You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27–40,

which are based on the reading passage below.

How to make wise decisions

Across cultures, wisdom has been considered one of the most

revered human qualities. Although the truly wise may seem

few and far between, empirical research examining wisdom

suggests that it isn’t an exceptional trait possessed by a

small handful of bearded philosophers after all – in fact, the

latest studies suggest that most of us have the ability to

make wise decisions, given the right context.

‘It appears that experiential, situational, and cultural factors

are even more powerful in shaping wisdom than previously

imagined,’ says Associate Professor Igor Grossmann of the

University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. ‘Recent empirical

findings from cognitive, developmental, social, and

personality psychology cumulatively suggest that people’s

ability to reason wisely varies dramatically across

experiential and situational contexts. Understanding the role

of such contextual factors offers unique insights into

understanding wisdom in daily life, as well as how it can be

enhanced and taught.’

It seems that it’s not so much that some people simply

possess wisdom and others lack it, but that our ability to

reason wisely depends on a variety of external factors. ‘It is

impossible to characterize thought processes attributed to

wisdom without considering the role of contextual factors,’

explains Grossmann. ‘In other words, wisdom is not solely an

“inner quality” but rather unfolds as a function of situations

people happen to be in. Some situations are more likely to

promote wisdom than others.’

Coming up with a definition of wisdom is challenging, but

Grossmann and his colleagues have identified four key

characteristics as part of a framework of wise reasoning. One

is intellectual humility or recognition of the limits of our own

knowledge, and another is appreciation of perspectives wider

than the issue at hand. Sensitivity to the possibility of change

in social relations is also key, along with compromise or

integration of different attitudes and beliefs.

Grossmann and his colleagues have also found that one of

the most reliable ways to support wisdom in our own day-to-

day decisions is to look at scenarios from a third-party

perspective, as though giving advice to a friend. Research

suggests that when adopting a first-person viewpoint we

focus on ‘the focal features of the environment’ and when we

adopt a third-person, ‘observer’ viewpoint we reason more

broadly and focus more on interpersonal and moral ideals

such as justice and impartiality. Looking at problems from

this more expansive viewpoint appears to foster cognitive

processes related to wise decisions.

What are we to do, then, when confronted with situations like

a disagreement with a spouse or negotiating a contract at

work, that require us to take a personal stake? Grossmann

argues that even when we aren’t able to change the

situation, we can still evaluate these experiences from

different perspectives.

For example, in one experiment that took place during the

peak of a recent economic recession, graduating college

seniors were asked to reflect on their job prospects. The

students were instructed to imagine their career either ‘as if

you were a distant observer’ or ‘before your own eyes as if

you were right there’. Participants in the group assigned to

the ‘distant observer’ role displayed more wisdom-related

reasoning (intellectual humility and recognition of change)

than did participants in the control group.

In another study, couples in long-term romantic relationships

were instructed to visualize an unresolved relationship

conflict either through the eyes of an outsider or from their

own perspective. Participants then discussed the incident

with their partner for 10 minutes, after which they wrote

down their thoughts about it. Couples in the ‘other’s eyes’

condition were significantly more likely to rely on wise

reasoning – recognizing others’ perspectives and searching

for a compromise – compared to the couples in the

egocentric condition.

‘Ego-decentering promotes greater focus on others and

enables a bigger picture, conceptual view of the experience,

affording recognition of intellectual humility and change,’

says Grossmann.
We might associate wisdom with intelligence or particular

personality traits, but research shows only a small positive

relationship between wise thinking and crystallized

intelligence and the personality traits of openness and

agreeableness. ‘It is remarkable how much people can vary

in their wisdom from one situation to the next, and how much

stronger such contextual effects are for understanding the

relationship between wise judgment and its social and

affective outcomes as compared to the generalized “traits”,’

Grossmann explains. ‘That is, knowing how wisely a person

behaves in a given situation is more informative for

understanding their emotions or likelihood to forgive [or]

retaliate as compared to knowing whether the person may be

wise “in general”.’

Questions 27 – 30

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.

27. What point does the writer make in the first paragraph?
 A Wisdom appears to be unique to the human race.

B A basic assumption about wisdom may be wrong.

C Concepts of wisdom may depend on the society we

belong to.

D There is still much to be discovered about the nature

of wisdom.

28. What does Igor Grossmann suggest about the ability to

make wise decisions?

A It can vary greatly from one person to another.

B Earlier research into it was based on unreliable data.

C The importance of certain influences on it was

underestimated.

D Various branches of psychology define it according

to their own criteria.

