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My point of view clearly influenced her thinking. I had no idea she was a * (person who will fairly evaluate points of view that conflict with her own).

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    "My point of view clearly influenced her thinking" is totally against the title idea or parenthesis. Can you clarify (reword)?
    – Mitch
    Jan 18, 2016 at 23:26

9 Answers 9

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objective:

not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/objective?s=t

I had no idea she was an objective person.

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  • This was my first thought too. My second thought was whether all influence is objective - is it possible to influence another person without being objective? Likes, preferences, and propaganda would seem to do that. I am not saying the answer is wrong by any means, but I am very curious what others think.
    – Roaring Fish
    Jan 18, 2016 at 3:52
  • @RoaringFish: You mention fair evaluation in your question. An assessment can't be fair when it results from brainwashing. A person who allows themselves to be brainwashed is "gullible."
    – Ricky
    Jan 18, 2016 at 3:57
  • FYI it is not my question, and everybody thinks everybody else is brainwashed but never themselves. My point, however, is that not all influence is objective. Do you prefer tea or coffee? Why? Was it an objective choice you made after looking at facts, or is the result of your family or cultures influence? It the latter, then couldn't you argue that you have been open to somebody else's point of view, but not objective? Or choosing colours. You may decide to agree with your wife's choice instead of your own, but there are no objective facts to point to.
    – Roaring Fish
    Jan 18, 2016 at 4:05
  • @RoaringFish: it is not my question Oops. My apologies. Do you prefer tea or coffee? Why? Coffee, of course. Tea is for sissies.
    – Ricky
    Jan 18, 2016 at 4:09
  • There is no such thing as an objective person.
    – Jasper
    Jan 19, 2016 at 8:55
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Conflicting points of view are best weighed by someone who is

impartial
imˈpärSHəl

adjective

treating all rivals or disputants equally; fair and just.

"independent and impartial advice"

synonyms: unbiased, unprejudiced, neutral, nonpartisan, nondiscriminatory, disinterested, detached, dispassionate, objective, open-minded, equitable, evenhanded, fair, fair-minded, just;

google.com

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  • @JEL I think the question is borderline on-topic. I believe I am one of the fastest close-voters in EL&U, but I hesitated. Users do have different view and style. For SWR questions, there is nothing much you can do when posting an answer.
    – user140086
    Jan 18, 2016 at 5:55
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    I would say impartial would apply when deciding between the proposals of others, but doesn't sufficiently have the OP's connotations of being willing to change one's own mind (to me, open-minded or possibly objective do this better).
    – TripeHound
    Jan 18, 2016 at 12:59
  • One who won't change his own mind regardless is doing that out of fear. That is an emotion. One who thinks without letting emotions interfere is a stoic.
    – Christiaan Westerbeek
    Jan 18, 2016 at 20:12
  • British impartiality can mean being non-judgemental when you have one group of foreigners with swords attacking another group of foreigners defending themselves. It's morally blind and far from reasonable. British do "impartial", americans do right and wrong.
    – barlop
    Jan 18, 2016 at 23:56
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open-minded [oh-puh n-mahyn-did]

adjective

1. having or showing a mind receptive to new ideas or arguments.

2. unprejudiced; unbigoted; impartial.

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I'm personally favorably inclined to dispassionate. "dis·pas·sion·ate /disˈpaSH(ə)nət/ adjective not influenced by strong emotion, and so able to be rational and impartial."

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unbiased: showing no prejudice for or against something; impartial.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/unbiased

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A 'listener' might be as far as I'd want to go with the context you provided:

  1. listener - someone who listens attentively.

[listener. (n.d.) WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. (2003-2008). Retrieved January 18 2016 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/listener .]

You can tell she's a listener, because she heard what you said and evidenced hearing you by taking what you said into account.

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  • Interesting -- listening taken literally doesn't necessarily seem to imply that what's been heard is considered; but there are clearly uses of "listen" which indeed mean that: "You asked -- we listened." Not sure whether it applies to [good] listener though; for me that's still somebody who just doesn't interrupt you much. An example could be a priest with firm convictions who still sees it as his supreme duty to listen to the sorrows of members of his congregation.
    – Peter - Reinstate Monica
    Jan 18, 2016 at 10:57
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In political or public policy debates, the term honest broker is sometimes used for the kind of person you describe. The term isn't appropriate for the specific sentence you provided, as it is used more for someone serving in the role of mediator or advisor, but I thought I'd add it to the mix in case you might find it useful. Here's an example:

According to Pielke, “The honest broker of policy alternatives engages in decision-making by clarifying and, at times, seeking to expand the scope of choices available to decision-makers.” In this model, a group of experts attempts to identify and contextualize a broad menu of potential policy options to solve a problem. This differs from issue advocates, who only discuss their favored options rather than a broader portfolio.

Roger Pielke, Jr., mentioned in the quote above, is the author of a book called The Honest Broker: Making Sense of Science in Policy and Politics in which he discusses various roles for scientists to play in public policy debates, including that of Honest Broker or other roles, such as Issue Advocate.

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disinterested (not the same as uninterested)

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    Welcome to ELU. Your answer would be improved if you expanded a little on why you think this, citing references where possible, and capitalise and punctuate it correctly.
    – Brian Hooper
    Jan 18, 2016 at 20:07
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The quote "genius is the ability to hold two opposing views in your mind and believe both" is just a fun answer.

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  • One of my favorite quotes. "The sign of a first rate intellect is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time and still function." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
    – jkdev
    Jan 19, 2016 at 6:16
  • This is an impressive site with many rapid, high-quality responses. The recommended words come close to what I was looking for. What’s missing is specificity; it’s not uncommon for people to be considered fair-minded, but it is uncommon to really consider opposing viewpoints about emotional issues. The word I'm looking for implies a willingness to let go of emotionally held views when faced with contrary evidence. Could someone make up the word I want?
    – Art
    Jan 19, 2016 at 23:52
  • How about "Vulcan"? :)
    – Bill Horvath
    Jan 20, 2016 at 18:43

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