It is said that intelligent people are less social, and interestingly enough, their overall satisfaction seems to be unaffected by their more secluded way of life.
Do you think of yourself as a recluse? Are you content with your lifestyle? Do you think there is little to no reality in the rhetoric of society that tells us we need lots of people around us? Do you like the quiet of the outdoors better than the bustle of the city? Instead of attending a boisterous party, would you prefer to read a good book or cuddle in bed with your significant other? Is your lack of friends a concern for your parents?
If you see yourself in this, you have nothing to worry about.
As most of us already know, because they are more perceptive than the ordinary person, bright people are more likely to experience anxiety and social anxiety.
But this frequently goes much farther, according to a study that was published in the British Journal of Psychology: extremely clever people actually prefer their own company, and there is a rather intriguing reason for that.
First, what we know: the study clarified that frequent social engagement has been linked by evolutionary psychologists to lower life satisfaction in individuals who are generally smarter.
When they polled participants between the ages of 18 and 28, they discovered that those who lived in more crowded places were less happy, and the same was true for those who socialized with friends more frequently.
The study proposes the idea that “Savannah theory” is at the root of modern happiness — or that the things that inherently make us happy are as true now as they were at the dawn of civilization.
The premise is that more intelligent people are more capable of adjusting to the difficulties of contemporary life and are more inclined to “leave the group” in order to pursue their own, more satisfying lives.
Basically: Intelligent people prefer to socialize less because they do not need that feeling of tribal belonging to find meaning in their lives.
In fact, they’re the ones who, when confronted with the choice between “belonging” and forging their own path, are more likely to choose to go their own way.
So according to this theory, our hunter-gatherer’s brains were perfectly adapted to life as it was back then, where the population would have been smaller, and we would have existed in groups of around 150 people each.
To have survived, social interaction would have been essential. An intelligent individual is characterized by their capacity for adaptation. A superior human would have been better able to follow their inclinations in the past, but now they are better able to shape their own future rather than merely fit in with the community.
Backing this up is the fact that self-reported happiness is often greater in smaller towns than in bigger cities, which has been called in the past the “urban-rural happiness gradient.”
This could be due to many factors, but it’s likely most due to the fact that people thrive in smaller circles, and more intimate, genuine connections. In a small town, there’s a sense of community and a sense of belonging.
Instead of being lost in the hustle and bustle of a larger metropolis, you greet the same folks when you walk out to the deli in the morning. Similarly, in a tiny town, people are more interested in your personality and interpersonal relationships than in your accomplishments or outward appearance.
Intelligent people largely bypass this in favor of their own pursuits, but either way, the point remains: smart people (and happy people!) thrive in a few, close, genuine relationships.