This review paper has two parts. First, the relationship between critical thinking concepts and certain wisdom theories were examined. The wisdom theories were the implicit theory of wisdom (Sternberg, 1985b), the reflective judgement model (Kitchener and King, 1981), and the balance theory of wisdom (Sternberg, 1998). The second wave of critical thinking concepts and wisdom theories have many overlaps. This overlap is called “critical thinking as wisdom.” In the second part of this paper, critical thinking practices in the context of Japanese primary/secondary education were categorized. Based on these practices, six categories were identified: skill developing, evaluating/judging, repolishing, multiple viewpoints, questioning, and criterion examining. Second, the problem of how wisdom can be developed in school was discussed.

This study investigated the concept of wisdom as expertise in solving life problems based on an accumulation of life experience. We reviewed and defined the notion of wisdom as practical knowledge and skills, which have developed in the work place. We developed the Wisdom Knowledge Scale (WKS) based on the Berlin Wisdom Paradigm (Baltes & Smith, 2008), and checked the reliability and validity using four measures of wisdom: the Self-Assessed Wisdom Scale (SAWS; Webster, 2007), the Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale (3D-WS; Ardelt, 2003), the Adult Self-Transcendence Inventory (ASTI; Levenson et al., 2005), and Brief Wisdom Screening Scale (BWSS; Glück, et al., 2013). Based on three survey data (Ns=1074, 997, 1000), participants’ scores on the Wisdom Knowledge Scale increased with age. Structural equation modeling showed that (a) years of education and work experience affected critical thinking attitude and practical knowledge, (b) critical thinking attitude and practical knowledge affected the Wisdom Knowledge score, (c) curiosity and grit affected the Wisdom Knowledge score, and (d) the Wisdom Knowledge score affected happiness. We discuss possibilities for future research on wisdom as expert knowledge using cross cultural, developmental, and interventional approaches.

Humans have developed advanced civilizations by “using” thought. However, it is also true that they are ridden by thinking and suffer because of it. Patients who have depression are an example in humans of being “used” by thought. The aim of this paper was to investigate people’s wisdom to involve thoughts that are causing such pathological conditions. First, I review the research on thought in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), which includes a pathological model showing that a person’s thoughts about an event cause pathological consequences. I then introduce the therapeutic approach toward them. Second, I investigate how mindfulness-based CBTs, which are often called “the third generation” of CBT, changed the treatment of thought in CBT. Third, I introduce the understanding and the treatment of thought in Buddhism, which is the origin of mindfulness. The basic principles of Buddhism are primarily introduced because it is essential to understand the basic idea of Buddhism. Finally, we examine the relationship between humans and thought.

Adequately recognizing one’s own emotion is an important ability for a healthy emotional life and appropriate behavior. This review article features interoception—the sensation of the internal and physiological bodily state—as a crucial factor in emotional experience. This review discusses a possible mechanism of emotion recognition through interoception, arguing several conditions for a healthy or unhealthy relationship between the body and the mind. First, a brief introduction to interoception is provided. It is proposed that the concept of interoception should be organized into two levels of process. The lower level is the process of individual internal organs (e.g., heart, gut, etc.), which corresponds to the interoception in a narrow sense. The higher level is the integrative process of these individual sensations, which is the interoception in a broad sense. The second section then reviews theories on the relation between the body and emotion, suggesting that interoception directly contributes to the subjective experience of arousal level. In addition, depending on the precision of arousal recognition, interoception may also indirectly underpin the identification of emotion. The third section of this paper discusses the clinical aspects of interoception. With regard to the pros and cons of interoceptive sensitivity, it seems to benefit the regulation of emotions, but it is also associated with certain clinical conditions such as high anxiety. It is important to examine the condition of alexithymia (i.e., affective agnosia), which usually involves the phenomena of alexisomia (i.e., difficulty in recognizing one’s physical condition) and somatosensory amplification (i.e., negative hypersensitivity). By reviewing the condition of autism spectrum disorders, which frequently accompany alexithymia and anxiety, the last section discusses several factors for body-mind interaction such as the difference between the accuracy of sensation and hypersensitivity, the balance between bottom-up and top-down process, and particularly the pivotal role of the sensory integration process.

