Wisdom and Aging: A conceptual and operational overview of the construct of wisdom and its relationship with age
Abstract
Wisdom has aroused growing interest as a multi-faceted construct and an object of theoretical and empirical research. In this essay we review the major scientific conceptualizations, the criteria of operationalization, and the advances proposed about the psychological evaluation and measurement. First, it is recognized the meaning of the word “wisdom” used in the Hispanic language and in the Bible Scripture. Second, the implicit theories and the explicit theories are considered, distinguishing the theories of mature personality and the theories of cognitive nature. In these latter theories, we propose to analyze two approaches: 1. The assessment of knowledge as cognitive functioning, in which we emphasize the tradition neo-Piagetian and the model of the postformal thought; and 2. The assessment of cognitive performance and adaptive functioning, based on the Life-Span Theory. Within this line, this paper focuses on one of the principal theory at the current time: the Berlin Wisdom Paradigm, and the proposal for the evaluating of the wisdom-related knowledge with respect to the solving problems of everyday life and the life crises. Third, it is approached the factors that facilitate the emergence and development of wisdom in the life-span and in particular, in the aging. Finally, we review the even controversial issue about the relationship between wisdom and age.Downloads
The works published in this journal are subject to the following terms:
1. The Publications Service of the University of Murcia (the publisher) retains the property rights (copyright) of published works, and encourages and enables the reuse of the same under the license specified in paragraph 2.
© Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, 2022
2. The works are published in the online edition of the journal under a Creative Commons Reconocimiento-CompartirIgual 4.0 (legal text). You can copy, use, distribute, transmit and publicly display, provided that: i) you cite the author and the original source of publication (journal, editorial and URL of the work), ii) are not used for commercial purposes, iii ) mentions the existence and specifications of this license.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
3. Conditions of self-archiving. Is allowed and encouraged the authors to disseminate electronically pre-print versions (version before being evaluated and sent to the journal) and / or post-print (version reviewed and accepted for publication) of their works before publication, as it encourages its earliest circulation and diffusion and thus a possible increase in its citation and scope between the academic community. RoMEO Color: Green.
