Some people claim that wisdom cannot be trained, whereas others have standing orders on self-help books. Some believe to find wisdom chiefly in a person, whereas others consider it to be deeply social. For centuries scholars have debated whether and how people vary in wisdom and how it evolves over time. To go beyond speculations, it is critical to test these views empirically, using methods at the intersection of experimental psychology, longitudinal models, and natural language processing. I argue for a common model framework for a robust, accumulative science of wisdom.

Within wisdom scholarship, I am particularly interested in the notion of sound judgment. I evaluate the theoretical framework accommodating the concept of rationality advocated in neoclassical economics with the concept of reasonableness discussed by political philosophers and legal scholars. The core question is how people in different cultures understand these concepts and whether their intuitive understanding corresponds to any of the distinct philosophical positions.