In defense of wise emotions: the relation between emotion and wisdom in autobiographical memories
Date
2011
Authors
Quinn, Amy, author
Le, Thao, advisor
Fruhauf, Christine, committee member
McKee, Patrick, committee member
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Abstract
Autobiographical memories are an often untapped resource in research. The current study utilizes these memories to understand the role of emotions in individuals' reporting of gaining and using wisdom. Bluck & Glück's (2004) previous research on autobiographical memories and how wisdom is used in daily life forms the basis for this study. This study extends Bluck & Gluck's (2004) study by examining the nature of emotions in individuals' recollection of events in their lives in which they gained and used wisdom. To examine the role of emotion in wisdom, this study examined 122 community-dwelling adults' scores on the Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale (3D-WS; Ardelt, 2003) and analyzed participants' responses when asked to recall situations in which the participants gained and used wisdom. Positive and negative emotion words were coded in the interviews, and analyses were conducted using thematic content coding. Results revealed that when participants discussed an experience in which they gained wisdom, they expressed more negative emotions words in their narrative. On the other hand, when participants were asked to recall an experience in which they used wisdom, they expressed more positive emotion words in their narrative. Participants' expression of using logic/reasoning with respect to wisdom was also examined; it was found that individuals used more logic words when discussing using wisdom but not when gaining wisdom. The influence of gender and age was also considered and revealed no statistically significant findings. Autobiographical narratives revealed some interesting findings on the role of emotions in gaining and using wisdom. Future interventions may want to facilitate emotional experiences in order to help individuals either gain or use wisdom to make their lives more positive overall.
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Rights Access
Subject
3D-WS
wisdom
gender
emotions
age