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Updated: Jun 3, 2026

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Published on: July 22, 2025
Laypeople's conceptions of wisdom and its development: cognitive and integrative views
1Department of Psychology, Alpen-Adria University Klagenfurt, Universitätsstrasse 65-67, 9020 Klagenfurt, Austria. judith.glueck@uni-klu.ac.at
Objectives:
This study examined individual differences in laypeople's conceptions of wisdom using a person-oriented approach, as previous studies using a priori group variables may have underestimated the variability. Although there is a tradition of examining people's implicit theories of wisdom, this study is the first to also investigate their views of how wisdom develops.
Methods:
A total of 1955 participants rated the importance of 8 items concerning what wisdom is and 9 items concerning how wisdom develops.
Results:
Cluster analyses identified 2 conceptions of what wisdom is. Participants with a "cognitive conception" rated cognitive and reflective characteristics as central to wisdom; participants with an "integrative conception" additionally endorsed affective characteristics. Conceptions varied by age and sex. Concerning the development of wisdom, participants with a cognitive conception viewed learning from experiences and from wise persons as central; participants with an integrative conception rated experience with life challenges as equally important.
Discussion:
Laypeople's views of wisdom are not unitary, and the way in which wisdom is viewed is related to how it is seen as developing in a person's life. These empirical differences in implicit theories of wisdom map onto theoretical differences in the views of wisdom researchers.
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