 Mandela – take your own pick – and if you compare them to Stalin and Hitler and Mao, they probably didn’t differ much in I.Q. It seemed that what differentiated them was wisdom.’
Sternberg recognised that we wouldn’t label actions as wise unless they are directed towards the common good. As he puts it, ‘It’s all about doing the right thing.’ This idea of ‘the common good’ distinguishes wisdom from mere cunning and he placed it at the heart of his new wisdom theory. ‘A person could be practically intelligent, but use his or her practical intelligence toward bad or selfish ends. In wisdom, one certainly may seek good ends for oneself, but one also seeks common good outcomes for others.’
Sternberg’s Balance theory of Wisdom defines wisdom as:
The application of tacit knowledge as mediated by values toward the achievement of …
a common good through a balance among multiple…
(a) intrapersonal, (b) interpersonal, and (c) extrapersonal interests in order to achieve a balance among…
(a) adaptation to existing environments, (b) shaping of existing environments, and (c) selection of new environments.
Review of General Psychology – 1998
Some versions also add a final phrase…
….. over the (a) short- and (b) long-terms.
That’s quite a lot to take in. It’s worth breaking it down into its elements:
A common good
The model suggests that wisdom always works towards the optimal solution for the group, not the individual agent. It’s about doing the right thing. This is the ‘should’ element of wisdom, beyond the ‘could’ element of intelligence.
Balance among INTERESTS:
(a) Intrapersonal – competing interests within an individual. e.g. wanting to read a good book and wanting to watch the news.
(b) Interpersonal – competing interests amongst a group of individuals e.g You want to go for another drink but your friend wants to go home
(c) Extrapersonal – competing interests imposed not by a person but by something else entirely e.g. helping in the local community, serving one’s country
Balance among ENVIRONMENTS:
(a) adaptation to existing environments – changing yourself or behaviour for a more optimal outcome in a given environment
(b) shaping of existing environments – taking action where possible to change our environment for a more optimal outcome
(c) selection of new environments – leaving an environment and choosing a new one when adaptation and shaping are not good options
The ‘Balance among environments’ section of the theory is reminiscent of Reinhold Niebhur’s ‘Serenity prayer’. Also sometimes known as the wisdom prayer, the lines have been a mainstay of the Alcoholics Anonymous programme since the 1940s:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Balance over TIME-FRAMES:
(a) Short-term interests – what we want for our present self
(b) Long-term interests – what we want for our future self
Whilst the idea of balancing competing interests is instrumental to Sternberg’s theory, the more fundamental aspect appears to be the idea of the common good.
As Osbeck and Robinson say in Sternberg’s ‘Handbook of Wisdom’, ‘What the word wisdom is intended to reach is the combination of virtue and the most refined intelligence’. Wisdom appears to not just be intelligence then, but intelligence harnessed to realising the common good.
Sternberg has not only developed these theories, but he has also put them into practice. When he was working at Tufts, he overhauled the admissions process with the Tufts ‘Rainbow’ programme. As well as completing all the elements of the traditional application process, applicants were encouraged to tackle an additional open-ended task. The idea was to allow for the display of creative intelligence or wise perspectives. For further information, have a look at Sternberg’s presentation on ‘Rethinking admissions’.
When describing the importance of new ways of thinking about education, Sternberg stated: ‘The important thing is to work together towards a common good – toward devising the best ways to select and educate stud