Wisdom and aging

Abstract: How is wisdom related to aging? While many people associate wisdom with advanced age, becoming wise clearly requires more than “just” growing old – accumulated life experience is an important foundation for wisdom, but not all highly wise individuals are old and many old individuals are not particularly wise. This article first reviews how wisdom is defined in psychological research, with an emphasis on models of how wisdom develops. Then, recent research is reviewed that looks into (a) the relationship between wisdom and chronological age and (b) wisdom as a resource for coping with age-related challenges. Finally, some general conclusions are drawn and important research gaps are highlighted.

Click on the citation to read the article:

Glück, J. (2023). Wisdom and aging. Current Opinion in Psychology, 101742.