The article written by Robert Biswas-Diener is aimed at examining the factors that influence a person’s life satisfaction. This term has often used as a substitute to the word happiness. Overall, this topic has been of concern to various researchers. In particular, the author argues that the influence of intelligence has often been overlooked by psychologists. In the writer’s opinion, people prefer to focus on those aspects that they can improve or at least change in some way (Biswas-Diener).
In turn, intelligence is a stable attribute of an individual (Biswas-Diener). It does not depend on the efforts of an individual. This is one of the reasons why the connections between happiness and intelligence are not examined more closely. To a great extent, this attitude can be regarded as a form of a bias. The author mentions that people, who have a low IQ, are more likely to experience significant variations in life satisfaction (Biswas-Diener).
They can also be described as mood swings. Admittedly, Robert Biswas-Diener mentions that these various can be attributed to various factors such as education and income level that are not dependent only on the intelligence level (Biswas-Diener). Nevertheless, the author argues that the relations between happiness and intelligence should not be overlooked. These are the main aspects that can be singled out.
This article can be related to several concepts that were covered in the book. In particular, one should mention such as notion as intelligence (Wade and Tavris 243). Overall, this concept can be described as the ability of a person to apply cognitive skills while using various types of information.
The examples provided in the book indicate that intelligence can be used as a predictor of a person’s future performance in various areas such as academic performance (Wade and Tavris 243). However, not much attention is being paid to its impact on life satisfaction. So, Robert Biswas-Diener’s throws a new light on this problem.
This issues discussed by the author can be discussed with cognitive psychologists who examine the nature of intelligence and its impacts on various behaviors of an individual. These professionals can tell how intelligence influences a person’s worldviews, attitudes, and his perceived well-being. Overall, the information that they provide can be of great use. This is one of the details that should be identified.
Additionally, it is necessary to examine such a notion as depression (Wade and Tavris 369). This term is used to describe the experiences of a person who is continuously overwhelmed by the feeling of anxiety, worthlessness, helplessness, and guilt. This psychological state is familiar to people who experience variability in life satisfaction (Wade and Tavris 369).
This is one of the challenges that they cannot easily overcome. Thus, this notation can be related to the content of this article. These issues can be better analyzed by clinical psychologists who study various aspects mental disorders and their underlying causes. Overall, they can tell how a person can overcome the effects of mood swings.
On the whole, these examples indicate that the chosen article can be related to various theoretical concepts discussed in the textbook. Moreover, they can be better understood by people who represent different branches of psychology. They can better explain complex connections between happiness and intelligence. These are the main arguments that can be put forward.
Works Cited
Biswas-Diener. “Does Intelligence Predict Happiness?” Psychology Today, 2014. Web.
Wade, Carole, and Carol Tavris. Invitation to Psychology, Fifth Edition, New York: Pearson, 2012. Print.