Wisdom, a possibility for development

Abstract

Wisdom is associated with old age from common sense. This is based on ancient traditions linked to sacred texts, key principles and narratives since the beginnings of civilizations. From a psycho-gerontological point of view, the hypothesis holds that skills would not decline with age; in fact, they would develop throughout the course of life and reach its peak in late adulthood and old age, leading to higher forms of knowledge. In the last decades of the twentieth century, psychology has become interested in wisdom in line with the principles of Positive Psychology and Psycho-gerontology. Wisdom can be considered as a degree of human development in its higher forms, both in its cognitive and affective-emotional side, or even as a higher degree of integration of both aspects. The importance of each component has generated debates among theorists. Several authors have characterized wisdom considering it as a skill linked to solving problems of human life; a sort of pragmatics of life. Since then, its own attributes have been set such as having access to high cognitive levels or more integrated and mature personality types.