When we take a look at those within the highest paying professions, like doctors, lawyers, dentists and company executives, we discover that they need, not only undergraduate degrees, but also postgraduate degrees, suggesting they're endowed with above average intelligence. in contrast, those that are below average in intelligence often have difficulty with academics and become highschool dropouts. Their lack of education qualifies them for less-skilled and lower paying jobs and that they fail to accumulate wealth.
Though it might seem from these observations that intelligence and wealth are highly correlated, recent research reveals that the link between intelligence and wealth is way more complicated than it might appear initially site. the subsequent is an excerpt from my 2022 book, Intelligence, IQ and Perception.
In a recent study involving 7403 baby boomers, psychologist Jay Zagorsky computed the correlation between IQ and wealth to be about 0.16. That is, there's virtually no correlation between IQ and net worth. He reports:
The title of this article asks, “Do you've got to be smart to be rich?” If test scores are an accurate measure of intelligence and if intelligence is comparatively fixed from teen years to adulthood, then the results indicate the solution is no…individuals with low intelligence shouldn't believe they're handicapped in achieving financial success, nor should high intelligence people believe they need a bonus.
In a meta-analysis of the link between intelligence and socioeconomic success, psychologist Tarmo Strenze surveyed a large range of research papers handling the link between these two variables. His study yielded estimates of the correlation between IQ and income that ranged between 0.15 and 0.27.
July 20, 2022
