Most people are happy with a large group of friends! But then there are others who are perfectly content socializing with a smaller group of people; those are the people you need to pay attention to!
A study found in The Washington Post discovered that “More intelligent individuals were actually less satisfied with life if they socialized with their friends more frequently.” Did you read that correctly? “When smart people spend more time with their friends, it makes them less happy.” Interesting!
The study isn’t exactly sure why this is, but it’s a finding we should all consider. I’ve been quick to judge the anti social person in the group, thinking that their quiet because they have nothing to say. But it turns out, they probably have more to say than anyone else in the room, they just don’t want to.
Evolutionary Psychologists, Kanazawa and Li, went a step further with their study and found, “…people who live in more densely populated areas tend to report less satisfaction with their overall life.” So maybe it’s not just intelligent people that have a hard time being happy in a group. People who live in a populated areas aren’t as happy as people who don’t. It makes sense to me, seeing as less populated areas have less people- less people means less drama (hopefully).
Regardless of if a person has a high IQ or not, being happy is important. Life is too short to not live your life how you want to and with the people you want to be with. If you feel happy being around crowds, that’s great. If you feel happiest when you aren’t around a lot of people, that’s great too. The purpose of this information isn’t to tell you how to live, it’s to let you know you aren’t alone.
“The Savanna Theory of Happiness” comes from a survey formed from 15,000 people between “18 and 28.”
