Old age is not always linked to wisdom, because relatively young people, having experienced difficult situations, can be wiser than their elders.
- Age does not necessarily guarantee a person’s wisdom, according to Judith Glück, professor of developmental psychology.
- For her, wisdom also comes from individual experiences, life contexts and psychosocial resources.
- Wisdom can also diminish with age as the abilities it requires decline.
No, getting older does not necessarily make us wiser, according to the work of Judith Glück, professor of developmental psychology, published in the journal Current Opinion in Psychology. In it, she challenges the belief that older people are necessarily blessed with greater wisdom. “Accumulated life experience is an important foundation of wisdom, but not all very wise people are old and many old people are not particularly wise”, explains the researcher.
Wisdom: take into account several factors when faced with a problem
Wisdom is defined as a resource for facing challenges. According to PsyPostcognitive models of wisdom describe it “such as awareness of uncertainty and diverse perspectives”, like unpredictability, the limits of one’s knowledge…
An American psychologist, Robert Sternberg, also worked on this notion. He believes that responding to a problem wisely means taking several factors into account: “divergent intra-individual, inter-individual and extra-individual interests, as well as short- and long-term outcomes, with the overall goal of maximizing the common good”.
Wisdom also comes from individual experiences or life contexts
In her article, Judith Glück uses these previous definitions to study wisdom. It is also based on the various works carried out over the past thirty years on this subject. For her, more data is needed, but she still manages to draw some conclusions.
For her, wisdom can come from age, but not only that. It is also acquired through individual experiences, life contexts and psychosocial resources. Another, more surprising conclusion: wisdom could decline with age because the skills it requires – regulation of emotions in sometimes stressful moments or the ability to solve problems – can decline with age.
“It is important to know more about how wisdom develops and how to foster its development, not only to improve the well-being of individuals, but also to increase the chances of survival of humanity”, concludes Judith Glück.
