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📖 Lesson

Wisdom (Continued)

PSY409 - Positive Psychology

Wisdom 🦉 (Continued) 🧠✨

🎯 Objectives

  • Understanding 🧠 implicit theories 💭 of wisdom 🦉 📚
  • Understanding 🧠 explicit theories 🔬 of wisdom 🦉 📊
  • Understanding 🧠 the importance ⭐ of wisdom 🦉 in current times 🌍⚡

💭 Implicit Theories 📝 of Wisdom 🦉

Implicit theories 💭 describe the basic elements 🧩 of the construct 🏗️. Clayton's (1975 📚) dissertation study 📊 was one of the first systematic examinations 🔍 of the wisdom 🦉 construct.

She had people 👥 rate 📊 similarities 🔗 between pairs of words 📝 believed to be associated with wisdom 🦉:

  • Empathic 💕❤️
  • Experienced 💼📅
  • Intelligent 🧠💡
  • Introspective 🪞💭
  • Intuitive ✨🌟
  • Knowledgeable 📚🧠
  • Observant 👀🔍

Through multidimensional scaling 📊, she identified 🔍 three dimensions 📋 of wisdom 🦉:

📊 Three Dimensions of Wisdom 🦉 (Clayton, 1975 📚)

  1. Affective 💕 - Empathy 🤗 & Compassion ❤️
  2. Reflective 🪞 - Intuition ✨ & Introspection 💭
  3. Cognitive 🧠 - Experience 💼 & Intelligence 💡📚

📜 Wisdom 🦉 in Cultural 🌍 & Historical 📅 Writings ✍️

Baltes (1993 📚) analyzed 🔍 cultural-historical 🌍 and philosophical 🧔 writings 📜 and found that wisdom 🦉:

  1. Addresses 🎯 important ⭐/difficult 💪 matters of life 🌿💫
  2. Involves special ✨ or superior knowledge 📚, judgment ⚖️, and advice 💡🏆
  3. Reflects knowledge 📚 with extraordinary scope 🌐, depth 📊, and balanced ⚖️ applicable to specific life situations 🌟
  4. Is well intended ❤️ and combines mind 🧠 and virtue 💎
  5. Is very difficult 💪 to achieve 🏆 but easily recognized 👀💎

🔬 Explicit Theories 📊 of Wisdom 🦉

Although informed 📚 by implicit theories 💭, explicit theories 🔬 of wisdom 🦉 focus more on behavioral manifestations 🎯👀 of the construct. Explicit theories 📊 are intertwined with decades-old 📅 theories 💭 of personality 👤 (Erikson, 1959 📚) and cognitive 🧠 development 🌱 (Piaget, 1932).

📈 Stage Theories 📚

In his stage theory 📊 of cognitive 🧠 development 🌱, Jean Piaget 👨‍🔬 (1932 📚) describes qualitatively different kinds of thinking 💭 during childhood 👶:

Stage � Description 📝 Age Range 📅
Sensorimotor 👶👀 World 🌍 experienced through sensing 👀 and doing ✋ 0-2 years 👶
Preoperational 🎭💭 World 🌍 framed in symbolic thought 💭✨ 2-7 years 👧
Concrete Operations 🧱🧩 Experience 💼 understood through logical thought 🧠💡 7-12 years 👦
Formal Operations 🧠🔬 Ability 💪 to reason 🧠 by systematically testing hypotheses 🧪 12+ years 🧑

Riegel (1973 📚) built 🏗️ on Piaget's work 📊 and considered postformal operational thinking 🧠 referred to as the dialectical operations stage 🔄 or, more simply, wisdom 🦉.✨

Dialectical operations ⚖️ (logical argumentation 💬 in pursuit 🎯 of truth ✅ or reality 🌍) associated with wisdom 🦉 involve:

  • Reflective thinking 🪞💭 that attends to balance ⚖️ of information 📊
  • Truth ✅ that evolves 🌱 in cultural 🌍 and historical 📅 context 📜
  • Integration 🔗 of opposing ↔️ points of view 👀🤝
  • Dual use ⚖️ of logical 🧠 AND subjective ❤️ processing of information 📊
  • Integration 🔗 of motivation 💪 and life experiences 🌿🌟

🌱 Life Span Theories 📚

Life-span theorists 👨‍🔬 (e.g., Erikson, 1959 📚) view wisdom 🦉 as part of optimal development 🌟📈. For Erikson 👨‍🔬, wisdom 🦉 reflects a maturity 🏆 in which concerns ❤️ for the collective good 👥 transcend personal interests 👤.

