What is wisdom and what are its 7 components

Who would not like to know your degree of wisdom? Despite what it may seem at first, when talking about wisdom within the field of psychology does not refer to our cultural background, but to an aspect related to our well -being. Do we know how to make good decisions? Are we able to keep calm under pressure? These are some of the issues that we should answer if they administer a new scale created to measure our level of wisdom. Let's start!

Content

• SD-Wise-7 scale
• What is wisdom?
• The 7 components of wisdom
  • 1. Emotional regulation
  • 2. Decision
  • 3. Prosocial behaviors
  • 4. Acceptance of different perspectives
  • 5. Social advice
  • 6. Self -reflection
  • 7. Spirituality
• Final reflection
  • Bibliography

SD-Wise-7 scale

From the Department of Psychology of the University of Colorado and from the Department of Psychiatry of the USCD, a research team led by Michael Thomas and Dilip V. Jesus has prepared a questionnaire based on 7 items to measure our level of wisdom. This is a questionnaire called Abbrevavated San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-Wise-7), that in Spanish translates as San Diego abbreviated wisdom scale. But what do we understand by wisdom?

What is wisdom?

As Jesus and Thomas (2021) indicate in his article Abbrevavated San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-Wise-7) and Jeste-Thomas Wisdom Index (JTWI) Posted in the scientific journal International Psychogeriatrics, Wisdom would consist of a relevant personality trait for well -being and mental health. In this way, the fact that it can refer to a cluster of theoretical knowledge is discarded. These are seven parameters that represent the key point from which the SD-Wise-7 items arise from.

So, according to the authors, What would be the components of wisdom? Emotional regulation, decision, prosocial behaviors such as empathy and compassion, acceptance of different perspectives, social advice such as giving useful advice, self -reflection and finally spirituality. Let's see it a little more in depth.

The 7 components of wisdom

1. Emotional regulation

Emotional regulation measures The ability we have to handle negative emotions when they can interfere with our decision making. Let's imagine that we have felt offended by our boss, but we know that if we get carried away by anger we can lose our job. Emotional regulation would make us control the response of anger and say nothing at that time. Which does not imply that the subject is not subsequently clarified, but without letting ourselves be carried away by anger. Through emotional regulation we can evaluate and manage our negative emotions and favor positive.

Questionnaire Question: I keep calm under pressure. 

"When fear controls us and we do not recognize it, we easily escape on the side of anger or anger."

-Venerable Damcho-

2. Decision

Evaluate ours decision-making capacity And it focuses on our decisions are appropriate and successful. How efficient are we making decisions? Do we block ourselves? Do we usually make good or bad decisions?

Questionnaire Question: I tend to postpone decision making as much as I can.

3. Prosocial behaviors

This aspect includes parameters such as Compassion, empathy, sense of justice and altruism. The issue related to prosocial behaviors evaluates our ability to maintain positive social relationships.

Questionnaire Question: I avoid situations in which I know that my help will be needed.

4. Acceptance of different perspectives

This behavior implies the exam and acceptance of another type of stock system. It requires mental openness to try to know the point of view of others. Look at the opening we have towards the values ​​and perspectives different from ours.

Questionnaire Question: I enjoy being exposed to different points of view

5. Social advice

Social advice refers to our ability to offer good advice.

Questionnaire Question: I often do not know what to tell people when you come to ask me for advice.

6. Self -reflection

Consists of the ability we have to understand and introspection. Evaluate to what extent we are able to understand our behavior, feelings, motivation, emotions and thoughts.

Questionnaire Question: I avoid self -reflection. 

7. Spirituality

Spirituality looks at our connection With ourselves, with nature, with the transcendent Like the soul or God.

Questionnaire Question: My spiritual belief gives me interior strength.

Final reflection

Once the parameters and 7 items that we must answer are seen, do you consider the reader who has a high degree of wisdom? If we observe carefully, we can realize that This type of parameters is closely related to emotional intelligence. How do we relate to ourselves? How do we do it with others? Do we know how to handle our emotions? Here is good news: it is a personality feature that we can encourage.

Do we dare to contemplate other points of view? Are we able to train our compassion and altruism towards others? Definitely, Personal work can be one of the most complex, since contemplating - and accepting - other points of view can be a break with a strong way of thinking. Even so, wisdom is a concept that we can encourage. Does the reader dare to be wiser?

Bibliography

• Michael, t., Palmer, b., Read, e., Liu, j., Daly, r., You, x. And Jesus, D. (2021). Abbrevavated San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-Wise-7) and Jeste-Thomas Wisdom Index (JTWI). International Psychogeriatrics, 3, 1-10.