From causal thinking to wisdom and spirituality: some perspectives on a growing research field in adult (cognitive) development

Abstract

This article concentrates on the latest international trends in the research on psychological development of adults, and especially on the development of cognition. The field of research has been very fragmented, and researchers have kept creating new models one after another to describe their own lines of thought and also seeking for empirical evidence for their models. This has created a rather equivocal picture of the phenomenon itself. The present article attempts to identify the historical roots of the field, and introduces descriptive factors that could conceptually determine the gist of the phenomenon. In this context we will discuss, mainly, research going back to Piaget and Perry, epistemic development, integration of emotion and cognition, plus diverse research in the fields of wisdom and spirituality. The main claim is that these models follow similar a tendency towards holism and progress towards integrative thinking on various domains and fields of human psyche.

Wisdom in Context

“…In contrast, neo-Piagetian scholars viewed the development of formal operations as insufficient for solving complex, ill-defined problems of adult life (Schraw et al, 1995). They proposed a set of “postformal” cognitions developing further into adulthood, from absolutist beliefs to a relativistic perspective on life events and a dialectical integration of different problem-related concerns (for a review, see Kallio, 2015). For instance, Basseches (1984) formulated a set of 24 schemata enabling the transition to dialectical cognitions, which include recognition of one’s limits of knowledge, recognition of change, 2 awareness of context, perspective flexibility, and the attempt to integrate different perspectives together.…”

Wisdom, bias, and balance: Toward a process-sensitive measurement of wisdom-related cognition.

“…Building on the earlier work by neo-Piagetian developmental psychologists (Basseches, 1980(Basseches, , 1984Clayton, 1983;Kitchner, 1983; for a review, see Kallio, 2015), Baltes and colleagues defined wisdom as "excellence in mind and virtue . .…”

Kebijaksanaan (wisdom) dan fanatisme pada penggemar K-Pop

“…Sternberg (Grossmann & Kung, 2020) mengemukakan bahwa orang yang bijak dianggap secara setara mampu dalam pemecahan masalah dan bernalar sebagai orang yang cerdas, namun orang bijak secara unik dikaitkan dengan gagasan kebijaksanaan, yaitu mengetahui kapan harus mendengarkan orang lain, fleksibel dalam berurusan dengan orang lain, dan mampu mempertimbangkan konsekuensi dalam jangka pendek dan jangka panjang. Ardelt (Kallio, 2015) menyebutkan bahwa kebijaksanaan merupakan integrasi dari kognitif, reflektif, dan afektif. Dimensi kognitif berkaitan dengan pencarian kebenaran dan makna mendalam akan suatu fenomena atau peristiwa, dan untuk melakukan hal tersebut diperlukan dimensi reflektif, dengan dimensi ini orang bijak mampu melihat sesuatu dari perspektif yang lebih luas tidak berfokus hanya pada preferensi subjektif, kemudian dilanjutkan dengan dimensi afektif yaitu pemahaman yang mendalam dan tidak terlalu mementingkan diri sendiri mengarah pada rasa kasih sayang pada orang lain (Kallio, 2015).…”