents looking to protect their children might do well to have a pessimism bias. Lions looking for lunch will make better hunting decisions if they aren't neutral about whether or not it is good to eat gazelles.
A better phrase is "open minded." In negotiations for example, when the parties go in with the expectation that new ideas will be discovered through debate, more creative outcomes are generally created (there is some early work by Axelrod on this, don't know if there has been much follow up).
"Neutral and impartial" (usually shortened to just 'disinterested') really doesn't mean anything outside of legal/financial contexts (there, it simply means somebody who has no obvious conflict of interest or financial interest in a specific outcome; this is obviously an imperfect condition, since you cannot possibly eliminate all possible biases and prejudices).
In cognitive psychology terms, there is always some sort of mental model at work, with its biases and predispositions. The best you can expect is that the person isn't married to that mental model and is open to changing it if new ideas are presented. You cannot expect neutrality and impartiality in the sense of a blank slate.
There are also obviously situations where the reverse is true. For example, entrepreneurs would do better to be somewhat non-neutral. An optimism bias helps. Parents looking to protect their children might do well to have a pessimism bias. Lions looking for lunch will make better hunting decisions if they aren't neutral about whether or not it is good to eat gazelles.