People with high IQ are always sure of what they want and anything less than their expectations fail to satisfy them, and this makes it more difficult for them to be happy. This stands true for everything, whether it is career, relationships or anything else that matters in life.
High-IQ individuals are more apt to have anxiety issues.
They tend to think more about the negative things that happen to them, ruminating and replaying scenarios to learn what went awry. They may attend to or obsess about matters that others would view as petty or inconsequential.
Happiness is significantly associated with a higher IQ. Those in the lowest IQ range [70–99] reported the lowest levels of happiness compared with the highest IQ group. The study of 6,870 people showed low intelligence was often linked with lower income and poor mental health, which contributed to unhappiness.
Intelligence was measured via verbal IQ, as well as categorical and continuous IQ. Intelligence was positively correlated with happiness; the group lowest in IQ was the lowest in happiness while the group highest in IQ also ranked the highest in happiness.
Ernest Hemingway has rightly said, “Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know”. Intelligent people might have accomplished great things in their work, having a loving life partner or a loving family, but at times, intelligent people to agonize from sadness, loneliness or conflicted thoughts.
One misconception a lot of folks have is that intelligent people get by easily in every aspect of life — that they are destined for success. They think belonging to the top of the ladder in terms of IQ level saves smart people from the struggle of doing tasks, mundane or complex. Well, they're not entirely wrong.
A lonely intellectual may frequently feel misunderstood, which makes it difficult to reach out and connect with other people. And without a group of friends or a support system to lean on, those with high intelligence or emotional intelligence can become socially excluded, making their loneliness worse.
When you expect too much of life itself, you'll become obsessed with the future, which goes back to overthinking. Intelligent people are often idealistic, and when that idealism clashes with reality, the result is disappointment. It's easy to live in a perfect, imagined future.
Pulling data from thousands of people logged in the UK Biobank, researchers found that people with higher intelligence did not have higher rates of depression. In fact, they had less anxiety, PTSD, neurotic tendencies, and trauma than those with lower intelligence.
Throw social commitments into the mix, and there's limited time to be alone and be still with your thoughts and creative process. It's common for people with genius qualities to seek out isolation at times, due to a social anxiety and an excessive need for “me” time, in order to practice mindfulness..
As well, intelligent can be seen as a stronger version of the word smart. So a smart person might be able to memorize information and pass tests, while an intelligent person might be able to apply what they have learned to new situations.
Emotionally intelligent people can manage their emotions in social situations and, at the same time, react in a positive manner to the emotional needs of others who want attention and connection. They have the ability to cheer up or calm down others whatever the context. It's an easy transition to a happy mindset.
The findings come from a survey of 6,870 people who were given tests of happiness and IQ. The results showed that people with higher IQs (120-129) were happier than those with lower IQs (70-99). The average IQ across the whole population is 100.
However, the average adult needs 7-9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best. So, the idea that smart people sleep less may be a myth for most mortals and should not be used as an excuse for skimping on sleep.
Intelligent people tend to appear quiet because they are natural observers. They are listening and watching what's going on around them.
Highly Intelligent People Often Feel They Don't Fit In
On the other hand, whenever you try to act as your true self— not diluting your messages, not faking smiles, not initiating meaningless small talks, not entertaining faulty logic— you end up being seen as cold or even 'mean'.
ADHD can make completing tasks such as school work, homework, or work projects much more difficult. However, there is no clear link between ADHD and IQ. A person may have a high, average, or low IQ score and also have ADHD. ADHD may cause a person to interrupt in class or perform poorly on tests.
Perhaps it's the ostracizing of higher intelligence in social settings, especially in childhood, that leads to a lack of social contact and feelings of depression and lower self-worth – smarter students sometimes get bullied into a depression.
On average, introverts and extroverts are the same in terms of intelligence. But statistics show that around 70% of gifted people are introverts. People are considered “gifted” when they exhibit above-average intelligence or a superior talent for something, such as music, art or math.
Another sign of high intelligence is good thinking ability. Smart people process information better because they use different types of memory effectively. Memory types include working memory, access and flexibility of remembering things, and accuracy and reliability of declarative memory.
Research has shown that there is a high correlation between being intelligent and socially anxious. The higher your IQ, the higher the chance your social apprehension is higher than usual. Of course, that doesn't mean that your social anxiety should be classified as a disorder.
As they are very goal-oriented, highly intelligent individuals try to “create” their own happiness. They are prone to living inside their own mind and constantly think about their past and future. And it is their tendency to overthink which destroys their happiness and mood.
Intelligent people often enjoy spending time alone to pursue their interests, recharge, and reflect. They may not feel the need to socialize as much and may prefer to spend their time in solitude or with a small group of likeminded individuals.
Research suggests that highly intelligent people get bored easily and spend more time thinking, behaviour that comes across as 'laziness'. A study by the Florida Gulf Coast University looked at a group of 'thinkers' and 'non-thinkers', studying their activity levels over the course of a week.