29. According to the third paragraph, Grossmann claims that

the level of wisdom an individual shows

A can be greater than they think it is.

 B will be different in different circumstances.

C may be determined by particular aspects of their

personality.

D should develop over time as a result of their life

experiences.

30. What is described in the fifth paragraph?

A a difficulty encountered when attempting to reason

wisely

B an example of the type of person who is likely to

reason wisely

C a controversial view about the benefits of reasoning

wisely

D a recommended strategy that can help people to

reason wisely

Questions 31 – 35
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-J, below.

Write the correct letter, A-J, in boxes 31-35 on your answer

sheet.

The characteristics of wise reasoning

Igor Grossmann and colleagues have established four

characteristics which enable us to make wise decisions. It is

important to have a certain degree of 31 …………………..

regarding the extent of our knowledge, and to take into

account 32 ………………….. which may not be the same as

our own. We should also be able to take a

broad 33 ………………….. of any situation. Another key

characteristic is being aware of the likelihood of alterations in

the way that people relate to each other.

Grossmann also believes that it is better to regard scenarios

with 34 ………………….. . By avoiding the first-person

perspective, we focus more on 35 ………………….. and on

other moral ideals, which in turn leads to wiser decision-

making.
A opinions B confidence C view

D modesty E problems F objectivity

G fairness H experiences I range

J reasons

Questions 36 – 40

Do the following statements agree with the information given

in Reading Passage?

In boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet, write -

TRUE if the statement agrees with the

information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the

information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

36. Students participating in the job prospects experiment

could choose one of two perspectives to take.

37. Participants in the couples experiment were aware that

they were taking part in a study about wise reasoning.

38. In the couples experiments, the length of the couples’

relationships had an impact on the results.

39. In both experiments, the participants who looked at the

situation from a more detached viewpoint tended to make

wiser decisions.

40. Grossmann believes that a person’s wisdom is

determined by their intelligence to only a very limited extent.

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27–40,

which are based on the reading passage below.

The future of work

According to a leading business consultancy, 3-14% of the

global workforce will need to switch to a different occupation

within the next 10-15 years, and all workers will need to

adapt as their occupations evolve alongside increasingly

capable machines. Automation – or ‘embodied artificial

intelligence’ (AI) – is one aspect of the disruptive effects of

technology on the labour market. ‘Disembodied AI’, like the

algorithms running in our smartphones, is another.

Dr Stella Pachidi from Cambridge Judge Business School

believes that some of the most fundamental changes are

happening as a result of the ‘algorithmication’ of jobs that

are dependent on data rather than on production – the so-

called knowledge economy. Algorithms are capable of

learning from data to undertake tasks that previously needed

human judgement, such as reading legal contracts, analysing

medical scans and gathering market intelligence.

‘In many cases, they can outperform humans,’ says Pachidi.

‘Organisations are attracted to using algorithms because

they want to make choices based on what they consider is

“perfect information”, as well as to reduce costs and enhance

productivity.’

‘But these enhancements are not without consequences,’

says Pachidi. ‘If routine cognitive tasks are taken over by AI,

how do professions develop their future experts?’ she asks.

‘One way of learning about a job is “legitimate peripheral

participation” – a novice stands next to experts and learns by

observation. If this isn’t happening, then you need to find

new ways to learn.’

Another issue is the extent to which the technology

influences or even controls the workforce. For over two years,

Pachidi monitored a telecommunications company. ‘The way

telecoms salespeople work is through personal and frequent

contact with clients, using the benefit of experience to assess

a situation and reach a decision. However, the company had

started using a[n] … algorithm that defined when account

managers should contact certain customers about which

kinds of campaigns and what to offer them.’

The algorithm – usually build by external designers – often

becomes the keeper of knowledge, she explains. In cases like

this, Pachidi believes, a short-sighted view begins to creep

into working practices whereby workers learn through the

‘algorithm’s eyes’ and become dependent on its instructions.

Alternative explorations – where experimentation and human

instinct lead to progress and new ideas – are effectively

discouraged.

Pachidi and colleagues even observed people developing

strategies to make the algorithm work to their own

advantage. ‘We are seeing cases where workers feed the

algorithm with false data to reach their targets,’ she reports.

It’s scenarios like these that many researchers are working to

avoid. Their objective is to make AI technologies more

trustworthy and transparent, so that organisations and

individuals understand how AI decisions are made. In the

meantime, says Pachidi, ‘We need to make sure we fully

understand the dilemmas that this new world raises

regarding expertise, occupational boundaries and control.’

