Strong Link Established Between Trust and Intelligence
Pinnochio People's noses don't grow when they lie, but smarter people may be better at choosing who to trust. Walt Disney via Wikimedia Commons Conventional wisdom has a few things to say about trusting strangers--all things being equal, it isn't generally considered a wise thing to do. Perhaps surprisingly, then, new research has found a strong link between intelligence and general trust in others. The study, published in PLOS ONE, looked at people's generalized trust in others and intelligence, based on responses to the General Social Survey, a poll carried out in the United States every one to two years. The researchers gauged respondents' level of trust by the answer to this question: “Generally speaking would you say that most people can be trusted or that you can’t be too careful in dealing with people?” Intelligence was measured...