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Abstract. Does personality stay stable after young adulthood or is there continued change throughout middle and later adulthood? For decades, this question has caused heated debate. Over the last couple of years, a consensus has emerged based on recent cross-cultural as well as longitudinal evidence. This consensus confirms that indeed there is personality change in middle and later adulthood. Many authors have labeled this change personality maturation or growth. In somewhat simplified terms the observed pattern is as follows: neuroticism declines, conscientiousness and agreeableness increase. At the same time it has been argued that this pattern of personality change is the result of coping with the developmental tasks of adulthood and, thus, increased adjustment. We would like to examine this practice of equating developmental adjustment with growth and ask how to define personality growth. To answer this question, we consult theories of personality development as well as lifespan theory.

There are several legitimate ways of conceptualizing and studying wisdom. One is largely informed by Western philosophy and treats wisdom as an analytic theory of expert knowledge, judgment, and advice about difficult and uncertain matters of life. Another is more consistent with Asian philosophical non-secularized traditions and treats wisdom as instantiated by wise persons or their products. The second approach is always but an approximation to the analytically constructed utopia of wisdom. Wise persons are approximations to wisdom, but they are not wisdom. Ardelt's critique of our work proposes that our theoretical conception of wisdom as a body of expert knowledge in a specific subject matter is similar to 'cold' cognition. We disagree and assert that our conception of wisdom includes as antecedents, correlates, and consequences a rich spectrum of specific cognitive, emotional, motivational and social factors as well as life contexts. Our empirical research unequivocally supports this multidimensional and collaborative view.