This month’s Wisdom Student Researcher highlight is Yena Kim. Currently a second-year doctoral student in Behavioral Sciences at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, she has been working with Dr. Howard Nusbaum,founder of the Center for Practical Wisdom, since she was a first-year in the College. Her initial interests in navigating interpersonal conflict led her to studying wisdom and the characteristics and skills that might aid in conflict resolution. She notes “by studying the psychology of wisdom, I like to think that we are getting closer to finding ways to promote human flourishing on a larger scale.” She is most interested in understanding the cognitive mechanisms underlying people’s social decisions and judgments toward the betterment of society.
Wisdom Student Researcher Highlight: Yena Kim
"By studying the psychology of wisdom, I like to think that we are getting closer to finding ways to promote human flourishing on a larger scale.”
In her six years at the Center for Practical Wisdom, Ms. Kim has become quite accomplished as a student researcher in the social sciences. She has focused her research on wise-reasoning and life experiences which promote wisdom as a skill. She is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and has co-authored three wisdom and character papers since 2021 (see references below). Her most recent publication evaluated the relationship between wisdom and self-transcendent experiences, such as awe and flow. She also has a forthcoming chapter on resilience, civic virtues, and wisdom.
"Practical wisdom is about knowing how to make decisions that positively affect others, but this can be rather difficult to do, particularly when we’re stuck inside our own bubbles and fail to acknowledge the changing world around us.”
The groundwork for Kim’s studies lies in the position that “the world is constantly in flux, making it important to understand how people can adapt to changing circumstances, to practice empathy, and to take another’s’ perspective. Practical wisdom is about knowing how to make decisions that positively affect others, but this can be rather difficult to do, particularly when we’re stuck inside our own bubbles and fail to acknowledge the changing world around us.” Kim’s determination to understand how it is that people might be able to make wise decisions, her motivation to comprehend wisdom from a psychological perspective, and her dedication to identify which experiences might lead to wise reasoning are sure to help bolster the scientific understanding of wisdom for years to come.
Read Kim’s recent publications:
- Schneider, T. R., Nusbaum, H. C., Kim, Y., Borders, M. R., & Ryan, T. J. (2021). Emotional intelligence predicts wise reasoning. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1-15.
- Boulware, J. N., Kim, Y., Nusbaum, H., & Henly, A. (2022). Stranger in a strange land: The role of study abroad in civic virtues. Journal of Moral Education, 1-9.
- Kim, Y., Nusbaum, H. C., & Yang, F. (2022). Going beyond ourselves: The role of self-transcendent experiences in wisdom. Cognition and Emotion, 1-19.
We think our student researchers are phenomenal and want to let the world know there are some amazing students doing groundbreaking research in the field of wisdom, character development, and human flourishing! Do you have an outstanding student researcher helping you understand the underpinnings in the science of wisdom, character development, and human flourishing? Send your recommendation for a wisdom student researcher highlight to us at wisdom@uchicago.edu and have them highlighted in an upcoming newsletter!
