Intelligent people are more likely to trust others
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Intelligent people are more likely to
trust others, while those who score lower on measures of intelligence are less
likely to do so, says a new study. Researchers based their finding on an
analysis of the General Social Survey, a nationally representative public
opinion survey carried out in the United States every one to two years.
The
authors say one explanation could be that more intelligent individuals are
better at judging character and so they tend to form relationships with people
who are less likely to betray them.
Intelligent people are
more likely to trust others, while those who score lower on measures of
intelligence are less likely to do so, says a new study. Oxford University
researchers based their finding on an analysis of the General Social Survey, a
nationally representative public opinion survey carried out in the United
States every one to two years.
The authors say one explanation could be that
more intelligent individuals are better at judging character and so they tend
to form relationships with people who are less likely to betray them. Another
reason could be that smarter individuals are better at weighing up situations,
recognizing when there is a strong incentive for the other person not to meet
their side of the deal.
The Oxford researchers
found, however, that the links between trust and health, and between trust and
happiness, are not explained by intelligence. For example, individuals who
trust others might have only reported better health and greater happiness
because they were more intelligent. But this turns out not to be the case. The
finding confirms that trust is a valuable resource for an individual, and is
not simply a proxy for intelligence.
Lead author Noah Carl,
from the Department of Sociology, said: 'Intelligence is shown to be linked
with trusting others, even after taking into account factors like marital
status, education and income. 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, there are other
possible interpretations of the evidence, and further research is needed to
disentangle them.'
Researcher Professor
Francesco Billari, also from the Department of Sociology, said: 'People who
trust others seem to report better health and greater happiness. The study of
social trust therefore has wider implications in public health, governmental
policy and private charity, and there are good reasons to think that
governments, religious groups and other civic organizations should try to
cultivate more trust in society. Social trust has become an increasingly
important topic for academics, who want to understand the causes of better
health and greater happiness within society.'
Story Source:
The above story is
based on materials provided
by University of Oxford. Note: Materials may be edited for
content and length.
Journal
Reference:
1.
Noah Carl, Francesco C. Billari. Generalized Trust and
Intelligence in the United States. PLoS
ONE, 2014; 9 (3): e91786 DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0091786
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"Intelligent people are more likely to trust others." Science Daily, 16 March 2014.
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