Research on the science of team science, and interdisciplinary collaboration more generally, makes clear that interpersonal traits such as open-mindedness and humility are essential for successful teamwork (Maglaughlin & Sonnenwald 2005; Boix Mansilla et al. 2016; Park et al. 2024; Vladova et al. 2025). Misra et al. (2015), for example, emphasize the importance of attitudes such as “willingness to invest time in learning about fields other than one’s own” when it comes to doing transdisciplinary work — part of a larger disposition they call ‘transdisciplinary orientation’. Such intrapersonal characteristics are often construed in terms of intellectual virtues, which tend to be viewed as ingrained character traits that facilitate effective knowledge exchange (Dunne and Kotsonis 2025; Vanney and Sáenz 2022; Vanney et al. 2023; Vanney et al. 2024). It seems clear that such individual traits would be necessary for productively engaging with others. However, we ought to ask: which others? What and who are open-minded people open to, exactly? Take scientists Neil deGrasse Tyson and Stephen Hawking, for instance. Both are certainly open-minded in lots of ways, yet both have made denigrating comments about philosophy, demonstrating a lack of openness to drawing on philosophy’s insights to improve science (De Haro 2020; Plaisance et al. 2026). The lesson? We ought to be careful about treating these characteristics as all-encompassing rather than context specific.

We propose that accounts of intrapersonal factors in team science success can be improved by drawing on the concept of mindsets—i.e., the attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions that shape how we perceive the world and act within it (Dweck 2008; 2017). Psychological research shows that mindsets significantly influence behavior; for example, people with a fixed mindset believe intelligence is relatively unchangeable and are less likely to risk failure, while those with a growth mindset believe one can improve their intelligence and thus seek out challenges from which they can grow (Dweck 2008; Dweck & Yeager 2019). Importantly, though, mindsets are context- and domain-specific and can change over time (Elliott-Moskwa 2022; Kyler and Moscicki 2024). Mindsets also include one’s beliefs—about oneself, others, and the world around them—which are also consequential for team science. For instance, if teams want to leverage and integrate diverse perspectives, individuals must first recognize the value of diversity (Hentschel et al. 2013; Shemla et al. 2014). In interdisciplinary contexts, beliefs about the nature of knowledge can affect individuals’ openness to working across disciplines: Albert et al. (2008; 2016) examined biomedical scientists’ receptivity to collaborating with social scientists, showing that receptivity was correlated with a wider conception of what counts as science and a belief that science cannot be completely bias-free. Similarly, Doody and Plaisance (2025) found that scientists and engineers who had collaborated with philosophers held a broader view of what constitutes ‘good’ science compared with disciplinary peers. This work suggests that mindsets are likely to be a key factor in fruitfully engaging in interdisciplinary team science and ought to be incorporated into accounts of what it takes to ensure collaborative success.