''What is wisdom?' sounds like one of those impossible questions, but think again! This rich collection reveals synergies across multiple perspectives towards a vision of wisdom today's world very much needs.' David Perkins, Harvard University, Massachusetts
Part I. Foundations of Wisdom: 1. Race to Samarra: the critical importance of wisdom in the world today Robert J. Sternberg; 2. Philosophical foundations of wisdom Jason Swartwood and Valerie Tiberius; 3. Socio-cultural foundations of wisdom Ricca Edmondson and Markus Woerner; 4. Neurobiology of wisdom Ellen Lee and Dilip V. Jeste; Part II. Conceptions of Wisdom: 5. Wisdom of the crowd: exploring people's conceptions of wisdom Nic M. Weststrate, Susan Bluck and Judith Glück; 6. Wisdom as self-transcendence Carolyn M. Aldwin, Heidi Igarashi and Michael R. Levenson; 7. Wisdom as a personality type Monika Ardelt, Stephen Pridgen and Kathryn L. Nutter-Pridgen; 8. Why people often prefer wise guys to guys who are wise: an augmented balance theory of the production and reception of wisdom Robert J. Sternberg; 9. General and personal wisdom Ursula Staudinger; 10. Wise reasoning: converging evidence for the psychology of sound judgment Harrison Oakes, Justin P. Brienza, Abdo Elnakouri and Igor Grossmann; 11. Practical wisdom: what Aristotle might add to psychology Barry Schwartz and Kenneth A. Sharpe; 12. Wisdom as state vs trait Igor Grossmann, Franki Y. H. Kung and Henri C. Santos; Part III. Measures of Wisdom: 13. Performance-based measures of wisdom: state of the art and future directions Ute Kunzmann; 14. Self-report wisdom measures: strengths, limitations, and future directions Jeffrey Webster; Part IV. The Development of Wisdom: 15. The development of wisdom during adulthood Judith Glück; 16. Developing and teaching for wisdom Michel Ferrari and Juensung Kim; 17. Teaching for wisdom Robert J. Sternberg and Emily S. Hagen; Part V. Cultural Perspectives on Wisdom: 18. Cultural differences in wisdom and conceptions of wisdom Michel Ferrari and Fatemeh Alhosseini; 19. Non-Western lay conceptions of wisdom Shih-ying Yang and Ali Intezari; Part VI. Wisdom and Other Psychological Constructs: 20. Creativity, intelligence, and wisdom: could vs should Sarah F. Lynch and James C. Kaufman; 21. Giftedness and wisdom Don Ambrose; 22. Low levels of wisdom—foolishness Balazs Aczel; 23. Wisdom and reflection Nic M. Weststrate; 24. Identity and purpose in life as building blocks for wisdom Kaylin Ratner and Anthony L. Burrow; 25. Wisdom, morality, and ethics Robert J. Sternberg and Judith Glück; 26. Wisdom and emotions Ute Kunzmann and Judith Glück; 27. Wisdom and well-being Monika Ardelt; 28. Relationship between wisdom and spirituality: an expanded theoretical model with mysticism and gerotranscendence Masami Takahashi; Part VII. Wisdom in Action: 29. Wise leadership Bernard McKenna and David Rooney; 30. Professional wisdom: functions and processes of psychotherapeutic and judicial wisdom Heidi M. Levitt and Lauren M. Grabowski; 31. Wisdom in medical decision making Lauris C. Kaldjian; 32. Wisdom in history and politics Lloyd Etheredge; 33. The urgent need for social wisdom Nicholas Maxwell; Part VIII. Conclusions: 34. Why is wisdom such an obscure field of inquiry and what can and should be done about it? Robert J. Sternberg and Judith Glück.