The Complex Relations Between Wisdom and Significant Life Learning

This study explores the various relations between two important processes in life-span development: wisdom and learning from significant life experience. A diverse sample of 375 individuals from Taiwan, culled from an initial sample of 475, completed a sequence of three questionnaires that asked them to describe their most significant life learning, the wisdom they had displayed, and the relation between the two. The 375 participants specified one of five relations: (a) their most significant life learning led to their display of wisdom (n = 191, 51%); (b) the two were unrelated (n = 91, 24%); (c) their display of wisdom led to their most significant life learning (n = 67, 18%); (d) the wisdom displayed was part of their most significant life learning (n = 20, 5%); (e) their most significant life learning was part of the wisdom they displayed (n = 6, 2%). These results suggest that wisdom and significant life learning are seen as related in various ways. The findings shed light on how wisdom and the learning acquired from significant life experiences foster individual development.