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2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44
A high level of intelligence does not mean that a person is able to make wise decisions.
IQ does not affect life satisfaction
What does it mean to be smart? We usually describe this as someone who knows a lot and makes wise decisions. However, this definition has nothing to do with the most common way of measuring intelligence - the IQ test. After all, it includes tasks on visual-spatial orientation, math problems, pattern recognition and visual search, vocabulary questions.
The benefits of high intelligence are clear: Smart people learn better, are more likely to succeed in their careers, and are less likely to get into trouble as adolescents. However, intelligence does not predetermine other areas of life, in particular well-being.
You might think that good grades in school or success at work lead to more satisfaction in life, but scientists have found no evidence that IQ has any effect on this.
Most intelligence tests do not measure the ability to make decisions in real conditions and the ability to interact with other people.
Psychologist Igor Grossmann of the University of Waterloo in Canada believes that this explains why smart people do stupid things. But scientists associate critical thinking with well-being and longevity.
Critical thinking and wellbeing
Critical thinking is a set of cognitive skills that help us think rationally and appropriately, as well as the ability to use these skills. Critical people are skeptical. They need proof of their views. They recognize attempts to convince them of false judgments and try to overcome thinking errors.
Researchers from different countries have come to the conclusion that those who think critically experience fewer unpleasant experiences in life. During the research, participants were asked to describe life events and critically assess them. At the same time, such components of critical thinking as verbal and logical thinking, analysis of arguments, testing of hypotheses, probability and uncertainty, decision making and problem solving were measured.
The described negative events affected various areas: education ("I did not prepare for the exam"), health ("I got infected because I did not use a condom"), laws ("I was arrested for drunk driving"), interpersonal relationships ("I cheated on his other half”), finance (“I have huge credit card debts”).
It turned out that critically thinking people experience fewer negative events. And that's great news, because critical thinking can be developed and improved. This means that you can improve your life too.
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Stupid Things Smart People Do
It turns out that smart people are also prone to doing stupid things, they just do not pay attention to it and suffer the consequences themselves. Are smart people so ideal and insured against stupid actions? In fact, it makes no difference how educated you are, because even the smartest person has a whole list of stupid things that he regularly does in his life.