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Chapter 4 - Psychological Theories of Wisdom

from Part I - Introduction to Wisdom Theory and Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2022

By
Robert J. Sternberg ,
Judith Glück  and
Sareh Karami
Edited by
Robert J. Sternberg  and
Judith Glück
Robert J. Sternberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Judith Glück
Affiliation:
Universität Klagenfurt, Austria
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Summary

This chapter reviews psychological theories of wisdom. At a global level, the chapter is divided into two main parts. The first part of the chapter reviews the major theories. The chapter opens with a brief consideration of work on implicit theories of wisdom that may have motivated some of the work on explicit theories. The chapter then reviews explicit psychological theories, in particular, the Berlin wisdom model, Sternberg’s balance theory, Ardelt’s three-dimensional model, Webster H.E.R.O.(E) model, Levenson and Aldwin’s self-transcendence model, Karami and colleagues’ polyhedron model, and Grossmann and colleagues’ common-denominator model. The second part of the chapter seeks to place the various theories into a general theoretical framework, which Sternberg and Karami referred to as a 6P framework, expanding upon Rhodes’s 4P framework for creativity. The 6Ps are purpose, press, problem, person, process, and product. All of the wisdom theories can be viewed as dealing with some, but not all of the 6Ps. The final part of the chapter draws brief conclusions, pointing out that wisdom is extremely important to society today and that psychological theories can help us understand what wisdom is and what its place in society can and should be.

Keywords

wisdomBerlin wisdom modelbalance theory of wisdomArdelt three-dimensional model of wisdomWebster H.E.R.O.(E). model of wisdomLevenson and Aldwin self-transcendence model of wisdomGrossmann et al. common denominator model of wisdomKarami et al. polyhedron model of wisdom
Type
Chapter
Information
The Psychology of Wisdom
An Introduction
 , pp. 53 - 69
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

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