The DOI matches its Crossref record; 61 of the 63 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Defining and Assessing Wisdom: A Review of the Literature
Open accessAbstract
With increasing longevity and a growing focus on successful aging, there has been a recent growth of research designed to operationalize and assess wisdom. We aimed to (1) investigate the degree of overlap among empirical definitions of wisdom, (2) identify the most commonly cited wisdom subcomponents, (3) examine the psychometric properties of existing assessment instruments, and (4) investigate whether certain assessment procedures work particularly well in tapping the essence of subcomponents of the various empirical definitions. We searched PsychINFO-indexed articles published through May 2012 and their bibliographies. Studies were included if they were published in a peer-reviewed journal and (1) proposed a definition of wisdom or (2) discussed the development or validation of an instrument designed to assess wisdom. Thirty-one articles met inclusion criteria. Despite variability among the 24 reviewed definitions, there was significant overlap. Commonly cited subcomponents of wisdom included knowledge of life, prosocial values, self-understanding, acknowledgment of uncertainty, emotional homeostasis, tolerance, openness, spirituality, and sense of humor. Published reports describing the psychometric properties of nine instruments varied in comprehensiveness but most measures were examined for selected types of reliability and validity, which were generally acceptable. Given limitations of self-report procedures, an approach integrating multiple indices (e.g., self-report and performance-based measures) may better capture wisdom. Significant progress in the empirical study of wisdom has occurred over the past four decades; however, much needs to be done. Future studies with larger, more diverse samples are needed to determine the generalizability, usefulness, and clinical applicability of these definitions and assessment instruments. Such work will have relevance for the fields of geriatrics, psychiatry, psychology, sociology, education, and public health, among others.
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“Executive functioning is also an ability, like semantic memory, that can be less affected by aging than other ability domains such as processing speed. 60”
From Domains of cognition and their assessment (2019) · cites this paper as [60]
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Cites
Kahn, R. L. (1998) · Cited by 4,295
Wisdom: A metaheuristic (pragmatic) to orchestrate mind and virtue toward excellence.
Baltes, P. B., & Staudinger, U. M. (2000) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.55.1.122 · Cited by 1,441
Sternberg, R. J. (1998) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/1089-2680.2.4.347 · Cited by 946
Hayes, S. C., Villatte, M., Levin, M., & Hildebrandt, M. (2011) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032210-104449 · Cited by 800
Empirical Assessment of a Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale
Ardelt, M. (2003) · Research on Aging · doi:10.1177/0164027503025003004 · Cited by 765
Psychological Wisdom Research: Commonalities and Differences in a Growing Field
Staudinger, U. M., & Glück, J. (2010) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.121208.131659 · Cited by 534
Reflective judgment: Concepts of justification and their relationship to age and education
Kitchener, K. S., & King, P. M. (1981) · Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/0193-3973(81)90032-0 · Cited by 532
Ardelt, M. (2004) · Human Development · doi:10.1159/000079154 · Cited by 516
Wisdom: Its Nature, Origins, and Development
Sternberg, R. J. (1990) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 489
Self-Transcendence: Conceptualization and Measurement
Levenson, M. R., Jennings, P. A., Aldwin, C. M., & Shiraishi, R. W. (2005) · The International Journal of Aging and Human Development · doi:10.2190/xrxm-fyra-7u0x-grc0 · Cited by 454
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Kekes, 1983, Wisdom, Am Philos Q, 20, 277
- Olejnik, 1999, Wisdom as value orientation: a cross sectional study with a person-oriented approach, Polish Psychol Bull, 30, 99
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Domains of cognition and their assessment
Harvey, P. D. (2019) · Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience · doi:10.31887/dcns.2019.21.3/pharvey · Cited by 695
The Science of Wisdom in a Polarized World: Knowns and Unknowns
Grossmann, I., Weststrate, N. M., Ardelt, M., Brienza, J. P., Dong, M., Ferrari, M., Fournier, M. A., Hu, C. S., Nusbaum, H. C., & Vervaeke, J. (2020) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1080/1047840x.2020.1750917 · Cited by 330
Grossmann, I. (2017) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691616672066 · Cited by 306
Jeste, D. V., Palmer, B. W., Rettew, D. C., & Boardman, S. (2015) · The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry · doi:10.4088/jcp.14nr09599 · Cited by 256
Self-citationWisdom, bias, and balance: Toward a process-sensitive measurement of wisdom-related cognition.
Brienza, J. P., Kung, F. Y. H., Santos, H. C., Bobocel, D. R., & Grossmann, I. (2018) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspp0000171 · Cited by 235
Metadata
- Authors
- Bangen, K. J., Meeks, T. W., & Jeste, D. V.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Venue
- The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-12
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1254-1266
- ISSN
- 1064-7481 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3896261
- OpenAlex
- W1986430855
- Cited by
- 275
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 1.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (acceptedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (T32 MH 19934-17, P30 MH080002, NCRS UL1RR031980)
- Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Keywords
- wisdom, psychometric properties, knowledge of life, prosocial values, self-understanding, emotional homeostasis, tolerance, openness, spirituality, sense of humor, successful aging, self-report measures, performance-based measures
- MeSH terms
- Aging, Cognition, Humans, Psychometrics, Knowledge
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