Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T01:19:34.177Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

23 - The Mirror of Wisdom

Self-Reflection as a Developmental Precursor and Core Competency of Wise People

from Part VI - Wisdom and Other Psychological Constructs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2019

By
Nic M. Weststrate
Edited by
Robert J. Sternberg  and
Judith Glück
Robert J. Sternberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Judith Glück
Affiliation:
Universität Klagenfurt, Austria
Get access

Summary

It is widely believed that individuals gain wisdom by reflecting on significant life experiences. Yet, scientific inquiry into this developmental process is rather sparse, and as a result, the mechanisms through which wisdom is constructed from past experience remain unclear. To shed light on this issue, this chapter first reviews the role of self-reflection in layperson and expert conceptions of wisdom. Next it reviews a small collection of research on empirical associations between self-reflection and wisdom. This review shows that wise people differ from others primarily in terms of why and how they reflect on the personal past, rather than how much they reflect. Compared to others, wise people engage in an exploratory, self-critical, and non-defensive mode of self-reflective processing that is aimed at deepening their self-insight and fostering a more complex and realistic understanding of human life and how to live well.
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Wisdom , pp. 500 - 518
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, J. M., Dunlop, W. L., Fivush, R., Lilgendahl, J. P., Lodi-Smith, J., McAdams, D. P., et al. (2017). Research methods for studying narrative identity: A primer. Social Psychological and Personality Science, online advance publication.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adler, J. M., Lodi-Smith, J., Philippe, F. L., & Houle, I. (2016). The incremental validity of narrative identity in predicting well-being: A review of the field and recommendations for the future. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 20, 142–75. doi: 10.1177/1088868315585068CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Albertini, T. (2011). Charles de Bovelles’ enigmatic Liber de Sapiente: A heroic notion of wisdom. Intellectual History Review, 21, 297–306. doi: 10.1080/174969 77.2011.598277CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ardelt, M. (2003). Empirical assessment of a three-dimensional wisdom scale. Research on Aging, 25, 275–324. doi: 10.1177/0164027503025003004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ardelt, M. (2005). How wise people cope with crises and obstacles in life. ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation, 28, 7–19. doi: 10.3200/REVN.28.1.7-19CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arlin, P. K. (1990). Wisdom: The art of problem finding. In Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.), Wisdom: Its nature, origins and development (pp. 212–29). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Baerger, D. R., & McAdams, D. P. (1999). Life story coherence and its relation to psychological well-being. Narrative Inquiry, 9, 69–96. doi: 10.1075/ni.9.1.05baeCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baltes, P. B., & Staudinger, U. M. (2000). Wisdom: A metaheuristic (pragmatic) to orchestrate mind and virtue toward excellence. American Psychologist, 55, 122–36. doi: 10.1037//0003-066X.55.1.122CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beitel, M., Ferrer, E., & Cecero, J. J. (2005). Psychological mindedness and awareness of self and others. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61, 739–50. doi: 10.1002/jclp.20095CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Block, J. (1982). Assimilation, accommodation, and the dynamics of personality development. Child Development, 53, 281–95. doi: 10.2307/1128971CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bluck, S., & Alea, N. (2011). Crafting the TALE: Construction of a measure to assess the functions of autobiographical remembering. Memory, 19, 470–86. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2011.590500CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bluck, S., & Glück, J. (2004). Making things better and learning a lesson: Experiencing wisdom across the lifespan. Journal of Personality, 72, 543–72. doi: 10.1111/ j.0022-3506.2004.00272.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bluck, S., & Glück, J. (2005). From the inside out: People's implicit theories of wisdom. In Sternberg, R. J. & Jordan, J. (Eds.), A handbook of wisdom: Psychological perspectives (pp. 84–109). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, S. C., & Greene, J. A. (2006). The Wisdom Development Scale: Translating the conceptual to the concrete. Journal of College Student Development, 47, 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burnkrant, R. E., & Page, T. J. (1984). A modification of the Fenigstein, Scheier, and Buss Self-Consciousness Scales. Journal of Personality Assessment, 48, 629–37. doi: 10.1207/s15327752jpa4806_10CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Butler, R. N. (1963). The life review: An interpretation of reminiscence in the aged. Psychiatry, 26, 65–70. doi: 0.1080/00332747.1963.11023339CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clayton, V. P., & Birren, J. E. (1980). The development of wisdom across the lifespan: A re-examination of an ancient concept. In Baltes, P. B. & Brim, O. G. (Eds.), Lifespan development and behaviour (Vol. 3, pp. 103–35). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
