By Abha Singh and Sakshi Mehrotra
Title: Practicing Wisdom Assessment Scale
1. Aim: The test aimed to assess wisdom of an individual using PWAS. Practicing
Wisdom Assessment Scale given by Abha Singh and Sakshi Mehrotra.
2. Introduction:
Wisdom is a field of growing interest both inside and outside academic psychology.
Psychologists have described wisdom as the search for the moderate course between
extremes, a dynamic between knowledge and doubt, a sufficient detachment from the
problem at hand, and a well-balanced coordination of emotion, motivation, and
thought. Over the last two decades, psychological wisdom research has grown steeply
in terms of quantity as well as quality and sophistication of operationalization’s and
research designs.
Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to think and act using knowledge,
experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom is associated with
attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowledge,
self-transcendence and non-attachment, and virtues such as ethics and benevolence.
Wisdom is the ability to know what is true or right, common sense or the collection of
one's knowledge. An example of wisdom is the quote "The best mind-altering drug is
truth." noun. Wisdom is the ability to discern and judge which aspects of that
knowledge are true, right, lasting, and applicable to your life. It’s the ability to apply
that knowledge to the greater scheme of life. It’s also deeper; knowing the meaning or
reason; about knowing why something is, and what it means to your life.
Balance Theory of Wisdom :
A balance theory of wisdom is presented, according to which wisdom is defined as
the application of tacit knowledge as mediated by values toward the achievement of a
common good through a balance among multiple
(a) intrapersonal,
(b) interpersonal, and
(c) extra-personal interests in order to achieve a balance among
(a) adaptation to existing environments,
(b) shaping of existing environments, and
(c) selection of new environments.
Eastern and Western Perspective of Wisdom Indian wisdom includes the propositions
that all existence is fundamentally one, that the universe is pervaded by an informing
intelligence, that every form is endowed with life, and that all life is evolving toward
more sensitive forms, wider intelligence, and fuller realization of the unity that
underlies its apparent diversity. Indian wisdom is expressed most centrally through
the ancient religious systems of Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. Each of those
systems has its own emphases and its own ways to state Indian wisdom. India is a
land of wide variety of all kinds, including philosophical variations. But, in general,
the Indian religious systems agree on the basic propositions of unity, intelligence, and
vitality. The three forms of the wisdom of the East—those of Persia, India, and
China—are adapted, each to the culture in which it developed.
Yet all of them have important contributions to make to universal human culture.
Wisdom is wisdom, whatever its form of expression and emphasis. So the wise in
every culture will heed and follow these universal insights into the fundamental nature
of reality and of human life.
Baltes and Staudinger define wisdom as “expertise in the fundamental pragmatics of
life.” This is further defined as “knowledge and judgment about the essence of the
human condition and the ways and means of planning, managing, and understanding a
good life. Through their research, they developed five criteria for evaluating
wisdom-related performance.
They are:
Factual (declarative) knowledge which asks, ‘What does one know about
human nature, interpersonal relations, and social norms?’
Procedural knowledge criteria answers, ‘What strategies does one use to
navigate the twists and turns of life?’
Lifespan contextualism criteria consider questions like, ‘Where does
everything fit?’ ‘How are things interconnected?’ and ‘How are the various
roles – education, family, etc. connected?’
The relativism of values and life priorities allows for the tolerance of differences in
values between people. Recognition of and management of uncertainty criteria
acknowledges that we don’t know everything. There are limits to human processing.
Ardelt in contrast to Baltes and Staudinger (2000), viewed wisdom as an
“integration of cognitive, reflective, and affective personality characteristics.” She
argues that preserved wisdom (writings) represent theoretical (intellectual) knowledge.
This knowledge doesn’t become wisdom until or unless the person internalizes it. For
this to happen a person must experience the truth contained in the preserved wisdom.
Doing this leads to the person becoming wise(r).
Meeks and Jeste (2009) reviewed the wisdom literature and identified common areas.
From their review, they created the six sub-components of wisdom:
1. Prosocial attitudes/behaviors: promotion of common good, empathy, social
cooperation, and altruism
2. Social decision making/pragmatic knowledge of life: understanding others’
emotions and motivations and using the information to make “wise” social
decisions
3. Emotional homeostasis: self-control and impulse control; ability to manage
oneself in challenging situations
4. Reflection/self-understanding: Self-knowledge
5. Value relativism/tolerance: perspective-taking behavior
6. Acknowledgment of and dealing effectively with uncertainty/ambiguity:
navigating uncertainty and acknowledging/accepting the limits of what one
knows.
