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Personal Wisdom in the Balance

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The Scientific Study of Personal Wisdom

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Abstract

In this chapter, I discuss personal wisdom. I argue that wisdom is the use of one’s knowledge and abilities in order to achieve a common good by balancing one’s own with others’ and larger interests, over the long as well as the short terms, through the infusion of positive ethical values. Smart people may behave foolishly, precisely because they do not believe they are susceptible to foolishness. They may tend to be unrealistically optimistic, egocentric, falsely omniscient, falsely omnipotent, falsely invulnerable, and ethically disengaged. Even smart people may fail to infuse positive ethics into their behavior because they do not complete all of 8 steps required for someone to act ethically. The result is leaders who, instead of making the world a better place, make it worse than it was before they led.

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Acknowledgement

I am grateful to my collaborators in my work on wisdom, Linda Jarvin, Jennifer Jordan, Tzur Karelitz, and Alina Reznitzkaya, for their contributions to my thinking as reflected in this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Whitehurst 101, Stillwater, OK, 74074, USA

    Robert J. Sternberg

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  1. Robert J. Sternberg
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Correspondence to Robert J. Sternberg .

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  1. OISE, Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of Toronto, Bloor Street West 252, Toronto, M5S 1V6, Ontario, Canada

    Michel Ferrari

  2. Ontario Inst. Studies in Education, Dept. Human Development &, University of Toronto, Bloor Street West 252, Toronto, M5S 1V6, Ontario, Canada

    Nicholas Weststrate

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Sternberg, R.J. (2013). Personal Wisdom in the Balance. In: Ferrari, M., Weststrate, N. (eds) The Scientific Study of Personal Wisdom. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9231-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9231-1_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-9230-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-90-481-9231-1

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