Intelligent People tend to be Unhappy

[Guest dragonb111]

haha this is cool

but cannot totally agree with you because I think that it depends on personality and many different things. It is just a stereotype that intelligent people are less happy

agreed. I also believe it depends on the people around you and how you treat them.

[missrunway]

you know what, maybe the statement is true because intellegent people know a lot about certin areas so maybe when something isn't working out, like a theory or something, hey get unhappy, nd this will happen often because they don't really know everything so then they will be unhappy everythime

[purplestarfish]

i don't know. i was just thinking: could it be possible that more intelligent people seem to be unhappy because their measure and standard for happiness is higher than most? and also because they tend to analyse every aspect of everything which tends to make them disappointed if everything is not up to par?

just throwing that thought out there.

[cereja]

As a perfectionist, I tend to get disappointed if things don't go as I expect. But I don't let it get to me. I know plenty of really intelligent people that are extremely happy. They just know how to balance things in their lives.

What do you think the standard is for "intelligent" people? Getting all A's? Being in the top % of their class? Someone that is savvy and street-smart? Or book-smart?

Because depending on you definition of intelligent people, you will get different perspectives. I don't consider myself to be a genius, or even really smart. But some people think I am. So what is your definition?

[purplestarfish]

well. i don't have an exact definition of intelligent. i guess being intelligent is more of a perception rather than a tangible thing. i guess i can peg the definition of intelligent as someone who is perceived by other people as intelligent.

im not sure if this made sense to you. but yeah.

[jasmine]

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i think being more intelligent/educated makes people dislike you, because of jealously. if you come to my school, and see how they treat the ib kids, its pretty brutal, we get ridiculed at, joked at and verbally abused all the time because of the fact that we're in this hard program that prepares us for the future, but instead of giving up, we stick together, which builds a great deal of teamwork. But in general my IB friends, are cheerleaders, football players, basketball players, actors, officers, etc, and we don't have a problem with being unhappy. Maybe overworked, but never unhappy, we're actually quite an optimistic bunch. I just find it annoying when people make fun of us because of our lack of common sense, they expect us to know everything and when we say we don't know they just really take it to another level.

and when you think about it, the top 10 percent of high iq people in the us, are teachers, and they are extremely underpaid and given little to no respect.

but i guess many could argue that knowledge can be a curse because, well you know too much and that carefree element you had and curiosity as a child, just leaves and nothing seems to be right. Like they say, ignorance is bliss.

I agree with you that if a person is intelligent people will dislike him.I have experienced this myself. Believe me it is a horrible feeling. No one is ready to speak to you, just bcoz you are smarter than them.My classmates think that i am too studious and therefore they think i have an 'attitude problem'. therefore i pretend that i am not smart, and make them believe that i am one of their kind. does anyone have any solution to my problem.

[Xerox]

The problem is not in being smart, but just the lack of social skills, which leads to an inbalanced life.

This lack is due to less practice as children, and yes, i believe that some (not all) intellegent people have this due to being intellegent in early grade school. But it is not just intelligent people that have this, there are so many reasons why kids get to be the outsider that it is not even worth trying to figure out the reasons. Not everyone is unhappy because their life is unbalanced, but i think many people are.

If given the choice, being smart but spending all your time on your work, or being less smart say dumb, but having a life?

which would you chose? i would take the second, as that would create a balance, and that would probebly make me happy.

I know that many people here wanna go far and get good grades and great jobs, but i encourage you to never lose perspective.

There are things in life more important then that, have a life, a social life gives you much more then a great job ever will.

(of cource i am GOING to have both, believe in yourself and think positive, btw see that movie "the secret" that someone else mentioned.

it is worth thinking about what they say there)

[Shorty]

^So true...just the other day I watched a new program about kids in Asia, mainly china, that spend all of their times infront of the tv or at after school classes instead of going outside to play with kids their age. One scientist said that kids have their entire lives to do their homework and watch tv but only their childhood to practice communication skills with their peers.

Edited August 7, 2008 by Shorty

[dooreket]

I believe the more intelligent you become, the easier it is to enjoy life by widening your life options. Consider Richard Feynman. In my view, there are few people in life who enjoyed life as much as he did. He always looked for new adventures in life. I guess it all depends on how we define intelligence. Intillegence, in my view, is how a person uses all his mental abilities in all aspects of life. The more intelligent you are, the more capable you will be to reach out to many life experiences.