PWAS :
The PWAS, Practicing Wisdom Assessment Scale is 30 items questionnaire to be
measured on a 5 point scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The
subject is supposed to mark the first prompt answer that comes to his mind after
reading the statement.
3. Review of Literature :
a. A study by Zaidi and Singh (2001) explored the effect of positive life events and
Sattva, rajas and Tamas on psychological well-being. The study revealed significant
effect of Sattva and Rajas on depression, the former leading to lower depression and
the latter leading to higher depression. Overall High Sattva, low Rajas and High
Tamas groups reported higher psychological well-being.
b. Singh et.al, (2013) revealed that there exists a positive correlation between sattva
guna and emotional well-being, psychological well-being, social well-being,
flourishing and positive experience. In contrast, Rajas and tamas were negatively
correlated with all well-being indicators except negative experience.
c. Working with the Triguna theory Daftuar and Sharma (1997) found out that at a
supervisory level in a public sector organization Sattva worked at “self-actualization”
level, Rajas at esteem needs level, where Tamas works at only the “basic needs” level.
d. According to Mathew, 2004, satvik individuals have the ability to grow from
stressful situations because they possess high tolerance and high capacity for
adjustment. This is probably the quality that makes them resilient and helps them
evolve both, psychologically as well as emotionally.
e. Further, Sharma & Kumar (2012 ) found out that individuals with clinical disorders
(particularly those suffering from anxiety disorders) scored high on the tamas and
rajasic factors and experienced lower quality of life in comparison to those who
obtained high scores on the stavic factors had a better quality of life.
f. However, as study by Wolf & Abell, 2003 on ‘Examining the effects of meditation
techniques on Psychosocial Functioning’, revealed that the quality of sattva guna
could be enhanced by chanting the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra.
g. A recent study by Puta & Sedlmeier (2014) linked psychological well- being with
spirituality. The research revealed that dominance of sattva guna is predominantly
related to psychological well- being in comparison to rajas and tamas guna.
h. According to Scheibe et al. (2009). Wisdom is related to well-being through
association with increased striving for the good life and greater preferences for
personal growth and self-actualization.
i. Baltes et al. (2008) proposed that wise people also prefer values focused on
personal- growth, insight; social engagement; and well-being of friends, as opposed to
values focused mainly on pleasure and a comfortable life.
j. Further, Kunzmann (2004) found out that wise people show emotional and
motivational preferences thus impacting well-being. They report fewer self-centered
pleasant feelings but more person oriented and environment centered emotions, such
as interest and inspiration. This allows them to provide more meaning to their life
view world from a larger perspective and enhancing their existential experience.
4. Description of the Test
A. About the test- The Practicing Wisdom Assessment Scale is a 30 items
questionnaire to be measured on a 5 point scale ranging from strongly agree to
strongly disagree. The subject is supposed to mark the first prompt answer that comes
to his/her mind after reading the statement. The scale has 27 positively worded and 03
negatively worded items.
After analysis of an exhaustive pool of items related to each parameter, content
validation was done using Lawshe's method and items with CVR (Content Validity
Ratio) of 0.78 or more were selected for the final format of the scale. As such 30
items which had CVR 0.78 or more were retained. The number of items finalized for
each parameter are as follows:
Knowledge (5 items)
Emotional Maturity (3 items)
Social Conscience (3 items)
Integrity (3 items)
Meaningful Action (3 items)
Judgment (3 items)
Spiritual Insight (4 items)
Positivity (3 items)
Forgiveness (3 items)
The final tool was administered to a sample of 227 individuals (103 males and 124
females) for the purpose of standardization. The age range of the sample was from 21
years to 26 year.
B. Reliability:
the Cronbach's co-efficient alpha value was calculated to ascertain the internal
consistency for the items the value which came out to be 0.85.
C. Validity:
Content validity of the scale was ascertained by getting it thoroughly tested by 10
prominent Psychologists, Educationist and language experts.
