Is Ignorance Bliss? A Reconsideration of the Folk Wisdom

Abstract

The validity of the proverb that "ignorance is bliss" is tested via analysis of data from the 1974 and 1976 General Social Surveys. A shortened version of a previously validated indicator of general intelligence, when correlated with measures of happiness, life satisfaction, and anomia, is found to be significantly related to all three; only the correlation with anomia, however, is of an impressive magnitude. Intelligence is then used as one predictor of psychological well-being in a series of multivariate models. The multiple regression and partial correlation results indicate that intelligence has no independent impact on either happiness or life satisfaction, but that it is a good predictor of anomia. But the impact of intelligence on anomia is negative, indicating that even when the effects of all the other variables in the analysis are controlled, more intelligent people tend to be less anomic. Overall, these results point toward rejection of the maxim that "ignorance is bliss.."