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
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.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Klitgaard, R., & Gardner, H. (1984) · Journal of Policy Analysis and Management · doi:10.2307/3324560 · Cited by 13,636
The psychology of interpersonal relations.
Heider, F. (1958) · doi:10.1037/10628-000 · Cited by 13,457
The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations.
Newcomb, T., & Heider, F. (1958) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/2089062 · Cited by 11,822
Salovey, P., & Mayer, J. D. (1990) · Imagination, Cognition and Personality · doi:10.2190/dugg-p24e-52wk-6cdg · Cited by 10,484
Ryle, G. (2006) · Theories of Mind · doi:10.5040/9798216413257.ch-2 · Cited by 6,809
Handbook of socialization theory and research
Grusec, J. E., & Hastings, P. D. (2007) · Cited by 5,003
Cognitive representations of semantic categories.
Rosch, E. H. (1975) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037//0096-3445.104.3.192 · Cited by 4,756
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children
(2018) · The SAGE Encyclopedia of Intellectual and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.4135/9781483392271.n537 · Cited by 4,109
Handbook of socialization: theory and research
(2007) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.45-0345 · Cited by 3,352
The Psychology Of Intelligence
Piaget, J. (2005) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203981528 · Cited by 3,003
Cited by
Life Span Theory in Developmental Psychology
Baltes, P. B., Lindenberger, U., & Staudinger, U. M. (2007) · Handbook of Child Psychology · doi:10.1002/9780470147658.chpsy0111 · Cited by 1,240
Niche construction, biological evolution, and cultural change
Laland, K. N., Odling-Smee, J., & Feldman, M. W. (2000) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00002417 · Cited by 1,103
Empirical Assessment of a Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale
Ardelt, M. (2003) · Research on Aging · doi:10.1177/0164027503025003004 · Cited by 765
Wisdom, Intelligence, and Creativity Synthesized
Sternberg, R. J. (2003) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511509612 · Cited by 758
Self-citationToo Much of a Good Thing: The Challenge and Opportunity of the Inverted U
Grant, A. M., & Schwartz, B. (2011) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691610393523 · Cited by 668
Metadata
- Authors
- Sternberg, R. J.
- Venue
- Review of General Psychology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- 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
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- 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.