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Hi, I’m Carin Rockind. Welcome to PPND Bites, where we give you 60-second helpings of the positive psychology news you need to know. Big question, are happiness and intellect correlated? The answer might be yes.
Recent research shows that looking at people who are 50 years and older, and looking at their intellect, their cognitive ability, as well as their subjective well being, indeed there was a correlation. The people with the higher intellect were happier. Similar research in 2015 showed the same thing, that a study of nearly 6900 people, looked at IQ scores and subjective well-being scores, and what they found were those with the lowest IQ also had lower happiness.
So, indeed there seems to be a correlation. We don’t exactly know why, is it that people with higher intellect have more opportunity, or are more liked? We don’t know, I’d love to hear from you on why you think that is. With that we hope you enjoyed this PPND Bite, we hope it helps you live a happier better and more fulfilling life. Bye for now.
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References
Ali, A. et al. (2013). The relationship between happiness and intelligent quotient: the contribution of socio-economic and clinical factors. Psychological Medicine, 43(6). 1303-1312.
Ahmed, R., Kesavayuth, D., and Zikos, V. (in press) Does Being Smarter Make You Happier? Evidence from Europe. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, DOI