Adaptive Wisdom and Cultural Anchors Among African American Undergraduate Students
Location
SU-214
Start Date
1-5-2026 9:00 AM
Department
Psychology
Abstract
Psychological research has increasingly shifted from viewing wisdom as a rare moral trait linked to aging to understanding it as an adaptive regulatory ability that supports emotional regulation, integrative thinking, and balanced judgment under uncertainty. Instead of being a fixed virtue held by a few, wisdom is now seen as a developmental capacity that emerges through sustained engagement with complexity and lived experiences. This study conceptualizes adaptive wisdom as a measurable regulatory strength reflecting the coordinated integration of cognition and emotion in response to contextual demands. Specifically, the study suggests that, among African American undergraduate students navigating structural inequalities and racialized stress during emerging adulthood, culturally grounded orientations may enhance adaptive wisdom, which, in turn, could support identity coherence and psychological well-being. Emerging adulthood is marked by identity exploration and continued development of executive and emotional regulatory systems. For African American undergraduates, these developmental processes occur within institutional contexts shaped by structural constraints that increase regulatory demands. Using validated self-report measures, this study examines Africentric worldview orientation, communalism, daily spiritual experiences, adaptive wisdom, identity coherence, and psychological well-being. It is hypothesized that culturally grounded orientations will be positively linked to adaptive wisdom, that adaptive wisdom will relate positively to identity coherence and psychological well-being, and that adaptive wisdom will mediate the relationship between culturally grounded orientations and these developmental outcomes. Framing adaptive wisdom as measurable and developable supports a strengths-based approach to African American student development under structural pressures.
Faculty Sponsor
Masami Takahashi
Adaptive Wisdom and Cultural Anchors Among African American Undergraduate Students
SU-214
Psychological research has increasingly shifted from viewing wisdom as a rare moral trait linked to aging to understanding it as an adaptive regulatory ability that supports emotional regulation, integrative thinking, and balanced judgment under uncertainty. Instead of being a fixed virtue held by a few, wisdom is now seen as a developmental capacity that emerges through sustained engagement with complexity and lived experiences. This study conceptualizes adaptive wisdom as a measurable regulatory strength reflecting the coordinated integration of cognition and emotion in response to contextual demands. Specifically, the study suggests that, among African American undergraduate students navigating structural inequalities and racialized stress during emerging adulthood, culturally grounded orientations may enhance adaptive wisdom, which, in turn, could support identity coherence and psychological well-being. Emerging adulthood is marked by identity exploration and continued development of executive and emotional regulatory systems. For African American undergraduates, these developmental processes occur within institutional contexts shaped by structural constraints that increase regulatory demands. Using validated self-report measures, this study examines Africentric worldview orientation, communalism, daily spiritual experiences, adaptive wisdom, identity coherence, and psychological well-being. It is hypothesized that culturally grounded orientations will be positively linked to adaptive wisdom, that adaptive wisdom will relate positively to identity coherence and psychological well-being, and that adaptive wisdom will mediate the relationship between culturally grounded orientations and these developmental outcomes. Framing adaptive wisdom as measurable and developable supports a strengths-based approach to African American student development under structural pressures.