In recent years, the British Journal of Psychology published a study showing that people who live alone tend to be more intelligent than others. Are there any bases that can vouch for this?
A study in the British Journal of Psychology by Norman Li and Satoshi Kanazawa showed the relationship between living environment, intelligence and happiness . This study is based on two factors typical for modern life, namely population density and frequency of communication with friends. After analyzing the responses of 15,000 survey participants, the team came up with the “savanna happiness theory”. This theory is also the basis for the relationship between the living environment and the level of happiness and intelligence of people.
Smart people can better deal with situations and find opportunities. (Photo: BrightSide).
Research results show that smart people want to live in urban environments, which are more stressful and difficult to manage. To explain this, the savanna theory suggests that our brains still retain the relics of our ancestors, encouraging us to seek out rural environments because it is easier to manage. However, now the brain has developed and can adapt to the difficult and stressful densely populated environment. Smart people can better deal with situations and find opportunities.
In general, urban people have a higher average intelligence than the rural average. The reason may be that smarter people are better able to adapt to unnatural environments with high population densities and less social interaction.
At the same time, the research results also show a link between intelligence and social interactions. People with a higher IQ are generally happier with less social interaction. In contrast, people with lower IQs felt that their happiness was directly proportional to the amount of social interaction they had.
Specifically, human ancestors often had to interact and depend on the community because it was an essential element for the survival of each individual. But for smarter people, they often use a personal approach to problem solving instead of depending on others.
The researchers also explain that people with high IQ often use loneliness to overcome stress in crowded and stressful environments . Loneliness also helps them to significantly reduce their worries and focus more on their upcoming long-term goals.