The Wisdom in Virtue: Pursuit of Virtue Predicts Wise Reasoning About Personal Conflicts

Most people can reason relatively wisely about others' social conflicts, but often struggle to do so about their own (i.e., Solomon's paradox). We suggest that true wisdom should involve the ability to reason wisely about both others' and one's own social conflicts, and we invest...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPsychological science Vol. 28; no. 12; pp. 1848 - 1872
Main Authors Huynh, Alex C., Oakes, Harrison, Shay, Garrett R., McGregor, Ian
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.12.2017
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Adult
Conflict
Conflict (Psychology)
Endorsements
Female
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Morality
Research Report
Social Perception
Thinking
Virtues
Wisdom
Young Adult
interpersonal conflicts
well-being
preregistered
motivation
virtue
open data
wisdom
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Summary:Most people can reason relatively wisely about others' social conflicts, but often struggle to do so about their own (i.e., Solomon's paradox). We suggest that true wisdom should involve the ability to reason wisely about both others' and one's own social conflicts, and we investigated the pursuit of virtue as a construct that predicts this broader capacity for wisdom. Results across two studies support prior findings regarding Solomon's paradox: Participants (N = 623) more strongly endorsed wise-reasoning strategies (e.g., intellectual humility, adopting an outsider's perspective) for resolving other people's social conflicts than for resolving their own. The pursuit of virtue (e.g., pursuing personal ideals and contributing to other people) moderated this effect of conflict type. In both studies, greater endorsement of the pursuit of virtue was associated with greater endorsement of wise-reasoning strategies for one's own personal conflicts; as a result, participants who highly endorsed the pursuit of virtue endorsed wise-reasoning strategies at similar levels for resolving their own social conflicts and resolving other people's social conflicts. Implications of these results and underlying mechanisms are explored and discussed.
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ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1177/0956797617722621