智慧與生命規劃：台灣民眾做過最有智慧的生命規劃

Wisdom and Life Planning in Taiwan

有智慧的生命規劃，是美好人生的基礎，也是一切智慧決定與作為的根本。基於此，本研究主要針對個體做過最有智慧的生命規劃進行探究。研究以開放式的問題詢問在台灣的填答者「實際做過並已完成的最有智慧的生命規劃」，並蒐集475份完整填答的文字敘述。智慧評量、歸類適切性評量，與主題分析的結果顯示填答者實際做過並已完成的最有智慧的生命規劃，大致可以歸納為48 類，主要落實在十個重要的生命面向。這十個重要的生命規劃大類為：(1)學業與正規教育的決定與努力；(2)課外活動的選擇與投入；(3)跨文化學習與體驗；(4)休閒興趣與嗜好的培養；(5)兵役的選擇與安排；(6)職涯的發展與轉向；(7)親密關係與家庭生活的經營與選擇；(8)經濟與財務的管理；(9)生命哲學與自我修養的持守；以及(10)退休與死亡的安排。此外，決策樹的結果細部地揭示了台灣人追求美好生活中，與生命規劃相關之重大作為所集中的關鍵領域，及年齡與宗教兩個對其有所影響的面向。

Wisdom allows a person to live a good, meaningful, and satisfying life. Wise decisions and actions may positively influence oneself and others, and can therefore help one to live a better life. Life planning paves the way for future displays of wisdom and may affect an individual’s development over their lifespan. We explore life planning to further understanding of the decisions and actions that Taiwanese people take to pursue better lives. What are these life plans? How do they relate to age and gender? In what life domains are these life plans most likely to be carried out?
Taiwan’s population is 98 percent culturally Han Chinese, who have Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism as the dominant ethical philosophies. However, Taiwan has also been strongly influenced by other cultures: it was a Dutch and then a Spanish colony between 1622 and 1662, and a Japanese colony between 1895 and 1945. Taiwan also opened itself to the influence of American culture when it began receiving American aid in the post-war period from 1950 to 1965. Previous studies on Taiwanese conceptions of wisdom showed that Taiwanese view wisdom differently from other cultures. In this study, wisdom is conceived of as a real-life process consisting of three core components: cognitive integration, embodying actions, and positive effects on the acting self and surrounding others.
We used an open-ended questionnaire to solicit responses to the question“What is the wisest life planning that you have carried out?”as well as to other questions relating to the three components of wisdom. We recruited 475 Taiwanese participants through on-line advertisements (65% female; age range 18-72; M = 37.8). Participants’educational levels ranged from elementary school to a doctoral degree. About half indicated that they do not believe in any religion. Participants were drawn from all over Taiwan and had a wide variety of occupations.
This study comprises two independent components. The first component is a qualitative thematic analysis of participants’responses. The second component is a quantitative examination of the relationships between wise planning and factors that influence an individual’s personal development.
For the qualitative analysis, different groups of trained raters evaluated the 475 questionnaires for the following themes: (a) wisdom based on a theoretical definition involving the three Taiwanese components of wisdom (i.e., cognitive integration, embodying actions, and positive effects), (b) wisdom from a Taiwanese cultural perspective (i.e.,“How wise do you think other Taiwanese would perceive this plan to be?”), and (c) appropriateness of the categorization (i.e.,“How well does the participant’s life planning fit this category?”). Subsequently, the results of the ratings as well as the results of the thematic analysis were tested statistically with a decision tree.
The thematic analysis of the life planning that has been executed identified 48 categories in ten life domains. The ten domains were: (1) formal education and academic learning, (2) extracurricular activities, (3) cross-cultural learning and experience, (4) hobbies and leisure activities, (5) military service, (6) career development, (7) family and intimate relationships, (8) financial and economic planning, (9) life philosophy and self-cultivation, and (10) retirement and death.
These ten are the domains in which participants are most likely to make life plans when striving to live better lives. They correspond to the stages in Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development and propositions of lifespan development. The results of the decision tree also suggested that age and religion may influence life planning. Unlike previous studies, our participants mentioned extracurricular activities, cross-cultural learning and experience, military service, as well as life philosophy and self-cultivation in describing their life plans. Future studies are needed to investigate whether these are specific to Taiwanese culture.
Life planning can help a person to live a better life and even help others to improve their lives. Our findings have implications for those who aim to live better lives, and for those, such as educators and counselors, who help others to do so by fostering more displays of wisdom to promote a good life for all.