What is a person who changes his mind?

A2A on Quora:  ​What is a person who changes his mind?

Someone who is open to considering new information and evidence and altering their opinion based on that. In other words, a critical thinker.

Changing one’s mind has a bad reputation. We ridicule politicians as “flip-floppers” for doing this. We over-value the idea that one should stick to their beliefs regardless. I’ve had students tell me that there are certain opinions they will believe no matter what. Presumably, that includes evidence that clearly shows their opinion to be wrong.

An interesting perspective on this is offered by Adam Grant in his book Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know, where he says:

“Who you are should be a question of what you value, not what you believe. Values are your core principles in life–they might be excellence and generosity, freedom and fairness, or security and integrity. Basing your identity on these kinds of principles enables you to remain open-minded about the best ways to advance them. You want the doctor whose identity is protecting health, the teacher whose identity is helping students learn, and the police chief whose identity is promoting safety and justice. When they define themselves by values rather than opinion, they buy themselves the flexibility to update their practices in light of new evidence.”
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We should encourage people to update their views and practices in light of new evidence. If someone is not doing this, it means they are not learning anything new.