Is Ignorance Bliss?

I was surfing and came upon this New York Times online article. ... written by Justin Wolfers, a recurring guest blogger. A regular blog reader posted the question, "Is ignorance truly bliss? Are people with lower intelligence happier than those with higher intelligence?"

In response to this blogger, Mr. Wolfers proposed that "more intelligent people tend to earn higher incomes, and we know that people with higher incomes are more likely to be happy" (Wolfer, 01/15/09). The General Social Survey "conducts scientific research on the structure and development of American society" (NORC, n.d.) via a data-collection program that monitors social change within the States and compares this U.S. to other countries. It is a long standing survey that has been conducted over 34 years now. Justin Wolfers used this as a basis for his opinion. The survey asks about happiness and contains a vocabulary test and a reasoning-based test that Wolfers uses as a 'proxy' for intelligence of the respondents. Those respondents who scored low on the tests reflected that they were the least happy. The data presented a significant correlation that those respondents who had stronger vocabularies or strong analytic reasoning skills were "more likely to be happy and less likely to be unhappy"(Wolfers, 01/15/09).

There are several opinion triggers in this article. Please take time to read through it and tell me the following:

What specifically triggered your opinion?
What is your take on ignorance being bliss?
What is your opinion on ignorance equating lack of intelligence?
What is your opinion on Wolfers conclusion?

I would read through the comments to get a vibe on where most commentators fell in the debate. I would love to see your opinions on the matter. And remember, I am setting up an award system for the best opinion presented, so back up your statements.

Here are my sources for most of the paraphrasing I did to create this post:

Wolfers, Justin (Recurring Guest NY Times Blogger). New York Times: Opinion. January 15, 2009. "Freakonomics: Is Ignorance Really Bliss?" Retrieved January 31, 2009 from http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/is-ignorance-really-bliss/

NORC @ The University of Chicago, The National Data Program For The Sciences. The General Survey. Retrieved January 31, 2009 from http://www.norc.org/GSS+Website/