The Sisyphus Comments

So That’s Why!

New research suggests that older people with above-average intelligence tend to be disagreeable.

However, the study authors did say that superior intelligence does not always result in surliness. Apparently smart young people are actually more likely to be open to new situations and not disagreeable.

The study included 381 healthy adults between the ages of 19 and 89, with education levels from completion of high school to graduate school.

The participants were administered a battery of tests and questionnaires to measure both intelligence and personality traits such as openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

The conclusion? With older participants, there appears to be a correlation between disagreeableness and intelligence. This may suggest that being older and unfriendly might actually equate with being more intelligent.

Prior research has suggested that highly intelligent people are more independent, and that self-reliance can perhaps render the need to be agreeable less important.