Journal of Psychology & Behavioral Science

Indian Socio-Cultural Conception of Wisdom: Does it Follow Universal Understanding?
Ankita Sharma, Roshan Lal Dewangan

Abstract
There is growing interest in the concept of wisdom as an ideal end point of development in psychological science. However, in its fourth decade still, the biggest concern is to reach the consensus about its definition and description. The present study focuses on wisdom descriptors from Indian adolescents and adults‟ perspective and comparing it with the global conception. Total 170 participants (87 adolescents and 83 adults) were asked to provide the names that they consider wise and characteristics of their wise nominees. For matching with global conception, twenty-five wisdom descriptors were taken from previous researches and participants were asked to identify them as of the wise person. Results suggested some of the convergence with the global understanding but some very intriguing findings were observed when age and education differences were taken into the consideration. Most importantly, adolescents stressed the value of success led personal growth and societal upliftment, whereas as adults gave more weight to the knowledge bearer and having a vision.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jpbs.v6n1a2