Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday December 28 2016, @07:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the carry-a-four-leaf-clover dept.

How much is a child's future success determined by innate intelligence? Economist James Heckman says it's not what people think. He likes to ask educated non-scientists -- especially politicians and policy makers -- how much of the difference between people's incomes can be tied to IQ. Most guess around 25 percent, even 50 percent, he says. But the data suggest a much smaller influence: about 1 or 2 percent.

So if IQ is only a minor factor in success, what is it that separates the low earners from the high ones? Or, as the saying goes: If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?

Science doesn't have a definitive answer, although luck certainly plays a role. But another key factor is personality, according to a paper Heckman co-authored in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last month. He found financial success was correlated with conscientiousness, a personality trait marked by diligence, perseverance and self-discipline.

Why aren't you rich? You obviously slept with the wrong people!


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday December 28 2016, @11:54PM

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Wednesday December 28 2016, @11:54PM (#446892) Homepage Journal

    but my parents never taught me to handle money. When I had a paper route, I'd collect enough to buy a couple ice cream bars. Most of my subscribers I didn't collect from. But my father was on the hook to pay for my papers, so he'd make me collect just enough to pay for them.

    As long as I had my ice cream I was happy.

    I later got in a lot of trouble with the IRS and Maine Revenue Services.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Insightful=2, Total=2
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   4  
  • (Score: 3, Funny) by maxwell demon on Thursday December 29 2016, @11:04AM

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Thursday December 29 2016, @11:04AM (#447032) Journal

    I later got in a lot of trouble with the IRS and Maine Revenue Services.

    Your IQ simply is not high enough to understand income tax. [quoteinvestigator.com]

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.