Chapter 40 - Intelligence and Wisdom

Summary

Age trajectories, antecedents, and plasticity of general and personal wisdom are discussed with a focus on the relationship between wisdom and intelligence. Most empirical research on wisdom in psychology so far has focused on further elaboration of the definition of wisdom. Moving beyond dictionary definitions of wisdom, research explored the nature of everyday beliefs, folk conceptions, or implicit (subjective) theories of wisdom. Despite differences, five features can be identified that are common to how people across different cultures view wisdom, wise people, and wise acts. The various lines of work can be subsumed under two main headings, namely, personal wisdom, on the one hand, and general wisdom, on the other. This distinction is loosely related to the philosophical separation between the ontology of the first and the third person. The exploration of wisdom as a metaheuristic aimed at orchestrating mind and virtue toward human excellence.