Many of us have pondered at one time or another, what makes a life well lived. Is it being surrounded by family and a lot of friends? Could it be surrounded by a select handful of people in your life? Have you ever observed that really smart person in your life and the friends they surround themselves with? What about how many friends they choose to surround themselves with? It turns out that smarter people prefer fewer friends and here is why. What Would Make Most People Happy New research, published in the British Journal of Psychology, digs into the questions of what exactly defines a life well lived. Turns out, the hunter-gatherer lifestyles of our ancestors form the foundation of what makes us happy now. The research surveyed approximately 15,000 people between the ages of 18 to 28 years-old. Researchers found the people living in densely populated areas reported less satisfaction with the quality of their life. The next finding of the people polled suggests that the more frequent social interactions with close friends, a person has greatly improves self-reported happiness. Smart People Are An Exception However, there is an exception. For those with higher intelligence quotients, these correlations drastically diminished. “The effect of population density on life satisfaction was therefore more than twice as large for low-IQ individuals”. So, the more intelligent you are, the less satisfied you are with life if you socialize with friends more frequently. But why? Smart People Are Focused on Long-Term Objectives People with higher IQ’s and the capacity to use their intelligence are less likely to spend time socializing. Why? Intelligent people are focused on long-term objectives. They are compelled and maybe a bit more driven to use their intelligence to create something bigger than themselves. For example, think of someone you know who went to graduate school or started their own business. While pursuing their ambitions and goals, they had to minimize social interactions to stay on task to achieve their goal. An intelligent person, on the pursuit of achieving something bigger and better than themselves, may deem social interaction as a distraction that pulls them away from long-term objectives, which in turn, may affect their overall well-being. When pursuing long-term objective, the smarter individual would rather stay home and work towards their dreams and ambitions rather than going out on a Saturday evening with a few friends. It’s not that they don’t value friendship; they do. But when they are on the prowl of achieving greatness, they may deem socialization as distractions. How Smart People Develops Differently During Evolution of the Human Brain The human brain evolved to meet the demands of our ancestral environment in the savanna. Population density was low and we subsisted by living a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. During these times, having frequent contact with lifelong friends was necessary for our survival and for further reproduction of our species. Propelling us to today, our life has changed drastically and so have our interactions with one another. Intelligent people may be better able to deal with the new challenges that modern day life throws us. Meaning, intelligent people have a better ability to solve evolutionary and new problems and have an easier time coping and dealing with new situations. When you’re smarter, you’re better able to adapt to things and have an easier time merging your ancestral predispositions with the modern world. Living in a high-population area may have a smaller effect on your well-being, but it may be due to being better able to jettison the hunter-gatherer need to socialize when you’re pursuing your dreams and ambitions. Smart People Value Relationships In A Different Way Intelligent people value friendships and relationships just like anyone else, but they tend to be more selective with how they spend their time. It isn’t that they don’t cherish friendships and frequent socialization occurrences, but they also cherish their personal pursuits. Source
