WICI
TALK:
IGOR
GROSSMANN
WISDOM
IN
A
COMPLEX
WORLD:
Measurement,
Utility,
And Interventions
Philosophers
argue
that
knowledge
is
insufficient
for
wisdom.
Instead,
they
have
argued
that
wisdom
requires
certain
aspects
of
meta-cognition
to
flexibility
navigate
complex environments
without
a
clearly-defined
decision
space:
epistemic
humility,
consideration
of
multiple
perspectives
and
ways
a
situation
may
unfold,
observer
viewpoint
on
a
situation, and
integration
of
different
perspectives.
First,
I
will
showcase
the
psychological
utility
of
these
meta-cognitive
processes
for
goal-management,
well-being
and
prosociality.
Next,
I will
examine
situational
contingencies
inhibiting
or
promoting
these
aspects
of
meta-cognition
in
daily
life.
Results
indicate
that
social
contexts
(e.g.,
being
together
with friends/work-colleagues)
promote
wise
reasoning
than
non-social
situations,
self-focused
contexts
inhibit
wise
reasoning,
and
contexts
promoting
ego-decentered
mindsets
(e.g.,
generativity,
self-distancing)
sustain
wise
reasoning
in
self-focused
situations.
Within-person
(state)
differences
in
wisdom
across
situations
also
appear
larger
than
between-person (trait)
differences.
At
the
end,
I
introduce
a
novel
state-sensitive
approach
to
measure
wisdom-related
meta-cognitions
across
both
state
and
trait-level,
allowing
for
ecological measurement
of
meta-cognitive
processes
in
a
cost-efficient
and
reliable,
fashion.
Igor
Grossmann
is
a
world
traveller.
Born
in
the
Soviet
Union,
and
growing
up
in
Ukraine
and
post-Berlin
Wall
Germany,
he
has
seen
first-hand
the
impact
of
complex
systems
on
changes
in people's
beliefs
and
practices.
His
chief
work
concerns
demystifying
wisdom
--
a
“philosopher’s
stone”
in
behavioural
sciences.
To
this
end,
he
uses
innovative
methods,
including
big
data analytics,
psychophysiology,
diary
surveys,
and
behavioural
experiments.
Igor
Grossmann
studied
at
the
University
of
Freiburg,
Germany,
and
at
the
University
of
Michigan,
where
he
received his
Ph.D.
in
Social
Psychology
in
2012.
He
is
currently
an
Associate
Professor
of
Psychology
at
the
University
of
Waterloo.
His
work
has
been
published
in
such
top
outlets
as
PNAS,
Proceedings of
the
Royal
Academy:
Biological
Sciences,
Perspectives
on
Psychological
Science,
Psychological
Science,
Journal
of
Personality
and
Social
Psychology,
or
Journal
of
Experimental
Psychology: General.