Moral & Character

The link between happiness and wealth, health, intelligence and trust

‘Less Intelligent People often doubt & Intelligent People more trusting’

After having read all the commentaries of all the articles I posted on this forum, I have come to the conclusion that less intelligent readers often doubt and intelligent readers are more trusting. I also found that some of those people who often doubted, very quickly realized their misjudgment. Surprisingly I also see that some of the readers who abused me changed their attitude and become more supportive.

However, I was not so sure of my conclusion until I read the article entitled “Intelligent People More Trusting” from the Sun of 1st April 2014.

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A new study out of Oxford University indicates intelligent people are more likely to trust others as well as being trusted themselves, while those with lower scores on intelligence scales aren’t as trusting.

Researchers based findings on an analysis of the General Social Survey, a nationally representative public opinion survey in the US that occurs every one to two years. The study supports previous research on trust and intelligence in European countries.

Researchers say one potential explanation is smarter people are better at judging character and are, therefore, less likely to involve themselves with those who may ‘betray’ them.

“Intelligence is shown to be linked with trusting others, even after taking into account factors like marital status, education and income”, says lead author Noah Carl of the Oxford Department of Sociology.

“This finding supports what other researchers have argued, namely that being a good judge of character is a distinct part of human intelligence which evolved through natural selection.”

However, Carl added that there are other possible interpretations of the evidence, and further research is needed to disentangle them.

“People who trust others seem to report better health and greater happiness,” added Prof Francesco Billari of the same department, who was also one of the study’s authors.

However, researchers also found the links between trust and health , and trust and happiness, are “not explained by intelligence”.

Research, instead, confirms trust as a valuable resource for an individual, and not merely a measure of intelligence.

Conclusion: In all the above studies, wealth is not mentioned. I believe there is also a link between wealth and intelligence, trust, health and happiness. Without intelligence, one cannot be rich unless he has valuable inheritance. One cannot be rich unless he is intelligent and more trusting in what he reads. He must also trust his own judgment. Of course, our final aim in life must be happiness. One cannot be happy without wealth, health, intelligence and trust.

My intention in writing this piece is not to discourage readers from criticizing my writings. I wish to take this opportunity to reassure readers that I always welcome controversial views because I believe if I do not consider others point of view, I will not learn anything new. Of course, I do not expect readers to use abusive language to ridicule me.

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