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Cited by 867

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 91 of the 91 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

A Balance Theory of Wisdom

Sternberg, Robert J.·1998·Review of General Psychology

Abstract

The author presents a balance theory of wisdom. First, some alternative approaches to wisdom are reviewed, including philosophical, implicit theoretical, and explicit theoretical ones. Second, the concept of tacit knowledge and its role in wisdom are discussed. Third, a balance theory of wisdom is presented, according to which wisdom is defined as the application of tacit knowledge as mediated by values toward the achievement of a common good through a balance among multiple (a) intrapersonal, (b) interpersonal, and (c) extrapersonal interests in order to achieve a balance among (a) adaptation to existing environments, (b) shaping of existing environments, and (c) selection of new environments. This theory is compared to some other theories, and wisdom as a construct is compared to some other constructs. Measurement issues are also discussed. It is concluded that it might be worthwhile for American society to emphasize development of wisdom in schooling more than it has in the past.

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Crossref · 10.1037/1089-2680.2.4.347

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Metadata

Authors
Sternberg, R. J.
Venue
Review of General Psychology
Published
1998-12
Volume
2
Issue
4
Pages
347-365
ISSN
  • 1089-2680 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1552
OpenAlex
W2064485533
Cited by
867
References
91
FWCI
12.13
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: A Balance Theory of Wisdom. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1037/1089-2680.2.4.347
The paper
Sternberg, R. J. (1998). A Balance Theory of Wisdom. Review of General Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.2.4.347

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.