The Relationship Between Intelligence And Happiness
Many people believe that unintelligent people tend to be happier than others; As the popular phrase goes, “ignorance is bliss.” However, scientific research reveals that this is not really the case, but rather Happiness is usually associated with a higher intelligence quotient or IQ However, as we will see, this relationship is not direct.
In this article we will analyze the relationship between happiness and intelligence, mainly understood as CI. With this objective in mind, we will first stop to define the constructs “intelligence” and “happiness”, which are confusing and ambiguous from a scientific and investigative point of view.
The American Psychological Association (Neisser et al., 1996) stated that each person has a different conception of intelligence, although there are some common traits among the definitions of psychologists who are experts on this topic.
Intelligence could be described as a set of skills that allow us to learn from experience, understand complex ideas, reason, solve problems and adapt to the environment. It is not a unique or totally stable quality, but its value in a given individual depends on the traits that are measured and the time period.
A striking definition of intelligence is the operational one, according to which the most appropriate way to describe this construct is as “that which is measured by IQ tests” These tests evaluate skills such as spatial reasoning or processing speed and give a numerical result with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15.
However, these types of tests tend to leave out other aspects of intelligence that many people, both experts and laymen, consider equally fundamental. In this sense, emotional, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills especially stand out, which have a significant weight in happiness.
Happiness, well-being and quality of life
Happiness is extremely difficult to define, probably even more so than intelligence. There is not even agreement on whether it is a global state or rather a type of specific experience; This may be because the factors that determine personal satisfaction depend on each individual.
However, we can say that this term It is associated with positive emotions, from satisfaction to intense joy, as well as with personal development. In the scientific context, the use of other more specific constructs to replace “happiness” is usually preferred. Among these alternative concepts, well-being and quality of life stand out.
The concept of well-being focuses particularly on physical and psychological health although when this variable is defined in a technical context, a social dimension and another of personal development are usually also included within the set of traits that make it up.
Quality of life can be understood in an even broader way. In this case, additional facets include educational level, economic status, relationships at home, and many other environmental characteristics.
The relationship between intelligence and happiness
According to the analysis carried out by Ali’s team (2013) with a sample of 6870 people from England, People with a low or low-normal IQ (between 70 and 99) tend to be less happy than those whose intelligence exceeds the average, that is, 100. This relationship is mediated by income level, physical and psychological health, and daily activities.
These results are complemented by those obtained by Kern and Friedman (2008), who carried out a longitudinal study analyzing about a thousand people from childhood. Their research found lower happiness and social adjustment in adulthood in individuals who had greater educational attainment earlier in life.
Veenhoven and Choi (2012) draw an interesting conclusion from their meta-analysis on the relationship between intelligence and happiness around the world: a high national IQ is associated with greater satisfaction in the people who inhabit a given country. On the other hand, they do not find that intelligence influences happiness from an individual point of view.
In this sense, different authors deduce that people with a low IQ have a greater probability of being unhappy as consequence of situations of socioeconomic disadvantage and not directly because of their level of intelligence. These conditions also lead to a decrease in average mental and physical health.
On the other hand, research such as Bai and Niazi (2014) or Aminpoor (2013) find that emotional and interpersonal intelligence positively influence in life satisfaction. The skills that are included in these constructs, such as self-awareness and self-esteem, are strongly associated with what we describe as “happiness.”
Aminpoor, H. (2013). Relationship between social intelligence and happiness in Payame Noor University students. Annals of Biological Research, 4(5): 165-168.
Bai, N. & Niazi, S. M. (2014). The relationship between emotional intelligence and happiness in collegiate champions (Case study: Jiroft University). European Journal of Experimental Biology, 4(1): 587-590.
Kern, M.L. & Friedman, H.S. (2008). Early educational milestones as predictors of lifelong academic achievement, midlife adjustment, and longevity. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30(4): 419–430.
Neisser, U., Boodoo, G., Bouchard, T.J., Boykin, A.W., Brody, N., Ceci, S.J., Halpern, D.F., Loehlin, J.C., Perloff, R., Sternberg, R.J. & Urbina, S. (1996 ). Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns. American Psychologist, 51(2): 77.
Veenhoven, R. & Choi, Y. (2012). Does intelligence boost happiness? Smartness of all countries more than being smarter than others. International Journal of Happiness and Development, 1(1): 5-27.
