From WJH3957@tntech.edu Tue Mar  6 12:45:21 2001
Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2001 10:36:36 -0600 (CST)
From: W.J. Holcomb -- <WJH3957@tntech.edu>
To: WILL@HIMINBI.ORG
Subject: wisdom traits

Wisdom Traits

Materials quoted or paraphrased from:
Sternberg, Robert J., ed. Wisdom: Its Nature, Origins, and Development. New
York: Cambridge, 1990.

Robert Sternberg asked several college professors and students to sort several
traits deemed as wise into categories. Six categories were determined. Those
categories follow.

1. Reasoning ability- problem solving skills, logical mind, ability to apply
knowledge 
rationally, connections and distinctions between ideas and things.

2. Sagacity- concern for others, considers advice, understands people,
thoughtful, not afraid to admit to making a mistake.

3. Learning from ideas and environment- learns from other peoples mistakes,
attaches importance to ideas, is perceptive.

4. Judgement- acts within own physical and intellectual limitations, sensible,
good judgement at all times, thinks before speaking.

5. Expeditious use of information- experienced, seeks out information, age,
maturity, or long experience, learns and remembers, changes mind on basis of
experience.

6. Perspicacity- intuition, reading between the lines, the ability to
understand and interpret her environment.

Patricia Kennedy Arlin- Arlin focuses on the problem solving aspects of wisdom.
She lists traits she surmises coincide with traits of good problem solving.

1. The search for complementarity- "Problem finding is essentially the
establishment of the need for a new and highly complex mental program."

2. The detection of asymmetry- Ability to detect lack of balance "where the
casual observer notes no differences or finds a conventional explanation to be
satisfactory. Genius is not a requirement for wisdom, Wisdom involves a
sensitivity to both symmetry and asymmetry. Wisdom is present in the noticing
of subtle features that make a difference in problem solving definitions and
ultimately in problem solving."

3. Openness to change- "Wisdom has as one of its requirements the willingness
to remain open to receive new information and on the basis of that information
to be willing to change one's worldview.  Perhaps wisdom arises from the
opportunity to experience changes in our own beliefs and assumptions- changes
that help us realize that the ideas and priorities that seem so clear today
will probably be modified as a function of new experiences. 

4. Pushing the limits- "Wisdom is not attributed to judgements or solutions
because of their close conformity to an acknowledged standard of right or
wrong. Wise decisions, solutions, and judgements are often acknowledged as wise
because they push these standards to their limits or create types of
metastandards that redefine the acceptable."

Karen Kitchener and Helene Brenner- These two focus on wisdom in the face of
uncertainty. Listed below are traits they consider to be wisdom traits.

1. Recognition of the presence of unavoidably difficult problems inherent in
the lives of adults.

2. A comprehensive grasp of knowledge characterized by both breadth and depth.

3. A recognition that knowledge is uncertain and that it is not possible for
truth to be absolutely knowable at any given time.

4. A willingness and exceptional ability to formulate sound, executable
judgements in the face of this uncertainty.



Andrew Schnell
ars9648@tntech.edu
Tennessee Technological University
=============================================
"I came to this earth to rearrange it."
		--Winnebago Trickster Cycle