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Why aren't smart people happier?

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Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#261

Post by bitcurious »

corobo wrote: post #169

My theory is that overall life happiness is a measure of your reality vs your potential. If you're smart then you're probably in a field that has infinite opportunities and paths available. If you're not, you've probably landed in the niche that works nicely for you. The former's potential is near infinite, the latter is pretty damn close to their endgame and happy to repeat till retirement. Sidebar I dislike the ter…

> My theory is that overall life happiness is a measure of your reality vs your potential.

It's an interesting theory, can you reconcile it with the propensity of the intelligent to feel imposter syndrome?

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#262

Post by h0l0cube »

lostmsu wrote: post #149
h0l0cube wrote: post #89

The crux of the article: > Spearman was right that people differ in their ability to solve well-defined problems. But he was wrong that well-defined problems are the only kind of problems. “Why can’t I find someone to spend my life with?” “Should I be a dentist or a dancer?” and “How do I get my child to stop crying?” are all important but poorly defined problems. “How can we all get along?” is not a multiple-choice…

That's wish-washing the answer where none is needed. I bet you smarter people are better at answering all of the questions you listed. Cursory search on IQ vs marital status confirms that.

> all of the questions you listed

The article listed.

> Cursory search on IQ vs marital status confirms that

The article is concerned with happiness and intelligence. I can’t speak to the strength of its evidence, but it does present a graph that shows a flat lined measure of happiness that spans 80 years despite an increase of 15 IQ points in that time.

> That's wish-washing the answer where none is needed.

I wasn’t answering a question I was just quoting the article

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#264

Post by knaik94 »

This seem to fit with a related idea I have been thinking a lot about. What the relationship between having potential when you're young means in terms of how much success you will reach when you're older. And where does passion fit in this picture. If smart people end up being able to find their passion, are they more successful and does that lead to more happiness? Or is the hedonic treadmill inescapable.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#266

Post by bena »

ipython wrote: post #207
jrochkind1 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was expecting the OP to say that smarter people were less likely to be happy, because that is the sense a lot of us who believe ourselves to be "smart" have. But that's not what OP is about, and it suggests that's not really what the research says either, there's maybe a bit of hint of a small negative correlation like that, but mostly it says: no correlation. Rather than making the argument you are making, which I…

I came here to make the same points that you made so eloquently. The only thing I’ll add is that I wonder if there is some correlation between the traits that make someone so good at solving “well defined” problems and mental illnesses. You can’t be “happy” if you’re paranoid (as one of the OP examples- a 9/11 conspiracy where his own theory- Cognitive Theoretical Model of the Universe, or CTMU- is under attack.

I forget where, but I read somewhere that people are good at recognizing patterns are susceptible to conspiratorial thinking because they see patterns everywhere.

And one of the components of intelligence is pattern recognition.

Basically they fall for the social version of pareidolia.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#267

Post by okamiueru »

anthropodie wrote: post #29
okamiueru wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if wisdom really helps. Or, maybe I just feel that way, because I lack it. How would wisdom help with happiness, when you see a likely worsening climate, rampant inequality for really no good reason, which together with the former is bound to cause significant sivil unrest and wars in the coming decades? In my limited version of it, is to strive to be humble, and the happiness for those around you. Find…

Wisdom, I think, wants us to focus on our abilities and what we can do. Things that are outside our control will always make us unhappy. So if we do our part I think we eventually find happiness in whatever change we were able to bring in this world. And when enough people do that we fix all the problems mentioned at beginning of your comment. > You want to change world? Go home and love your family. - Mother Teresa

I don't want to sound like a contrarian, because, I sort of agree. Or, rather, I would like to be able to agree.

Perhaps presumptuous, but I don't think wisdom goes together with either inaction, complacency, or otherwise willful ignorance. Which, seems to be the gist of the replies my previous comment received.

I still think that not worrying/complaining about things we cannot control or affect holds true for many things, and many aspects. However, I disagree with the premise. We can all do something, some more than others.

I've categorically refused jobs in the oil and gas sector, and increasingly become picky about what to devote my professional life to. I very consciously try not to be a consumerist, though I'm probably in the global top 10%, given statistics for my country. I eat meat, even though it doesn't help. I have traveled the world for my own amusement, though I've come to see it as an absolutely ridiculous thing to have done.

I could definitely do more. I could actively devote my life to it. I could decide not to have kids. Etc.

Is it wisdom to ignore these problems? Or to find happiness as a state of mind, in spite of it? I would assume it's the latter. I just don't know if wisdom is the right word for it. But maybe it is.

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#269

Post by corobo »

bitcurious wrote: post #261
corobo wrote: post #169

My theory is that overall life happiness is a measure of your reality vs your potential. If you're smart then you're probably in a field that has infinite opportunities and paths available. If you're not, you've probably landed in the niche that works nicely for you. The former's potential is near infinite, the latter is pretty damn close to their endgame and happy to repeat till retirement. Sidebar I dislike the ter…

> My theory is that overall life happiness is a measure of your reality vs your potential. It's an interesting theory, can you reconcile it with the propensity of the intelligent to feel imposter syndrome?

I have no science to back up my claim but my knee jerk hunch is that people who weren't supported by their peers during the learning process go on to develop imposter syndrome.

Y'know like the classic story of being outcast unless you hide being into learning "You read books?! What a nerd!", "Teacher's pet!", "Why don't you go invent a gravity, Einstein"

Without early peer support there's no foundational confidence in your abilities and without that comes imposter syndrome later

Again I have no data other than my own experience, n=1 and barely at that. You'd definitely want to ask around a bit to see if this even matches up with other peoples experiences before accepting it as any sort of truth

E: It might not be that specific, any sort of educational trauma (for lack of a better way to describe it. Learning disorders, dyslexia, a lack of school experience entirely, having to take care of someone during your school years) would probably do it if the foundational skill confidence theory is in any way plausible

Re: Why aren't smart people happier?

#270

Post by shafyy »

tasuki wrote: post #250
shafyy wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For example, having children decreases the former yet increases the latter. For you, maybe. This is not true for everbody.

How do you know? People are notoriously bad at predicting what will make them happy/unhappy. (fwiw, I'm not saying you're wrong)

I'm just saying that comment I replied to makes this sound as universal truth. Wanting children and being happy about having children are subjective things. There are people who don't have children and are happy about it, people who have children but are unhappy about it and everything inbetween.

People who want to have children should have them, and people who don't want to have children shoudln't have them =)

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