Intelligent People tend to be Unhappy

[eblake]

It absolutely can, and that's why it's important to still search for meaning. But when belief is no longer questioned, then I'd say it turns problematic for a variety of different reasons.

agreeeed Mr. Shiver.

In response to the BIRT of this thread then..

perhaps people who are only 'intelligent' are 'unhappy'. And if there is a negative connotation there, perhaps this is still better than what blind believers experience. Maybe it's a developing-type thing. Don't a lot of scientists turn to religion nearing the end of their lives? I don't know about anyone else, but I would need sustained belief and intelligence to be content.

[Mr. Shiver]

Haha, sorry I edited my post because I was questioning my own statement.

[happy sun]

Knowing too much lead to unhappiness.

HEYz guys i just joined the forum i am going 2go 2 a united world college to do IB next years.haha i hear its really hard n that yes their is a lot of smart people but the problem with this is that it's said that they are exstreamly unhappy bcuz of the work load that they hav.on a personal level i believe that ya u can be smart n still be happy u just need to balance your life in the correct way for example you enjoy football and you hav a math test the next but there is a really good game coming up.to b happy u need to study b4 the game so that u can enjoy the game n probably 1nce the game is finished you can do a bit of revision again that way u will b happy cuz u hav done 2 things that will leave u filling smart and at the same time having a "life" so to say.haha but all in all the more u knw the better u are a making decesions therefor you make less mistakes n regret less=happiness.....tht is all i wud like to say haha really like to forum it has great stuff n cant wait to upload n download stuff n also take part in such cool discussions ..ok haha cios ppl enjoy

[lindieeluieee]

It depends on their personality and lifestyle.

I'll just list a few of the different kinds of intelligent ppl I think exist out there.

Those who are intelligent and think they are better than everyone else. This breeds arrogance and jealousy when they meet someone who also have a high IQ.

The ones who are intelligent to know that they know not enough. Which makes them unhappy.

The ones who are constantly in search of knowledge and keep it to themselves at their own leisure. For these ppl, knowledge is happiness, so thus they are constantly happy.

[Alfabeta]

I believe that once you are inteligent , you notice all the things in life you miss out on... All possiblities which are taken away from you ....

[Mrs.Pattinson]

Supposely, at least one person in the top 10 rank in high school commit suicide. One of my friends told me, and I don't know how accurate that is, but I wouldnt be suprised. I know naturally intelligent people who ARE happy, and some are probably suffering more than anyone could know. This is a very moot point for me. I think I shall remain neutral on this.

[Tilia]

Well, I've been told that I think too much and that's why I sometimes find things hard. But there must be more than intelligence to it...

[Alfabeta]

I agree with tha above post , thinking makes you unhappy, and makes life even harder. Some of you have might read popular music from vittula in your A1 language, and the author writes in that book , if you think too much , and start reading books my son, you will go mad. And I think there is something into this. Therefore I drink , etanol helps you get through the day at least the weekends.....

[Forester]

Cogito, ergo sum

[tinkerbell18]

I personally think that that depends from person to person and that we cant say it in general ;-)

[avrila]

Well, I've been told that I think too much and that's why I sometimes find things hard. But there must be more than intelligence to it...

I am thinking of the same thing too. That's why sometimes I just do what I want.

Watching discovery channel yesterday made me realize that the only thing that control ourselves is our own brain. (Not to say that I do not know about it before) But hearing the explanation about our brain made me wonder how great our brain is. Everything started there.

If we are saying something is hard, it is because our brain said so. So, what if we said that everything is easy. It will turn up to be easy then.

So, always said "IB is easy."

[SharkSpider]

Mm, hate to sound condescending, but I'm of the opinion that people who are actually intelligent are intelligent enough to ensure that their intelligence doesn't make them unhappy. Using your own intelligence to justify unhappiness would be similar to the classic eye-rolling case of the whole teenaged "angst" thing where someone's just unhappy because the "system" doesn't let them express themselves. Namely, if you want to fit the profile of a smart person who's "on a mission" or "tortured because nobody understands them" then you will begin to fit that profile. In short, saying that intelligence makes you unhappy is taking a defeatist attitude, which in itself makes you unhappy. So in the end, is it your intelligence that's bugging you, or is it cynisism and defeatism? I blame the latter.

