Firsthand—experiences with aging
As I age and get more forgetful, I wonder whether I make wiser or poorer choices. Native American and Asian cultures consider the elderly wise and treat them with respect. In contrast, in European and American culture old age is viewed as a time when mental faculties fade. An important question remains: what components of wisdom grow or decline in our later lives?
Over the past decade, gerontologists and social scientists have begun to study wisdom as multidimensional. For instance, in a popular TED Talk, Dilip Jeste, M.D., a geriatric neurophysicist, says the essence of wisdom is decisiveness, insight, social-emotional behavior, and tolerance. Researcher Jeanine Parisi and her associates consider the most important aspects of wisdom to be experience, social interaction, and generativity (multi-generational viewpoints). Sociologist Monika Ardelt defines the key components to be cognition, reflection, and affect.
From a review of the literature, I’ve concluded that there are three components or pillars of wisdom. Cognition encompasses reasoning, memory, problem-solving, creativity, decisiveness, crystalized intelligence, and procedural knowledge. Reflection includes perspective-taking, tolerance, openness, insight generation, growth production, generativity, balance of individual with common goods, and meaning-making. The social/emotion pillar consists of pro-social actions, social decision-making, facilitative coordination, empathy, and emotion management.
Journey in wisdom
Across our lifetimes these elements can change. Most notable are changes in cognition, especially memory loss. So, it should not be surprising that with old age comes a decline in cognition; but many forget that old age also brings a greater repertoire of experiences. While we may lose memory, we gain both reflection and social/emotion skill across our silver-haired years.
Ardelt and her associates studied more than 14,000 persons in Germany. Looking at their life spans from age 20 to 90, the researchers found little difference in the overall wisdom trendline. However, when separating cognitive from social/emotion and reflection wisdom, they found a flat trendline for cognitive but a rising trendline for social/emotion and reflective wisdom.
Those of us in later life don’t need surveys to know that our wisdom grows with age. We know that our experience grows and from that we can nurture our perspectives and other noncognitive wisdom. Most important, we can share our wisdom to help younger generations. And from such mentoring, our noncognitive wisdom can expand even more.
If you would like to share a firsthand experience related to health and aging, please contact Ron Anderson at [email protected].
News
Make your own discoveries in Portugal in 2025 on this journey to medieval monasteries, fertile vineyards and cities that are equal parts history and modern energy. Deadline to express an interest is Friday June 7, 2024.
Spend eight nights in Madrid and Barcelona in 2025. Express your interest by June 7, 2024.
Embrace the colorful history of the Canadian Maritime provinces for 11 nights in 2025. Express your interest by June 7, 2024.
Spend four nights in Québec City in 2025. Express your interest by June 7, 2024.
Spend 9 nights on the Douro River in Portugal in 2025. Express your interest by June 7, 2024.
Embrace and explore Mexico City as it showcases all facets of Mexico’s national character in 2025. Deadline to express an interest is Friday, June 7, 2024.
Bright and bold living history awaits you in beautiful St. Augustine, Florida in 2025. Express your interest by June 7, 2024.
The election of UMRA officers and new board members for 2024–25 will be conducted via an online poll from May 13 to 19, with the results to be announced at our annual meeting on May 21. Look for the ballot in your email inbox on May 13. Diane Young has been nominated to be president-elect.
“I convinced myself I could handle this problem without support groups or doing additional research, but that’s only because I didn’t want to make it any more real than it already was. Denial comes in many forms, and one is to avoid thinking about the problem any more than need be.” —Alice A. Larson
Meet UMRA member Peter Moe. He retired in 2023 after a career that spanned nearly half a century at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, and is credited with developing the “Arb” into one of the few in the U.S. with world-class fruit and landscape breeding programs.
The University Retirees Volunteer Center (URVC) has welcomed two new members with valuable skills and experience to the URVC Leadership Council: Lynn Slifer and Jeanne Jacobson.
The University plans to remove retirees from the @umn.edu internet identity domain on December 7. UMRA has advocated for ensuring continued access to this identity (including email, Google Workspace, and associated services), citing University retirees’ enduring contributions to and engagement with the University. Thus far, our efforts have not prompted any change of plans.
Leading the online Journal of Opinions, Ideas & Essays has been a labor of love for Kris Bettin. Alas, a change in family needs has necessitated her retirement. So, JOIE is seeking a new leader to join a savvy editorial committee of five and bring fresh ideas for continued development of the UMRA-sponsored journal.
If you’re looking for an opportunity to explore your photographic interests, hone your photographic skills, and hear what other retirees are up to, the UMRA Photo Club is a great place to be. We have fun! And whatever your skill level, there is room for everybody.
Soon you will receive an email or letter inviting you to renew your UMRA membership for the 2024–25 year. Please renew before you get busy with your summer activities. Your support helps to make our programs and many other member benefits possible!
This will be a new regular column where you can find organizational tasks that need your help! We are currently looking for help researching a new UMRA Membership Database and URVC volunteer database, and a co-producer for UMRA's Zoom webinars. See more details: