Psychology: Psychologists use these criteria to determine whether you are wise

We tend to associate wisdom with life experience. In our imagination, wise people tend to be older, wise, and knowledgeable due to everything they've experienced and seen in their lives. But this connection between wisdom and advanced age is by no means necessary.

Plato, for example, understood wisdom as one of the four cardinal virtues (along with courage, passion, and justice) that we can all cultivate regardless of our age. In Middle High German, "erfahrungen" (experienced) was only a partial meaning of the term "wis ," which was also used in the sense of "verständig " (understood) and " knowledgeable ." Furthermore, if we were to survey all of humanity and test its wisdom, we would find that young people can be very wise, while old people are not necessarily wise.

In psychology, wisdom isn't primarily measured by age, but is potentially ascribed to every person. To determine how strongly this personality component is expressed in a particular person, psychologists Dilip Jeste (University of California at San Diego) and Michael Thomas (Colorado State University) have created a list of questions and statements that we can use to determine our level of wisdom: the Jeste-Thomas Wisdom Index . The list is divided into seven sections, which the psychologists believe are essential components of wisdom:

• Decisiveness/decisiveness
• Self-reflection
• Prosocial behavior
• Consulting skills ( social advising )
• Emotional regulation
• Acceptance of different perspectives
• Spirituality

In the long, detailed version of the wisdom test, participants are presented with four statements for each of these categories, with which they can agree more or less strongly ( I completely agree, I agree, neutral, I disagree, I completely disagree ). In a shorter version, the psychologists reduced the number of statements and selected one for each criterion that is particularly representative and concise. With the help of this version, which, after initial testing, delivers results almost as reliable as the long version, we can gain an impression in one to two minutes about whether we or other people are wise.

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The 7 components of wisdom – how wise are you? 1. Decisiveness

Decisiveness refers to how quickly and independently we make decisions in life. The representative statement chosen by psychologists for this wisdom criterion is:

• "I tend to postpone important decisions as long as possible."

Do we examine ourselves and our actions? Do we try to understand why we feel the way we do or do what we do? Self-reflection addresses these kinds of questions, which Jeste and Thomas succinctly summarize with the following statement:

• "I avoid self-reflection."

Prosocial behavior, for example, refers to whether we are helpful, want and do good things for our fellow human beings, and are willing to empathize with others. The all-important statement here is:

• "I avoid situations where I know my help is needed."

The criterion of social advising captures whether we give other people useful advice—that is, whether we can put ourselves in someone else's shoes and apply our life experience to their situation. This is often one of the core elements of wisdom in our everyday understanding. The corresponding statement in the Jeste-Thomas Wisdom Index:

• "I often don't know what to say to people when they ask me for advice."

In the category of emotional regulation, there are statements aimed at determining how controlled we remain even under the influence of extreme emotions. The psychologists selected the following as the central statement:

• "I stay calm under pressure."

Can we accept it when someone disagrees with us? Do we understand that we don't know better than others? This important criterion of wisdom revolves around such questions, which can best be quickly determined by this statement:

• "I enjoy being confronted with different views."

Whether spirituality is a component of wisdom may be controversial, and in fact, the two US psychologists only subsequently added it to their index. What is meant here is not religiosity or the commitment to a religious belief, but rather the recognition and constructive engagement with an immaterial reality of whatever kind. The statement for verification is:

• "My spiritual faith gives me inner strength."

Those who achieve the highest level of wisdom on all levels according to the Jeste-Thomas model can honestly and wholeheartedly agree with statements 7, 6, and 5, and reject the remaining statements just as honestly and courageously. Those who want to know more can take the long version of the wisdom test in English after providing some personal information via the following link, thereby supporting the research of the two psychologists.

And for those wondering what use is it to me to know whether I'm wise or not: Whether we associate wisdom with a great deal of experience, a cardinal virtue, or Albus Dumbledore (who, incidentally, appeared wise even as a young man in Fantastic Beasts 2 ), wisdom enables us to live a good life . Wise people know how to deal with ups and downs, have realized that there are many things they can't rationally grasp or understand, but that they can sense them. They feel themselves as part of a community and of nature, yet intuitively recognize their absoluteness and uniqueness. And much more.

Of course, no one is born wise; a certain amount of experience is required to cultivate wisdom. But we don't have to grow old to live wisely if we want to. We can boost our wisdom by practicing self-reflection, tolerance and (social) openness, spirituality, empathy, and a healthy approach to our emotions.

By gathering our own experiences and not observing or emulating those of others. After all, life is too unpredictable and unique to postpone anything desirable until old age. And internalizing this is perhaps already a small step toward wisdom.

sus Brigitte

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