NOV 13

21: NOV 13

Baltes and Smith, "Toward a Psychology of wisdom and it ontogenesis"(27)
the tree of contemplative practices. Classical liberal art diagrams abound, but hard to find today.

study of peak performance,
positive aspects of aging, General discussion question: Are the lessons from aging well confined to that time of the lifespan?
work on intelligence that reflects a concern with context and life pragmatics, Baltes & Smith p. 87

Point on method in discussion of problem of giving a scientific treatment of wisdom, p. 89. Wittgenstein quote. Baltes acknowledges that there are limits and differences in studying wisdom, for example, need to compare results with lived experience of wisdom. Not typical in science.

Fundamental assumption #1: Wisdom is an "expert knowledge system"
Fundamental assumption:#2: A dual-process model of intelligence (Mechanics / Pragmatics) is most relevant to understanding wisdom. Focus on p. 94 figure 5.1. Mechanics of intelligence decline, but pragmatics increase over time.
Fundamental assumption #3: Wisdom is about life pragmatics, understood as life planning, management, review. (Note. This is easily expanded to "wise social groups" and "wise cultures".

Wisdom defined as "expert knowledge involving good judgement and advice in the domain, fundamental pragmatics of life" 95

Small Group Discussion: When you think about times in your life when you have managed your life well, what specific things or practices have contributed to that? Try to give examples. Does it makes sense to think of this as a form or expertise that you are acquiring?

Rich factual knowledge: Accumulation of knowledge which facilitates predictive ability to see how relationships, causes, and meanings will interact in a situation. "a representation of the expected sequential flow of events in a particular situation" Both general: knowing "how people work", for example; and specific: knowing how a particular person might respond or think about something; how a particular life problem tends to go. Also, factual knowledge about the world and human psychology.

Rich procedural knowledge: accumulation of knowledge which facilitates understanding of strategies of problem solving, advice seeking. "A repertoire of mental procedures." (This would include characteristic biases and ways that knowledge seeking goes wrong.)

(Not in article, but add in) Recognizing cognitive bias and "narrative opacity" in self. Fundamental Attribute Error (FAE), intuition discount, motivated reasoning ("Can I believe it/Must I believe it?"))

Life span contextualism: understanding a problem in awareness of it's place in the life span. Knowing what part of your life you are in and understanding it's challenges for your goals. Think about how the model will change after graduation. (Question: Can you identify ways in which the pandemic or trends pushing marriage toward 30 have created challenges?)

Relativism: Understanding and taking into account the range of values, goals, and priorities that specific human lives embody. (Example of lack of wisdom: People who have trouble believing that "people can be like that." Also, cultural naivete.)

Uncertainty: awareness of limits of knowledge in general and in particular factual cases. but also "strategies for managing and dealing with uncertainty" 103. (Brief acknowledgement of uncertainty in the 2nd quarter and the 4th!)

Implicit theories (Holiday and Chandler)
Sworka - good character increasingly associated with wisdom by older test subjects

A married couple in their early 30s is living in Brooklyn, New York and trying to decide how to get ready to have a family. They are pretty conservative and feel that home ownership is the best way to control various things that are important in raising kids. But conditions do not favor buying a home now (high interest rates, high home prices in the NY area, etc.). They both currently work remotely and enjoy access to urban culture. How should they think about planning the next few years of their life?

Your friend is a recent college graduate who wants to get started on their career in physical therapy, but also feels a strong connection to their home town and their extended family. They would like to return to their home town but openings for physical therapists might be scarce. On the other hand, they are also curious about visiting another culture and they have achieved a good level of knowledge of Spanish. They never had an opportunity to do study abroad and have a feeling that they should get broader experience before considering returning home. How should they think about and manage the next few years of their lives?

You are a college senior in an intimate relationship that you and your partner both value tremendously. However, you and your partner have different career goals that require additional education in programs that are spread around the country. You are both applying to programs and hoping to wind up in the same city, but the odds are slim, and you are worried that maintaining a long distance relationship will be difficult. How should you manage this important decision?

You have a friend who is approaching graduation and really wondering if it was all worth it. They did well in school and will receive a degree that guarantees a decent job, but they have a nagging feeling that they are missing something. A job offer at good pay in a city they like has just arrived, but they are wondering if maybe they should decline it while they take more time to review where they are in their lives. How would you help them with the life review problem?

Please send in a wisdom scenario of your own. This will help with a research project of mine, but also give us more choices for the short paper that is coming up. Use this google form to report your scenario. You are welcome to submit more than one.