I think you have some good arguments. If you remove the external factors (parents, etc) the first argument simplifies to:<p><i>People are happier when they meet their own expectations, and people who are &quot;smart&quot; have higher self expectations.</i><p>There may be some transfer of parental expectations (&quot;you are smart, you can do anything when you grow up&quot;), but I suspect (apologies, I cannot cite anything) that even if you remove the external expectations, smarter people have higher standards for themselves. Thus, they are less happy.<p>The second argument is a variant on:<p><i>ignorance is bliss</i><p>... which is pretty well supported in literature. I am not sure if the futility&#x2F;frustration causes unhappiness more than just increased awareness of issues, but it falls in line with that general theme.<p>Just my 2 cents, as someone who often falls into this category.