Are intelligent people less happy?

Question

Intelligent people, i have found are typically less happy. The reason for this is simple;they are better able to rationalize their delusions. The ability to stomach truth has little to do with intelligence-nothing in fact. The intellect is far better at arguing away truths than at finding them.

I'm not saying intelligent people are sad, i'm just saying it takes alot more effort to prove happiness to them and they are greater at seeing the delusions of fake happiness so less content.
And one person says its not scientifically provable-what does science have to do with matters like this? Not everything falls under material science.

Answer 1

I am very intelligent (at least my IQ says I am- LOL) and I'm very happy by nature. I have always been happy, even as a baby.
My older sister, also very intelligent, is not always happy, in fact, she's known as a bit of a complainer. She was also a baby that cried a lot.
It's all in the personality. I don't think it has anything to do with intelligence.

Answer 2

Because intelligent people go on to succeed at the demise of less intelligent people and the less intelligent people know this. Man invents god in his own insane image in order to cope with the insanity of it all. Life is not sane, and neither is man. Man attempts to, and in some cases has to justifies his actions as a result of having to succeed at the demise of the next man. ” It all very parasites like really” There is no such thing as race. Homa sapians wiped out other intelligent bipeds many thousands of years ago. What we have right now are culture clashes as a result of many mind sets being colloquial, uneducated and indoctrinated. It's all still very insane as long as primitive mans ego needs to invent where he came from, justify his actions and the need to know where he is going. Never mind know what he is doing. Maybe this will always be so. We are a perpetually, accentuating product of environmental circumstance that has no choice other than to do onto others as was done onto us without incurring some damage and knowledge upon ourselves. We learn and then perpetuate our behavior whilst exhibiting our hierarchical status, this is what we know as culture. There is no escape and anyone at any time can become the victim, that’s if we are not all victims in the first place. Good luck!

Answer 3

I would argue that (academically) intelligent people are not unhappy because they are able to "rationalize their delusions". They are likely unhappy because of the higher expectations for success placed on persons perceived to possess superior thinking skills. For example, consider a child who is a math prodigy at a very young age, but later, does not grow up to exceed the achievements of great mathematicians such as Einstein. The failure to live up to this very high and (perhaps unreasonable) expectation--something which persons of lesser mathematical ability would likely not entertain--might lead to unhappiness.

On a slightly different note, there has been a study on persons with genius IQs (your question falls within the domain of psychological science). The research showed that some grow up to be happy and others do not. Part of it was related to living up to the expectations (evidence by how many great works they produced). However, it turned out that the truly happy geniuses also possessed average to above average emotional/social intelligence. So in the context of your argument, that might mean that happy geniuses may avoid psychologically damaging thought patterns such as "rationalizing their delusions".

Answer 4

Your statement is contradictory. If one is able to "rationalize their delusions", shouldn't that ability cause ease of mind?

As for truth, the best of luck to anyone searching for this elusive beast. Too many variables. On the rare occasion when truth is finally discovered, it usually bites you on your *ss. To plagarize someone(?) , "Ignorance is bliss". However, some would say the pursuit of knowledge/truth is its own reward, to Hell with bliss. Count me among the bliss-free crowd. I'll take the bite.

I don't seem to be a jolly soul, do I? Fooled you! Thundering sense of humour have I!! I wouldn't be on Yahoo Answers if I didn't enjoy a good laugh. So now.........am I intelligent? If you want to judge 'intelligence' by a standard IQ test, I'm not the swiftest bunny in the woods, but I'm in the top five.(IQ 145)

Try not to generalize people. Perhaps Mr Smartie-Pants is not happy because his wife is having an affair or he's worried about his herb-smoking kid. No matter how smart you think you are, you can't control the actions of others. Mr Duhhhh could have the same type of dysfunctional family, but he's too dim to notice.

If you are unable to discover your own problems, how the Hell are you going to resolve them?

My theory.......intelligence or lack of it, has nothing to do with happiness. Life experiences, personality, faith, environment, health.....these are some factors that can either put a smile on your face or a handgun in your mouth.

Salut from Canada
{this message is 'eh-free', except for this one sentence}

Answer 5

I think intelligent people would typically look less happy and ignorance would appear to be a bliss.
The truth, however, is that neither intelligence nor intellect, nor ignorance nor naivety has much to do with the degree of happiness - although impacts a little through its effect on one's ego.

It is ego which is the real cause for unhappiness. Our ego neither allows us to expect reverses nor to accept failures. Its refusal to recognize "I can't" situations actually induces greater expectations than really warranted and widens the gap between expectations and results. Then again, its refusal to recognize failures as shortcomings makes it difficult to accept failures gracefully.

Our ego is fed much less and only indirectly by intelligence -- our ego is actually fed primarily by

past successes and peer respect,
current power and wealth and
perceived control over tomorrow.

You need intelligence to find the truth and ignorance to believe in it - in the quest for the truth, the intelligent look perennially dissatisfied even while they are actually satisfying themselves at every step of uncovering and discovering the unending myths.

Between Hitler and Einstein, who do we think was more unhappy ?

Answer 6

I don't think intelligent people are less happy. On the contrary, they are most happy, because of freedom of expression on any topic.It is up to you to accept his views in a right perspective. When two intelligent people are arguing on one subject for and against. Whatever may be the final result, lot of new ideas will emerge. Nobody is perfect and need not feel less happy or more happy. As a listener, I gather most of the new ideas.

Answer 7

Happiness has little or nothing to do with intelligence. It's more about what we do with what we have. An intelligent man may find happiness in perusing a collection of ancient Greek poems, a more dull-witted man may find Coronation Street a sublime experience. Swap the two around and they just wouldn't be happy (unless it were a particularly good episode of Coronation Street).

Answer 8

I think it depends on the person in question. But you are right. There are a lot of exceptionally bright people I've met that just seem so tortured and sad and depressed all the time.
Maybe it's the things intelligent people focus on that makes them less happy. But I know tons of extremely smart people that are happy, very happy indeed.

Answer 9

Yes, i agree.
I discover that the more you know the less happy you are. People seem to be happily deluded and ignorant (ignorance is bliss). Yet people who think things through are less happy.

Yet, for me, there is a different type of happiness in in knowing things. This is the satisfaction that you are no longer ignorant. In some ways this is good as you can see how much richer this world becomes as soon as you ask deep and complicated questions.

Answer 10

Yes intelligent people are less happy. For the reasons that you state. But they are also less sad. For the same reasons.
I would say the more intelligent is someone the more emotionally stable he is.
But they don't accept that flatness so they seek happiness in great goals and find sadness in great failures.

Answer 11

Intelligent people can be unhappy because they keep thinking that they know better than someone else, even they may be wrong sometimes as nobody is perfect. They tend to be more sarcastic too. They like to win in everything and always think ways to be person with last words. As a result, they think more, more sensitive, see minor little things that others not seeing, worry more, n unhappy 2. TOO intelligent people are often seen as wierdos, n too quiet, less sociable.