Aging and wisdom: age alone is not enough

Abstract

The present review, conducted over a ten-year period during the month of April in the main databases in the field, focuses on two central themes in the study of wisdom: the relationship between wisdom and age and the components of wisdom. Assuming that human development is associated with personal growth, openness and the ability to learn from experience, it is argued that the effective development of wisdom depends on the individual’s capacity to use personal experience reflectively in order to guide future individual and collective decisions. Considering the multidimensional nature of wisdom, which is not restricted to cognitive domains but also encompasses motivational and affective dimensions, it is concluded that the development of wisdom represents a significant developmental challenge, with implications for research and intervention in Social Gerontology.