Phrased in a more useful way: It seems likely that the type of person who tends to act in long term interest including getting an education, following basic health advice and so on, also tends to score higher on IQ tests.
And is smarter. Why are people allergic to the idea that some people are smarter than others?
If you are good at pattern recognition, then you may subconsciously realize that people who do X get result Y.
If you want result Y for yourself, then you may attempt to do X at a greater likelihood than your specific cultural or ethnic background would otherwise suggest.
Living longer, being richer, happier, healthier, etc. are all things that typically come to fruition for a person based on their activities and the choices they make.
Being smarter can result in a higher score, but so can practicing multiple choice tests, and being more familiar with the language used by the test. I won't get the same results for a test in English as one in French.
[1]https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/oh6115/perf...