DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueae105 ISSN: 0013-0133

An inquiry into the Relationship Between Intelligence and Prosocial Behaviour: Evidence from Swedish Population Registers

Mikael Elinder, Oscar Erixson

Abstract

We investigate the relationship between intelligence and prosocial behaviour, using administrative data on cognitive ability, charitable giving, voting, and possession of eco-friendly cars for 1.2 million individuals. We find strong positive associations for all three behaviours, which remain when using twin-pair fixed-effects to account for confounders. We also find that general (fluid) intelligence is a stronger predictor than other dimensions of cognitive ability, and that most of the relationship remains after controlling for a set of mediators, suggesting a direct impact on prosocial behaviour. Finally, we show that cognitive ability is also positively related to a survey measure of altruism.

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