D. Methodology:
Subject Preliminary:
Demographic Details:
Name- XYZ
Age- 24
Educational Qualifications- M.A
Gender- Female
Occupation- Student
E. Material required: PWAS manual, answer sheet and a pencil
F. Rapport formation:
Subject was made comfortable. Subject’s permission and voluntary participation was
seeked. Any doubts or query that the subject had was answered. The item booklet and
pencil was handed over and then the subject was informed about the instructions.
G. Instructions:
Kindly go through the instructions on the first page of the booklet. If you have any
queries about the instructions you may reach me out.
Then the participant was told to turn to page 2 and provide the identifying information
requested on the answer sheet. Once you are done you may start the test. There is no
time limit to complete the test.
H. Administration of the Test:
The test was conducted at the subject's place, to make her comfortable in a familiar
setting. The subject was provided with the questionnaire and pencil and was asked
whether or not is she is at ease. When the subject finished her test her marks were
calculated from the answers key and raw score was calculated. The raw score was
then converted into the stem score and the inferences about the strength of personality
traits existing was concluded.
I. Introspective Report:
The subject seemed happy to be a part of the test. She stated that she is very excited
to be a part of this study since she has never been part of one. She also stated that it
was a very new experience for her and she is eager to attempt the test. Further, she
was also very curious about results.
J. Observational report:
The subject remained calm and attentive throughout the test. She seemed interested
in the whole procedure. Overall the subject seemed comfortable. The subject carefully
listened to the instructions and completed the test in approximately an hour.
K. Scoring-
The scoring is done with the help of a scoring sheet which consists of points (from 1
to 5) for every option selected (response range is from strongly agreed to strongly
disagreed) by the subject. Then there is a group a questions belonging to a positively
and negatively worded, Q1,3,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17 are positive
statements and Q2,4,18 are negative statements. The scale has 27 positively worded
and 03 negatively worded items. Where 5 is given for strongly agreed, 4 for agreed, 3
for undecided, 2 for disagreed and 1 for strongly disagreed in positively worded
questions. The negatively worded questions are reversed scored.
5. Results:
Table 1.1
QUES. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
NO.
RAW 5 2 5 2 3 4 5 5 3 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 5
SCORE
The above table shows the raw score of the subject from question number 1-20.
Table 1.2:
Q. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
No
Raw 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 5 5 3
Score
The above table shows the Raw Score of the subject from question number 21-30.
Table 1.3:
TOTAL = 126 Z SCORE = + 1. GRADE = B RESULT = HIGH
72 WISDOM
The above table shows the total of the raw scores, along with z score, grade and
interpretation of the score.
6. Discussion and analysis:
The major objective of the study is to assess the wisdom of the subject. The subject is
has a raw score of 126. The subject has ‘high wisdom’ with a Z Score of +1.72.
7. Conclusion:
According to Scheibe et al. (2009). Wisdom is related to well-being through
association with increased striving for the good life and greater preferences for
personal growth and self-actualization. As my subject has shown a high on the
wisdom scale it does reflect that the subject is consistently improving oneself towards
a life of betterment and all in all a holistic development of oneself.
References
A study of relationship between Triguna and Cattellian Factors of Personality by
Lakhwinder Singh
Sattva Guna as a Predictor of Wisdom and PWB Suhani Sharma ; Dr. Abha Singh, Dr.
Sakshi Mehrotra ; October-December, 2016; The International Journal of Indian
Psychology
Khanna, P., Singh, K., Singla, S., & Verma, V. (2013). Relationship between Triguna
theory and well-being indicators. International Journal of Yoga-Philosophy,
Psychology and Parapsychology, 1(2), 69.
Singh, Kamlesh, Anjali Jain, Jasleen Kaur, Mohita Junnarkar, and Alena Slezackova.
"Cross-cultural differences on Gunas and other well-being dimensions." Asian
Journal of Psychiatry 24 (2016): 139-146
Sharma, S., Singh, A. and Mehrotra, S., 2016. Sattva Guna as a predictor of Wisdom
and PWB. Int J Indian Psychol, 4, pp.158-67.
The Concept of Tri-Guna: A Working Model by Maika Puta and Peter Sedlmeier ;
Meditation – Neuroscientific Approaches and Philosophical Implications ; October
2014
Linking religion and spirituality with psychological well-being: examining
self-actualisation, meaning in life, and personal growth initiative ; Itai
Ivtzan 1, Christine P L Chan, Hannah E Gardner, Kiran Prashar
