From personal striving to positive influence: Exploring wisdom in real-life contexts

Abstract

People manifest wisdom in real-life contexts through events in their own lives (Baltes & Smith, 1990; Kramer, 1990; 2000; Sternberg, 2007; Yang, 2008b). The ability to manifest wisdom is also developed through real-life learning. To understand wisdom, we must therefore examine wisdom as it is manifested real-life context. This chapter defines wisdom as a real-life process that is manifested when a person integrates conflicting ideas, and embodies those integrated ideas in actions that generate positive effects for oneself and others. It proposes an approach to real-life studies of wisdom in four parts. The first part provides theoretical arguments for studying wisdom in real life. The second part discusses some of the methodological issues encountered in real-life wisdom studies. The third part presents the findings of some recent studies of wisdom in real-life contexts. The fourth part discusses future directions for this branch of wisdom studies.