In Orwoll's (1989 📚) study 📊 of people 👥 nominated as wise 🦉, this Eriksonian integrity ⚖️ was accompanied by elevated concerns ❤️ for the collective good 👥💕.

⚖️ Balance 🧠 & Berlin Theories 📚

Both Sternberg's balance theory ⚖️ and Baltes's Berlin wisdom paradigm 🏢 emphasize 🎯 the organization 📋 and application 🛠️ of pragmatic knowledge 📚. Both views 👀 propose that wise 🦉 people:

  1. Can discern 👀 views of others 👥🧠
  2. Develop 🌱 a rich understanding 💡 of the world 🌍
  3. Craft 🛠️ meaningful solutions 💡 to difficult problems 🧩🎯
  4. Direct 🎯 their actions 🏃 toward achieving a common good 🤝🌟

📊 Robert Sternberg's Balance Theory ⚖️

Yale psychologist 🎓 Robert Sternberg 👨‍🔬 built 🏗️ on his previous work 💼 on intelligence 🧠 and creativity 🎨 and proposed the balance theory ⚖️ of wisdom 🦉.

The balance theory ⚖️ specifies "the processes ⚙️ (balancing ⚖️ of interests 🎯 and of responses 💬 to environmental contexts 🌍) in relation to the goal 🎯 of wisdom 🦉 (achievement 🏆 of a common good 🤝)."

— Sternberg, 1998 📚

Sternberg 👨‍🔬 theorized that tacit knowledge 📚 underlying practical intelligence 🧠 ("knowing how 🛠️" rather than "knowing what 📝") is used in balancing ⚖️ self-and-other interests 👤👥 within the environmental context 🌍 to achieve a common good 🤝.

Wisdom 🦉 defined: The willingness 💪 to use one's skills 🛠️ and knowledge 📚 in the most valid ✅ and accurate 🎯 manner possible. ✨

🏛️ Berlin Wisdom Paradigm (Baltes, 1990)

In the Berlin wisdom paradigm, Baltes and colleagues define wisdom as: 📚

"The ways and means of planning, meaning, and understanding a good life." 🌟

Simply stated: "Wisdom is an expertise in conduct and meaning of life." 🦉💎

📋 Five Criteria Characterizing Wisdom (Baltes)

  1. Factual Knowledge 📚: Knowledge about topics such as human nature and development, individual differences, social relations and norms, etc.
  2. Procedural Knowledge 🔧: Developing strategies for dealing with problems, giving advice, resolving life conflicts, and overcoming obstacles.
  3. Life-span Conceptualism 📅: Considering contexts of life (love, work, play), cultural values and the passage of time when reviewing problems.
  4. Relativism of Values ⚖️: Placing value differences across people and societies in perspective.
  5. Managing Uncertainty ❓: Providing decision-making flexibility necessary for processing difficult information and coming up with appropriate solutions.

To determine the quality of wisdom, Baltes challenges people with questions about resolving real-life problems. 🎯🤔 Responses are transcribed and rated according to the five criteria. 📊✅

🌍 Why Wisdom 🦉 is Especially Important ⭐ in Current Times ⏰

Humans 👥 have made enormous strides 🚀 in technology 💻, including destructive technology 💣, without corresponding advances 📈 in wisdom 🦉 with regard to the uses 🛠️ of this technology ⚙️. 🔬

This mismatch ⚠️ between the development 🌱 of technology 💻 and the lack ❌ of development 📉 of wisdom 🦉 places the world 🌍 at enormous risk 🚨! 💥

📖 References

  • Snyder, C.R., & Lopez, S.J. (2007). Positive Psychology. London: Sage Publications (pp. 210-217). 📕