Interoception means neural processing and subjective perception of signals from inner body, including organs and autonomic, endocrine, and immune systems. Interoception has been thought to play critical roles in emergence of emotions, decision-making, and mental and physical well-being. Though associations between interoception and dysfunctional mental and physical health such as anxiety and Alexithymia have been reported, the empirical findings are still mixed. This article proposes a computational model of interoception on the basis of the principle of predictive coding, to provide integrated accounts of the findings of interoception and health. Simulations using the model suggested that 1) hypersensitive and inaccurate bodily sensation in anxiety might be rooted in lower precision of bodily signals and exaggerated transmission of bodily signals to the brain, and 2) inaccurate interoception and chronic unpleasant feeling in Alexithymia might be caused by lower precision of bodily signals and dysfunctional communication between the brain and body. Suggestions for future studies on interoception are also discussed.

The Dark Triad (DT) is a constellation of three dark personality dimensions, which includes Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism. It may be that these three personality traits are conceptually distinct; however, they have overlapping features such as callousness and interpersonal manipulation. The DT is characteristic of a maladaptive personality. Previous studies have revealed a positive relationship between DT and socially deviant behaviors and hostile interpersonal cognition. However, individuals with high DT scores are not always self-centered, but show altruistic and prosocial responses in certain situations. In this article, we have introduced the adaptive strategies of people with dark personalities. We then reviewed the associations between DT, social success, attractiveness, and building relationships with other people. Finally, we summarized the significance of adaptive strategies used by people with dark personalities.

In recent years, offender profiling research has played a substantial role in criminal psychology. To date, criminal etiology and the psychology of delinquency have been the focus of criminal psychology. These methods were demonstrated to be useful in criminal investigations involving psychological analysis of criminal behavior. This may be evaluated as taking after the reasoning method of Sherlock Holmes, the fictional master detective. This article discusses the historical development and present state of offender profiling and its future, with reference to the Sherlock Holmes period and reasoning method. The history of criminal profiling can be broadly divided into three periods: before the FBI (the period of Holmes); the development and implementation of FBI methods; and the current period, in which statistics are used. This can also be called the history of transition from a period that focused on psychiatry and clinical psychology to one focusing on social psychology and environmental criminology. The main analyses of this method are “linkage analysis,” “criminal profile assumption,” and “geographical profiling,” as well as statistical analyses, which comprise multidimensional scaling and decision trees, among others. In modern-day Japan, analytical findings from offender profiling are used in investigating officers’ decision-making in the same way as eyewitness reports, information regarding criminal techniques, and information obtained from forensic data. Psychological techniques have been utilized in the criminal investigation setting since “polygraph tests” that test for the presence or absence of recollection. However, currently, analytical findings are provided only as investigation support information, which can hardly be described as ideal. In general, criminal profiling has not reached the wisdom displayed by Holmes. Ideal criminal profiling entails an “investigating officer” deciding on an investigation plan founded on various types of analytical information. This practice demonstrates “abductive reasoning,” wherein the truth is uncovered while a hypothesis is being repeatedly formulated. This necessitates future methods entailing statistical abductive reasoning using Bayesian inference, among others, and a multi-disciplinary research environment.

In a joint action, two or more individuals coordinate their actions in space and time to create a change in the environment. Knoblich, Butterfill, and Sebanz (2011) distinguished between two types of coordination that can occur during a joint action: planned coordination and emergent coordination. In planned coordination, the agents’ behavior is driven by representations that specify the joint action outcome and one’s own part in a joint action. In emergent coordination, coordinated behavior occurs because of entrainment, common affordances, perception–action matching, or action simulation, independently of any joint plans or common knowledge. This paper reviews the current empirical findings on joint action as examples of “wisdoms” between individuals. The implications of these findings for research on social cognition are discussed.

The main question of this article is whether joint actions between human and nonhuman agents enhance their performance and enable the emergence of joint agency. The findings of behavioral and physiological responses on virtual characters and robots, and the findings on joint actions between humans and robots, based on cognitive models, suggest that the interaction between human and nonhuman agents with goal sharing, action synchronicity, and online interaction could elicit a phenomenon that is similar to that seen in interactions between humans. In a future society in which humans and nonhuman agents live together, it is necessary to investigate how to design their interactions appropriately to contribute to the emergence of wisdom in the society.

While wisdom is generally understood as one of the ideal psychological states in late adulthood, its precise definition remains unclear. In this article, we first present a comprehensive review of its definitions and assessment tools to date. We then propose a new inclusive approach to wisdom that takes into account its functional and structural aspects. This approach enables us to discuss issues related to wisdom in a new light, and includes continuity/discontinuity characteristics and age-related psychological changes.