AASP 2021 Featured Symposium: The Science of Wisdom in the Face of World’s Social Challenges
Channel: Igor Grossmann
Date: 29/07/2021

Presentations
3:14 Wisdom and Balance in Polarized Societal Conflicts - Melody M. Chao, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
20:56 A Strategic Mindset Makes People Metacognitively Wiser - Patricia Chen, National University of Singapore, Singapore
37:00 Intellectual Humility Predicts Scrutiny of COVID-19 Misinformation - Jonah Koetke, University of Pittsburgh, U.S.A.
50:57 Training for Wisdom: The Illeist Diary Method - Igor Grossmann, University of Waterloo, Canada

Massive-scale floods and fires, geopolitical tensions within and across countries, and a pandemic—the world appears once again at the brink of instability and uncertainty. Social critics suggest that such times call for wisdom. Yet, what is wisdom and how does one study it? A recently advanced common position on wisdom among psychological scientists underscores the centrality of meta-cognitive features (e.g., recognition of one’s fallibility and change, open-mindedness to broader context and diverse viewpoints) and moral aspirations. Study of such fundamentals has revealed key advances for the study of wisdom in the context of intergroup conflicts, goal pursuit, and emotion regulation, showing unique contribution of wisdom for each of these domains.  The present symposium presents cutting-edge findings across these fields. Chao and colleagues will describe how wisdom in reflections on acute intergroup conflicts relate to reduced attitude polarization and charitable intentions and behavior.  Chen will focus on the role of wisdom-related metacognition in a form of strategic mindsets for effective goal pursuit. Koetke and Schumann will discuss the unique role of intellectual humility – a central feature of wisdom – for combating COVID-related misinformation over the course of the pandemic. Finally, Grossmann will discuss recent advances on the trainability of wisdom characteristics in the context of interpersonal conflicts.