Dimensions of Wisdom Perception Across Twelve Countries on Five Continents

• DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/p9cv4
• Publication Date: 2023-04-13T05:01:01Z
• Authors: Maksim Rudnev; H. Clark Barrett; Wesley Buckwalter; Edouard Machery; Stephen Stich; Kelli Barr; Abdellatif Benche...; Rockwell F. Clancy; Damien L. Crone; Yasuo Deguchi; Emanuele Fabiano; Ari David Fodeman; Badr Guennoun; Julia Halamova; Takaaki Hashimoto; Joshua Homan; Martin Kanovský; Kaori Karasawa; Hackjin Kim; Jordan Kiper; Minha Lee; Xiaofei Liu; Veli Mitova; Rukmini Bhaya Nair; Ljiljana Pantovic; Brian Porter; Pablo Quintanilla; Josien Reijer; Pedro P. Romero; Purnima Singh; Salma Tber; Daniel A. Wilkenfeld; Lixia Yi; Igor Grossmann
• Keywords: Male; Adult; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Adolescent; Science; Q; Emotions; 150; Middle Aged; Article; wisdom; Judgment; Young Adult; Knowledge; Cognition; Social Perception; philosophy of science; Humans; anthropology; Female; Perception; dimensions

Wisdom is the hallmark of social judgment, but how people across cultures recognize wisdom remains unclear—distinct philosophical traditions suggest different views of wisdom’s cardinal features. We explore perception of wise minds across 16 socio-economically and culturally diverse convenience samples from 12 countries. Participants assessed wisdom exemplars, non-exemplars, and themselves on 19 socio-cognitive characteristics, subsequently rating targets’ wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Analyses reveal two positively related dimensions—Reflective Orientation and Socio-Emotional Awareness. These dimensions are consistent across cultures and interact when informing wisdom ratings: wisest targets—as perceived by participants—score high on both dimensions, whereas the least wise are not reflective but moderately socio-emotional. Additionally, individuals view themselves as less reflective but more socio-emotionally aware than most wisdom exemplars. Our findings expand folk psychology and social judgment research beyond the Global North, showing how individuals and cultures perceive desirable cognitive and socio-emotional qualities, and contribute to an understanding of mind perception.