Economist Professor Hamish Low believes that the future of

work will involve major transitions across the whole life

course for everyone: ‘The traditional trajectory of full-time

education followed by full-time work followed by a pensioned

retirement is a thing of the past,’ says Low. Instead, he

envisages a multistage employment life: one where

retraining happens across the life course, and where multiple

jobs and no job happen by choice at different stages.

On the subject of job losses, Low believes the predictions are

founded on a fallacy: ‘It assumes that the number of jobs is

fixed. If in 30 years, half of 100 jobs are being carried out by

robots, that doesn’t mean we are left with just 50 jobs for

humans. The number of jobs will increase: we would expect

there to be 150 jobs.’

Dr Ewan McGaughey, at Cambridge’s Centre for Business

Research and King’s College London, agrees that

‘apocalyptic’ views about the future of work are misguided.

‘It’s the laws that restrict the supply of capital to the job

market, not the advent of new technologies that causes

unemployment.’

His recently published research answers the question of

whether automation, AI and robotics will mean a ‘jobless

future’ by looking at the causes of unemployment. ‘History is

clear that change can mean redundancies. But social policies

can tackle this through retraining and redeployment.’

He adds: ‘If there is going to be change to jobs as a result of

AI and robotics then I’d like to see governments seizing the

opportunity to improve policy to enforce good job security.

We can “reprogramme” the law to prepare for a fairer future

of work and leisure.’ McGaughey’s findings are a call to arms

to leaders of organisations, governments and banks to pre-

empt the coming changes with bold new policies that

guarantee full employment, fair incomes and a thriving

economic democracy.

‘The promises of these new technologies are astounding.

They deliver humankind the capacity to live in a way that

nobody could have once imagined,’ he adds. ‘Just as the

industrial revolution brought people past subsistence

agriculture, and the corporate revolution enabled mass

production, a third revolution has been pronounced. But it

will not only be one of technology. The next revolution will be

social.’

Questions [Reading Passage - The future of work]

Questions 27 – 30

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.

27. The first paragraph tells us about

 A. the kinds of jobs that will be most affected by the

growth of AI.

B. the extent to which AI will after the nature of the work

that people do.

C. the proportion of the world’s labour force who will have

jobs in AI in the future.

D. the difference between ways that embodied and

disembodied AI with impact on workers.

28. According to the second paragraph, what is Stella

Pachidi’s view of the ‘knowledge economy’?

A. It is having an influence on the number of jobs

available.

B. It is changing people’s attitudes towards their

occupations.

C. It is the main reason why the production sector is

declining.

D. It is a key factor driving current developments in the

workplace.

29. What did Pachidi observe at the

telecommunications company?
 A. staff disagreeing with the recommendations of AI.

B. staff feeling resentful about the intrusion of AI in their

work.

C. staff making sure that AI produces the results that they

want.

D. staff allowing AI to carry out tasks they ought to do

themselves.

30. In his recently published research, Ewan

McGaughey

A. challenges the idea that redundancy is a negative

thing.

B. shows the profound effect of mass unemployment on

society.

C. highlights some differences between past and future

job losses.

D. illustrates how changes in the job market can be

successfully handled.

Questions 31 – 40
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-G, below.

Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 31-34 on your answer

sheet.

The ‘algorithmication’ of jobs

Stella Pachidi of Cambridge Judge Business School has been

focusing on the ‘algorithmication’ of jobs which rely not on

production but on 31 ............................ .

While monitoring a telecommunications company, Pachidi

observed a growing 32 ............................ . on the

recommendations made by AI, as workers begin to learn

through the ‘algorithm’s eyes’. Meanwhile, staff are deterred

from experimenting and using their

own 33 ............................ ., and are therefore prevented

from achieving innovation.

To avoid the kind of situations which Pachidi observed,

researchers are trying to make AI’s decision-making process

easier to comprehend, and to increase

users’ 34 ............................ .with regard to the technology.

A pressure B satisfaction C intuition

D promotion E reliance F confidence

G information

Questions 35-40

Look at the following statements (Questions 35-40) and the

list of people below.

Match each statement with the correct person, A, B or C.

Write the correct letter, A, B or C, in boxes 35-40 on your

answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

35. Greater levels of automation will not result in lower

employment.

36. There are several reasons why AI is appealing to

businesses.

37. AI’s potential to transform people’s lives has parallels

with major cultural shifts which occurred in previous eras.

38. It is important to be aware of the range of problems that

AI causes.

39. People are going to follow a less conventional career

path than in the past.

40. Authorities should take measures to ensure that there

will be adequately paid work for everyone

List of people

A Stella Pachidi

B Hamish Low

C Ewan McGaughey