Post by Thoithoi O'Cottage on Mar 8, 2014 23:22:27 GMT 5.5
Reading How to Think Like a Wise Person on Psychology Today, I thought the article would help many people to review their own thinking--are they thinking wisely, or are they not able to rise above the commonplace common sense?
The article summarizes the findings of a research conducted by a group of psychologists, presented under six headings:
1. Don’t wait until you’re older and smarter.2. See the world in shades of grey, not black and white.3. Balance self-interest and the common good.4. Challenge the status quo.5. Aim to understand, rather than judge.6. Focus on purpose over pleasure.
These must be nothing new to some, but to many/most, I'm sure, it must be quite lucky for them to come across this article.
I wrote the above to prepare ourselves for the following excerpts from the article, because they put it quite well there.
Under Don't wait until you're older and smarter the article says:
Wisdom emerges not from experience itself, but rather from reflecting thoughtfully on the lessons gained from experience...Cultivating wisdom is a deliberate choice that people can make regardless of age and intelligence.
Under See the world in shades of grey, not black and white the article says:
...wise people embrace[d] nuance and multiple perspectives...Wise people specialize in what strategy expert Roger Martin calls integrative thinking—“the capacity to hold two diametrically opposing ideas in their heads”—and reconcile them for the situation at hand. In the words of the philosopher Bertrand Russell, “fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.”
Under Challenge the status quo the article says:
Wise people are willing to question rules. Instead of accepting things as they have always been, wisdom involves asking whether there’s a better path. In Practical Wisdom, psychologist Barry Schwartz and political scientist Kenneth Sharpe describe a Philadelphia man who was convicted of holding up a taxi driver with a gun. The sentencing guidelines called for two to five years in jail, but the facts of case didn’t fit: the man used a toy gun, it was his first offense, he had just lost his job, and he stole $50 to support his family. A wise judge gave him a shorter sentence and permission to hold a job outside of jail during the day so that he could take care of his family—and required him to repay the $50.
The rest of the article is also interesting, and you may want to read it.