de Bovelles, C. (1510). Liber de sapiente. Retrieved from: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54246t/f235.image.r=bouelles.langENGoogle Scholar
Fenigstein, A., Scheier, M. F., & Buss, A. H. (1975). Public and private self-consciousness: Assessment and theory. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 43, 522–7. doi: 10.1037/h0076760CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrari, M., Weststrate, N. M., & Petro, A. (2013). Stories of wisdom to live by: Developing wisdom in a narrative mode. In Ferrari, M. & Weststrate, N. M. (Eds.), The scientific study of personal wisdom (pp. 137–164). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.Google Scholar
Fournier, M. A., Di Domenico, S. I., Weststrate, N. M., Quitasol, M. N., Dong, M. (2015). Toward a unified science of personality coherence. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 56, 253–262. doi: 10.1037/cap0000022CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glück, J., & Bluck, S. (2011). Laypeople's conceptions of wisdom and its development: Cognitive and integrative views. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 66, 321–4. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbr011Google ScholarPubMed
Glück, J., & Bluck, S. (2013). The MORE life experience model: A theory of the development of personal wisdom. In Ferrari, M. & Weststrate, N. M. (Eds.), The scientific study of personal wisdom (pp. 75–98). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-7987-7_4Google Scholar
Glück, J., Bluck, S., & Weststrate, N. M. (2018). More on the MORE Life Experience Model: What we have learned (so far). Journal of Value Inquiry. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1007/s10790-018-9661-xGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grant, A. M., Franklin, J., & Langford, P. (2002). The Self-Reflection and Insight Scale: A new measure of private self-consciousness. Social Behavior and Personality. 30, 821–36. doi: 10.2224/sbp.2002.30.8.821CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greene, J. A., & Brown, S. C. (2009). The Wisdom Development Scale: Further validity investigations. International Journal Aging and Human Development, 68, 289–320. doi: 10.2190/AG.68.4.bCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Habermas, T., & de Silveira, C. (2008). The development of global coherence in life narratives across adolescence: Temporal, causal, and thematic aspects. Developmental Psychology, 44, 707–21. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.44.3.707CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Habermas, T., & Bluck, S. (2000). Getting a life: The emergence of the life story in adolescence. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 748–59. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.126.5.748CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hershey, D. A., & Farrell, A. H. (1997). Perceptions of wisdom associated with selected occupations and personality characteristics. Current Psychology: Developmental, Learning, Personality, Social, 16, 115–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hixon, J. G., & Swann, W. B. Jr. (1993). When does introspection bear fruit? Self-reflection, self-insight, and interpersonal choices. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 35–43. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.64.1.35CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holliday, S. G., & Chandler, M. J. (1986). Wisdom: Explorations in Adult Competence. New York, NY: Karger.Google Scholar
Hoyer, J., & Klein, A. (2000). Self-reflection and well-being: Is there a healthy amount of introspection? Psychological Reports, 86, 135–41. doi: 10.2466/pr0.2000.86.1.135CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ingram, R. E., (1990). Self-focused attention in clinical disorders: Review and a conceptual model. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 156–76. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.156CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jason, L. A., Reichler, A., King, C., Madsen, D., Camacho, J., & Marchese, W. (2001). The measurement of wisdom: A preliminary effort. Journal of Community Psychology, 29, 585–98. doi: 10.1002/jcop.1037CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeste, D. V., Ardelt, M., Blazer, D., Kraemer, H. C., Vaillant, G., & Meeks, T. W. (2010). Expert consensus on characteristics of wisdom: A delphi method study. The Gerontologist, 50, 668–80. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnq022CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, L. A., Scollon, C. K., Ramsey, C., & Williams, T. (2000). Stories of life transition: Subjective well-being and ego development in parents of children with Down Syndrome. Journal of Research in Personality, 34, 509–36. doi: 10.1006/jrpe.2000.2285CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitchener, K. S., & Brenner, H. G. (1990). Wisdom and reflective judgment: Knowing in the face of uncertainty. In Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.), Wisdom: Its nature, origins and development (pp. 230–43). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