[greaterthaninfinity]

An average adult is generally thought to be more intelligent than the average infant. The infant could grow up to become more intelligent and whatnot, but that, IMO, is potential intelligence. Do adults have more woes than children? Undeniably yes; I don't think this is even arguable. Suicide - does a child below the age of seven ever even contemplate that? Surely, children feel sad but it's also much easier for them to derive happiness from life. I suppose I'm making a generalization here but I find the trend is that the less you know, the happier you are.

[SharkSpider]

An average adult is generally thought to be more intelligent than the average infant. The infant could grow up to become more intelligent and whatnot, but that, IMO, is potential intelligence. Do adults have more woes than children? Undeniably yes; I don't think this is even arguable. Suicide - does a child below the age of seven ever even contemplate that? Surely, children feel sad but it's also much easier for them to derive happiness from life. I suppose I'm making a generalization here but I find the trend is that the less you know, the happier you are.

Happiness is difficult to measure, though. A child of seven may be blissful and carefree, but they don't get to enjoy the more adult aspects of life, namely relationships, intellectual stimulus, and the ability to fulfil and hold long-term goals. Are the benefits of more elevated forms of "happiness" worth the responsibilities and worries associated with them? I conjecture to say yes. The natural progression of humanity is from ignorance to enlightenment, and as such, true happiness cannot come from the lower end of the spectrum. THe happiness there is simply the fulfillment of the only needs you can percieve, not the ones you have. I'm taking the basis for this from Mazlow's heirarchy of needs, with the conjecture that those who are absorbed in getting more than enough of the bottom ranks don't even know that they're missing out on the upper ones.

[CocoPop]

Well, before one can debate such a topic, one has to be able to define "intelligence". It can be argued that happiness is a byproduct of intelligence, or that you have to be happy to be intelligent. From another perspective, intelligence can merely be a measure of a person's intellect/academic knowledge.

On a more general note, I have noticed that the higher achieving or harder working people at school tend to be a lot more stressed and unhappy than others. Some people, however (whom I envy) are able to achieve high grades with little work or preparation for tests. But in general, the more laid back people, particularly in the IB, end up sacrificing their grades for a bit of extra relaxation for 2 years.

At the end of the day, if the IB is not stressing you out and making you unhappy (at least sometimes), something is seriously wrong...

[Sharaleth]

At the end of the day, if the IB is not stressing you out and making you unhappy (at least sometimes), something is seriously wrong...

At the end of the day, if the IB Programme is not stressing you out and making you unhappy, you are doing it right.

[laryxle]

For me I think about things a lot, overthinking usually, and I can get caught up on very minor details of things. This tends to make me unhappy. But is that perfectionism or intelligence? More intelligent people tend to want to be able to understand and explain things, and do things well, and some times it just isn't possible, leading to a sense of self-worthlessness. I think that unhappiness can come from that feeling of worthlessness, and it's just that intelligent people tend to be a lot more aware of what they couldn't do.

[dragoneye776]

One point the article makes is that intelligent people do not fit into a society because of their lack of social skills. However, if a person is intelligent enough, they should be able to understand the psychology necessary for good social skills.

[Sharaleth]

I agree, but it's an unsatisfactory answer. In analogy, if everybody around you had the intelligence of an ape so to communicate with them you would have to behave in a way that those apes can understand, well, I think most people would find that shifting their behavior radically just so they can talk isn't fun. The same reasoning applies to hyper-intelligent people; if they were so intelligent that their mental schema differed vastly from the rest of society, they would find that in order to talk to people in a regular fashion they would have to "lower themselves down" in a sense. To some, that's impossible on matter of principle - they'd rather others raise themselves up. To others, however, it's literally impossible - they understand why psychologically, but they don't know how to act "normally". So, it's not really a true answer to solving unhappiness rooted in societal misunderstanding. It seems like it may be that a paradigm shift would be necessary in order to bridge this gap, perhaps.

[Chelleee]

i find that those with superior intelligence tend to be excluded....

from my observation it's mainly to do with jealously.

at my school we're the first ib group to go through, personally, last year when we started ib i found that we got called the nerdy kids, smartasses etc.

but i never really took notice of it, i think i probably got the most of it since i was the only ib-er in one of my groups that i hang out with. so to me it didn't really matter because i knew that they we're just joking around, but when other people said it...it was just different.

although, i think it varies on how you treat others. if you see them as less-intelligent then then obviously they will isolate you. who likes being treated like an idiot? not me.

so i believe that a person can be intelligent and have happiness varying on how they act. no one would want to be around someone who parades around proclaiming how intelligent they are >.>;