The Role of Academic Experience, Critical Thinking and Cognitive Flexibility in Predicting the Wisdom of Female Postgraduate Students of University of Tehran

Background: Wisdom is considered as a concept based on cognition, deep understanding and insight, reflective thinking and also a combination of considering individual interests in interaction with the interests of others. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the role of academic experiences, critical thinking and cognitive flexibility in predicting the wisdom of Tehran University students. Methods: This research was a correlational study. Herein, 275 female postgraduate students in 2020 were selected through multistage random cluster sampling. In order to collect data, the questionnaires of wisdom, academic experience, critical thinking and cognitive flexibility were employed. Data were analyzed using SPSS-23 software and hypotheses were tested through multiple regression. Results: The results showed that in academic experiences (P=0.002, β=0.13), critical thinking (P=0.001, β=0.19) and also in cognitive flexibility (P=0.001, β=0.57), the predictors were positive and significant. Also, wisdom and the predictor variables explained 51% of the variance in the criterion variable. Conclusions: According to the results of this study, academic experiences, critical thinking and cognitive flexibility play a role in increasing and fostering students’ wisdom, as a result of which students can make wise and realistic decisions in the process of solving real life problems.