title: Occupational settings facilitating wisdom-related knowledge: the sample case of clinical psychologists.
abstract: Wisdom can be defined as expert knowledge in the fundamental pragmatics of life. Examined here is whether clinical practice may facilitate access to and acquisition of such knowledge. Spontaneous think-aloud responses to 2 wisdom-related dilemmas from young (M = 32 years) and older (M = 70 years) clinicians were compared with responses obtained from other professionals. Raters judged clinicians' responses as higher on 5 criteria of wisdom: factual knowledge, procedural knowledge, life-span contextualism, value relativism, and management of uncertainty. Contrary to most studies of cognitive aging, young and older adults did not differ. Rather, each age-cohort group received highest ratings when responding to a life dilemma matched to their own life phase. Discussed is the application of a wisdom framework to assessing therapeutic treatment goals and therapist interventions as well as global changes in client's beliefs during therapy.
authors: Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Education, Berlin, Germany.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Smith
authors: U M
authors: UM
authors: Staudinger
authors: P B
authors: PB
authors: Baltes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D004651:Employment; D006801:Humans; D011361:Professional Competence; D011586:Psychology, Clinical; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D000078329:Workforce