11/7/2012
What makes for a successful life -- social class, good genes, birth order? According to the Grant Study, highlighted in David Brooks' NYT column on 11/6/12, none of these variables were able to explain the success of the men whose lives were studied for over 70 years.
What did matter was the capacity for close personal relationships. This capacity for intimacy was a powerful predictor of a flourishing life. Another finding is that men changed over their life span in their capacity for close relationships. Brooks notes that this improvement in emotional intelligence among men over the decades "...might be one of the greatest contributors to progress and well-being that we've experienced in our lifetime".