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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!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by rleigh on Thursday December 29 2016, @12:08AM
Agreed. The article here has the presupposition that the metric for "success" is "being rich". But not all of us measure success by material wealth alone. Working as a scientist in a university, I'm surrounded by hundreds of very intelligent people. Many of them are successful scientists, but very few are rich as a result. While few would have any complaints if it resulted in a big financial benefit, that's simply not the driver here. Only a few get rich off spin out companies, textbook sales and other revenue generators.
That's not to say I disagree entirely with the article: factors other than IQ such as existing family capital, business connections, random chance, good timing can all contribute to financial success. As for personality and conscientiousness, this is something I would argue is necessary for success of any kind in most fields. That boils down to caring about doing a good job, and you'll find that a trait of good people across the board from businessmen to cleaning staff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @05:07AM
You must not have any climatologists at your university then.... I hear they are money grubbing, morally lacking and ethically challenged pricks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @01:12PM
The article summary has it right: "doing a good job" and "working pretty hard" are found to be strong corollaries to becoming wealthy. Right next to "having a budget to know where the money goes". As of this morning, my wife and I have a 563K net worth at age 30. I have a PhD, she has a MS, both in engineering. We haven't 'worked' more than 10 hr/week for the last three months (although we are both about to resume full-time avg. 30-hour weeks). We are 'smart' (both tested gifted/genius), but not 'rich', although we should be financially independent w/in 3 years through low expenses. We have quite a bit of 'time freedom', which we both value more than financial freedom. We have little desire to be 'rich', although we will be millionaires (I guess) soon.