A perso n might gain pleasure from all the money he spends, all the wine he drinks and clothes he wears. But you can't call that happiness. It is the things we do daily in the end which are our key to happiness.

[djshah]

Hemmingway has a point, but I think one of the main roots of unhappiness in people is an inbalance in some aspects of their lives....For example, intelligence tends to be associated with introversion and isolation perhaps because the intellectual activity goes on in one's mind. When one becomes introverted, he or she lacks in other areas...maybe socially. When there is that inbalance, there may be unhappiness. Perhaps one may be too social and then lack in the educational realm....that inbalance, too, may lead to unhappiness.

It's all about the balance. Yin and yang. Yada yada.

That is exactly what I think. I have been on both sides. I used to be too social which made me unhappy because my school life was horrible. Than once I started to balance things out and stared getting good grades I feel GREAT... lol ...

But how does one classify intelligent? Grades?? But good grades can come because of extra effort. Or is working hard classified as intelligent?? Or someone who is naturally and exceptionally intelligent who are very rare to come by??

[blaamm]

I think that intelligent people tend to be unhappy because they put much more pressure on themselves to succeed and know too much things

[meganeloise]

The more intelligent you are, the more you realise what is really going on.

Ignorance is bliss?

[mandeeg1209]

Knowing too much lead to unhappiness.

I don't think it's only necessarily knowing to much, but thinking to much. Knowledge can lead to it, but I think the more you know the more you are disgusted at what is going on. At least that's how I feel. I feel like the more I know the more I think that the world is pointless. The more you achieve, the less it matters. Sure, it would be nice to be on top but what is that going to get you?

The more you know the less you are willing to believe without seeing and experiencing it for yourself. So, things that other people would accept, you are not as willing to believe. The result is a life of torment.

I'm not saying that knowledge and unhappiness always go together, I just know that in a lot of my friends and I, the more that we know, the unhappier we get. I think it's a sad cycle, but it happens.

[Xerox]

Haha so cool how different people can think. I have totally the oppisite happening to me, the more i know the more the world makes sence and enjoyable. There are so many oppertunities that you can take, explore intresting stuff etc.

Also you can make the world a better place by investing your time in the right stuff.

I know that the whole poverty thing and world suffering can be very hard for some people, but i don't see it as that it is my fault or that i "ought" to help them. I see it as i might get the oppertunity to make the world a better place. And yes this also belongs to the world, and to me in a wierd way this also makes sence.

[TeeBlake]

i would think so...

intelligent people would want to go for more stuff, and think a lot more...may lead to disappointment

but on the other hand...they know what they want, so clearer goals

[heronumbazero]

I do not think so. I think happiness is undefined. Less intelligent people are not clear on their goals. Intelligent people are.

If you don't know what you want, you will be happy with whatever you get. If you do know what you want and fail to attain it, then I guess you are "unhappy" for a time.

But, I do not think there really is a relationship there, honestly.

[Solarstorm]

Knowing too much leads to unhappiness, because in the quest of knowledge after thinking deep, you always find something very disturbing truth... So ultimately that makes you unhappy...... that is the reason after the started thinking too much for the truth for every question that came to my mind, it made sad after knowing about the hidden disguised truths from the people.

[greg112358]

Being exceptionally smart is only a cause for unhappiness because those people are a very small minority. There are very few people that they can relate to. That would make any person, reguardless of intelligence, feel unhappy.

[Solarstorm]

Being exceptionally smart is only a cause for unhappiness because those people are a very small minority. There are very few people that they can relate to. That would make any person, reguardless of intelligence, feel unhappy.

That is why i do not want to make myself more sad by digging in more publicly hidden secrets, but the skeptical mind..

[bingbangsurvivor]

The thing about happiness and intelligence, well I heard about it before in different ways. For example, I know that most of the people who are going through a depression are most likely to be the intelligent, creative people. If we suppose that there is a negative slope between the intelligence(y axis) and happiness(x-axis), then could this be because more intelligent people can see the world through 'different'eyes and see it as more cruel, hopeless and think that his/her life is insignificant and nothing in comparison to the world, not to speak of the Universe. But if this would be so, then intelligent people should realise that they cannot help too much on the situation and that they've got to enjoy this life and might look for ways to stay positive and enthusiastic.

And about geeks beeing outsiders in West, well I don't really know. In my school things are not in the same way. Someone who is smart and gets very good grades is more likely to become popular than unpopular. But I don't really know how it is in other countries. Nevertheless, I still think than many people respect/like intelligent persons and would enjoy their company rather than bullying them or whatever.