Wise Judgment Scenario
Todd Dobbs
University of Phoenix
PSY 220
Summer 2010
The wise judgment scenario I have chosen to discuss is the teenage girl that is in love and her boyfriend is pressuring her to have sex. In my opinion, there is a lot of missing information about this scenario to make a rational decision. How old is the teenage girl? Does he feel the same way about her? Has the couple been together a long time? What does the boyfriend mean by protected sex? I do not think the scenario provides enough information to make a rational decision, so to decide what action I will take to make my decision I will apply the five components of wise judgment to make the best decision I can.
Factual knowledge is one of the components of the five components of wise judgments. In this scenario, knowledge about human nature and social norms is being applied (Wisdom, 2010). The girl is in love with her boyfriend and the boyfriend wants to have sex with her. Applying factual knowledge in this scenario shows this, along with the fact that he is encouraging his girlfriend to have protected sex with him.
Procedural knowledge is another one of the five components of wise judgments. Based on the information provided, the procedure for dealing with life’s problems and dealing with conflict is involved here (Wisdom, 2010). How each of them weighs their goals of the relationship could lead to a procedural decision. The young couple is dealing with the facts of being young, the girl is not ready for sex, and the boy thinks he is ready. The goals of the couple seem to differ when it comes to having sex. This couple if they want to stay together is going to have to shape and adapt their relationship because these types of pressures will tear them apart.
The lifespan or contextualism is another of the five components of wise judgments. The different roles and contexts of how our lives change over time can help to determine the decision to be made (Wisdom, 2010). In...