König, S., & Glück, J. (2013). Individual differences in wisdom conceptions: Relationships to gratitude and wisdom. The International Journal of Aging & Human Development, 77, 127–47. doi: 10.2190/AG.77.2.cCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kramer, D. A. (1990). Conceptualizing wisdom: The primacy of affect-cognition relations. In Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.), Wisdom: Its nature, origins and development (pp. 279–316). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kross, E., & Grossmann, I. (2012). Boosting wisdom: Distance from the self enhances wise reasoning, attitudes, and behavior. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141, 43–8. doi: 10.1037/a0024158Google ScholarPubMed
Labouvie-Vief, G. (1990). Wisdom as integrated thought: Historical and developmental perspectives. In Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.), Wisdom: Its nature, origins and development (pp. 52–83). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levenson, M. R., Jennings, P. A., Aldwin, C. M., & Shiraishi, R. W. (2005). Self-transcendence: Conceptualization and measurement. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 60, 127–43. doi: 10.2190/XRXM-FYRA-7U0X-GRC0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lilgendahl, J., & McAdams, D. P. (2011). Constructing stories of self-growth: How individual differences in patterns of autobiographical reasoning relate to well-being in midlife. Journal of Personality, 79, 391–428. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00688.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Litman, J. A., Robinson, O. C., & Demetre, J. D. (2017). Intrapersonal curiosity: Inquisitiveness about the inner self. Self and Identity, 16, 231–50. doi: 10.1080/ 15298868.2016.1255250CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lodi-Smith, J., Geise, A. C., Roberts, B. W., & Robins, R. W. (2009). Narrating personality change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 679–89. doi: 10.1037/a0014611CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mansfield, C. D., McLean, K. C., & Lilgendahl, J. P. (2010). Narrating traumas and transgressions: Links between narrative processing, wisdom, and well-being. Narrative Inquiry, 20, 246–73. doi: 10.1075/ni.20.2.02manCrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdams, D. P. (2001). The psychology of life stories. Review of General Psychology, 5, 100–22. doi: 10.1037/1089-2680.5.2.100CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdams, D. P., & McLean, K. C. (2013). Narrative identity. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22, 233–8. doi: 10.1177/0963721413475622CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLean, K. C., & Pratt, M. W. (2006). Life's little (and big) lessons: Identity statuses and meaning-making in the turning point narratives of emerging adults. Developmental Psychology, 42, 714–22. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.42.4.714CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Merriam, S. B. (1989). The structure of simple reminiscence. The Gerontologist, 29, 761–7. doi: 10.1093/geront/29.6.761CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mickler, C., & Staudinger, U. M. (2008). Personal wisdom: Validation and age-related differences of a performance measure. Psychology and Aging, 23, 787–99. doi: 10.1037/a0013928CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pascual-Leone, J. (1990). An essay on wisdom: Toward organismic processes that make it possible. In Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.), Wisdom: Its nature, origins and development (pp. 244–78). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pasupathi, M., Staudinger, U. M., & Baltes, P. B. (2001). Seeds of wisdom: Adolescents’ knowledge and judgment about difficult life problems. Developmental Psychology, 37, 351–61. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.37.3.351CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pals, J. L. (2006). Narrative identity processing of difficult life experiences: Pathways of personality development and positive self-transformation in adulthood. Journal of Personality, 74, 1080–109. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2006.00403.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reese, E., Haden, C. A., Baker-Ward, L., Bauer, P., Fivush, R., & Ornstein, P. A. (2011). Coherence of personal narratives across the lifespan: A multidimensional model and coding method. Journal of Cognition and Development, 12, 424–62. doi: 10.1080/15248372.2011.587854CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, J., Staudinger, U. M. & Baltes, P. B. (1994). Occupational settings facilitating wisdom-related knowledge: The sample case of clinical psychologists. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 5, 989–99. doi: 10.1037/0022-006X.62.5.989CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Staudinger, U. M. (1989). The study of life review: An approach to the investigation of intellectual development across the life span. Berlin, Germany: Edition Sigma.Google Scholar
