Why do you get so upset when people try to make you rich?
A new study has found people with a high IQ tend to get upset when others try to get them rich, even if the goal is for them to get rich.
The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, also found that people with higher IQs are more likely to say they would be willing to work hard to get richer.
The findings add to growing evidence that a high-IQ personality can boost your chances of success in business and life.
Dr Sue Mather, who led the study, said the findings suggested people with high IQs tend to have more goals than those with lower IQs.
“People with high-quality goals are likely to pursue their goals and make decisions about what they’re going to do,” Dr Mather said.
“If people have goals and they have a good sense of what their goals are, then they’ll do their best to meet those goals.”
Dr Mather’s research team collected information on 1,000 Australians over three years, asking participants to complete a questionnaire about their life goals and how they’d feel if they achieved those goals.
Participants also completed the personality tests used in the study.
“The participants were shown five scenarios in which they were asked to achieve their goals, and they rated how satisfied they were with the outcome, and whether they’d be willing or not to work harder for the goal,” Dr Caryn McBride, the study’s lead author, said.
The participants also completed personality tests, which asked about their intelligence, work ethic and personality traits.
Dr McBride said while the research looked at how people with lower-IQ personalities reacted to the goal-setting process, the findings also suggested people who had higher IQ scores would react to their goals in a similar way.
“They would often feel more fulfilled by working hard, because they believe they will get what they want, regardless of how much money they make,” she said.
While the research does not prove that IQs cause people to be unhappy, Dr McBride says it may help explain why people have such strong beliefs about their abilities.
“When you look at the way we live our lives, we expect people to have the same expectations as the rest of us, and to achieve what we expect them to,” she told news.com