Abstract
In this study we sought to explore how experience with specific mental and somatic practices is associated with wisdom, using self-report measures of experience and wisdom. We administered standard surveys to measure wisdom and experience among four groups of practitioners of mental and somatic practices, namely, meditators, practitioners of the Alexander Technique, practitioners of the Feldenkrais Method, and classical ballet dancers. We additionally administered surveys of trait anxiety and empathy to all participants to explore possible mediating relationships of experience and wisdom by characteristics thought to be components of wisdom. Wisdom was higher on average among meditation practitioners, and lowest among ballet dancers, and this difference held when controlling for differences in age between practices, supporting the view that meditation is linked to wisdom and that ballet is not. However, we found that increased experience with meditation and ballet were both positively associated with wisdom, and that lowered trait anxiety mediated this positive association among meditation practitioners, and, non-significantly, among ballet dancers. These results suggest that not all practices that are purported to affect mental processing are related to wisdom to the same degree and different kinds of experience appear to relate to wisdom in different ways, suggesting different mechanisms that might underlie the development of wisdom with experience.
Highlights
Wisdom is considered the pinnacle of human cognition and has played a role in religion and philosophy reaching far back into human history, the scientific study of wisdom is a relatively recent phenomenon
There were no significant differences in average trait anxiety (TA) between Alexander Technique (AT), Feldenkrais Method (FM), or meditation practitioners
There were no significant differences in average wisdom scores between AT, FM, or meditation practitioners
Summary
Wisdom is considered the pinnacle of human cognition and has played a role in religion and philosophy reaching far back into human history, the scientific study of wisdom is a relatively recent phenomenon. As the study of wisdom has grown, a variety of ways to define the construct have emerged. Common themes include the skillful use of knowledge acquired through life experience, lowered anxiety in the face of difficult life decisions, careful reflection on the mental states of oneself and others, and action based in compassion and prosocial behavior [1]. The wisdom literature generally distinguishes between two types of wisdom: general wisdom, which represents insight into the pragmatics of life from a decentered third-person point of view, and personal wisdom, which an individual may acquire and cultivate. Through insight into daily life [2]. For the purposes of this study, we are interested in how individuals may cultivate personal wisdom through specific mental and somatic practices
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