Staudinger, U. M. (2001). Life reflection: A social-cognitive analysis of life review. Review of General Psychology, 5, 148–60. doi: 10.1037/1089-2680.5.2.148CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staudinger, U. M. (2013). The need to distinguish personal from general wisdom: A short history and empirical evidence. In Ferrari, M. & Weststrate, N. M. (Eds.), The scientific study of personal wisdom (pp. 3–20). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-9231-1_1Google Scholar
Staudinger, U. M., & Kessler, E.-M. (2009). Adjustment and growth: Two trajectories of positive personality development across adulthood. In Smith, M. C. & DeFrates-Densch, N. (Eds.), Handbook of research on adult learning and development (pp. 241–68). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Staudinger, U. M., Kessler, E.-M., & Dörner, J. (2006). Wisdom in social context. In Schaie, K. W. & Carstensen, L. L. (Eds.), Social structures, aging, and self-regulation in the elderly (pp. 33–54). New York, NY: Springer.Google Scholar
Staudinger, U. M., & Kunzmann, U. (2005). Positive adult personality development: Adjustment and/or growth? European Psychologist, 10, 320–9. doi: 10.1027/1016-9040.10.4.320CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staudinger, U. M., Maciel, A. G., Smith, J., & Baltes, P. B. (1998). What predicts wisdom-related performance? A first look at personality, intelligence, and facilitative experiential contexts. European Journal of Personality, 12, 1–17. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-0984(199801/02)12:1%3C1::AID-PER285%3E3.3.CO;2-03.0.CO;2-9>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staudinger, U. M., Smith, J., & Baltes, P. B. (1992). Wisdom-related knowledge in a life review task: Age differences and the role of professional specialization. Psychology and Aging, 7, 271–81. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.7.2.271CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sternberg, R. J. (1985). Implicit theories of intelligence, creativity, and wisdom. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 607–27. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.49.3.607CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sternberg, R. J., Jarvin, L., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2009). Teaching for wisdom, intelligence, creativity, and success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trapnell, P. D., & Campbell, J. D. (1999). Private self-consciousness and the five-factor model of personality: Distinguishing rumination from reflection. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 284–304. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.76.2.284CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waters, T. E. A., & Fivush, R. (2015). Relations between narrative coherence, identity, and psychological well-being in emerging adulthood. Journal of Personality, 83, 442–51. doi: 10.1111/jopy.12120CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Webster, J. D. (1993). Construction and validation of the Reminiscence Functions Scale. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological and Sciences and Social Sciences, 48, 256–62.Google ScholarPubMed
Webster, J. D. (2003). An exploratory analysis of a Self-Assessed Wisdom Scale. Journal of Adult Development, 10, 13–22. doi: 10.1023/A:1020782619051CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webster, J. D. (2007). Measuring the character strength of wisdom. Aging, 65, 163–83. doi: 10.2190/AG.65.2.dGoogle ScholarPubMed
Webster, J. D., Weststrate, N. M., Ferrari, M., Munroe, M., & Pierce, T. W. (2018). Wisdom and meaning in emerging adulthood. Emerging Adulthood, 6, 188–136. doi: 10.1177/2167696817707662.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weststrate, N. M., Bluck, S., & Glück, J., (this volume). Wisdom of the crowd: Exploring people's conceptions of wisdom. In Sternberg, R. J. & Glück, J. (Eds.). Cambridge handbook of wisdom. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Weststrate, N. M., & Glück, J. (2017). Hard-earned wisdom: Exploratory processing of difficult life experience is positively associated with wisdom. Developmental Psychology, 53, 800–14. doi: 10.1037/dev0000286CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weststrate, N. M., & Ferrari, M. (2015, June). Wisdom from the past: Self-reflection as a path to resilience or growth in the wake of adversity? In E. Yeung (Chair), Reflecting on reflection: What is the role of reflection in development? Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Jean Piaget Society, Toronto, Canada.Google Scholar
Weststrate, N. M., Ferrari, M., Fournier, M. A., & McLean, K. C. (2018). “It was the best worst day of my life”: Narrative content, structure, and process in wisdom-fostering life event memories. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 73, 1359–1373. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gby005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wink, P., & Helson, R. (1997). Practical and transcendent wisdom: Their nature and some longitudinal findings. Journal of Adult Development, 4, 1–15. doi: 10.1007/BF02511845CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×