OCCUPATIONAL SETTINGS FACILITATING WISDOM-RELATED KNOWLEDGE - THE SAMPLE CASE OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS

Wisdom can be defined as expert knowledge in the fundamental pragmatic s of life. Examined here is whether clinical practice may facilitate a ccess to and acquisition of such knowledge. Spontaneous think-aloud re sponses to 2 wisdom-related dilemmas from young (M = 32 years) and old er (M = 70 years) clinicians were compared with responses obtained fro m other professionals. Raters judged clinicians' responses as higher o n 5 criteria of wisdom: factual knowledge, procedural knowledge, life- span contextualism, value relativism, and management of uncertainty. C ontrary to most studies of cognitive aging, young and older adults did not differ. Rather, each age-cohort group received highest ratings wh en responding to a life dilemma matched to their own life phase. Discu ssed is the application of a wisdom framework to assessing therapeutic treatment goals and therapist interventions as well as global changes in client's beliefs during therapy.