WELCOME TO THE WISDOM RESEARCH NETWORK

The Arete Initiative at The University of Chicago has launched a $2 million research program on the nature and benefits of wisdom. Once regarded as a subject worthy of the most rigorous inquiries in order to discern its nature and benefits, wisdom is currently overlooked as a topic for serious scholarly and scientific investigation in many fields. Yet it is difficult to imagine a subject more central to the human enterprise and whose exploration holds greater promise in shedding light and opening up creative possibilities for human flourishing.

The Wisdom Research Network website is an international networking utility that enables scholars and scientists from all academic disciplines to exchange ideas and engage in richer conversations through online discussion forums. Such interactions aim to initiate the level of interdisciplinary collaboration required of rigorous, scientific investigations on the subject of wisdom.

Wisdom-related news and recent publications are posted regularly to the site, along with updates on the progress of the current Defining Wisdom grant competition. As a registered member, you may actively participate in the discussion forums, and create your own personal profile that may include your photo, biographical summary, as well as, your own research interests and publications.

Please join us in the ongoing investigations on the nature and benefits of wisdom. All are welcome to the Wisdom Research Network. Please click here to join.

Recent News

Older Brain Really May Be a Wiser Brain The New York Times By SARA REISTAD-LONG Published: May 20, 2008 When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party, they... more >>

The Older-and-Wiser Hypothesis The New York Times By STEPHEN S. HALL Published: May 6, 2007 In 1950, the psychoanalyst Erik H. Erikson, in a famous treatise on the phases of life... more >>


Recent Publications

Age Differences in Choice Satisfaction: A Positivity... The authors tested the possibility that older adults show a positivity effect in decision making, by giving younger and older adults the opportunity to choose 1 of 4 products and... more >>

Applying (and Resisting) Peer Influence Scholars of various kinds long have documented the great degree to which people are influenced by similar others. Indeed, the opinions, experiences and behaviors of friends, neighbors... more >>