You are introverted and prefer to stay at home instead of going out with your friends? Do not worry, it does not make you a weird person. On the contrary ! Believe it or not, you're a lot smarter than people who come out practically every day, according to the experts.
A scientific study indicates that people who prefer to stay at home instead of going out have a higher level of intelligence. This analysis, conducted by the British Journal of Psychology, brought together more than 15,000 people from different religions and ethnicities, and found that the desire to stay at home often coincides with higher IQ. One of the psychologists' conclusions was: "The most intelligent beings experience less vital satisfaction with increasing interpersonal contact with their friends or acquaintances."
The team of experts led by psychologists Satoshi Kanazawa and Norman Li also found that people living in densely populated areas are less happy than those living in small towns. For some people, spending time with their friends gave them a sense of satisfaction and pleasure, however, the same feeling was felt by those who preferred to stay home alone. Individuals with higher intelligence do not need so much socialization, favor loneliness and are less interested in social relationships.
The theory of happiness of the savannah
Psychologists relied on the Savana theory of happiness, the savannah happiness theory that Satoshi Kanazawa developed later. According to this theory, man has evolved less quickly than his environment and is happier in a place with a low population density. In other words, the way of life of our hunter-gatherer ancestors still has an influence on the way we live today.
Life in the African savannah, for example, would be radically different from that of the city. We think people lived in scattered groups of about 150 people. For a person in these groups, socialization was crucial for survival in terms of food and reproduction.
Kanazawa said that "the most intelligent individuals with higher levels of general intelligence have a greater ability to solve evolution problems. They may have less difficulty understanding and managing new entities and new situations. " It seems that their brain is preparing for a life in solitude. In other words, according to Kanazawa and Li, the smartest people prefer to spend time in solitude because their minds have adapted better to the modern way of life, detached from the habits of our ancestors.
A very intelligent person can be his own guru. She can be inspired by the work of others, but by working hard and improving her knowledge to broaden her horizon, she can find all the answers to what she is looking for herself.
Kanazawa and Li explain that people with above-average intelligence constantly think about the topics they can approach when they are in the company of others, and fear their reactions and judgment ... This prevents them from relaxing and follow the flow. For them, meeting friends can be a strong source of negative emotions and risks of feeling bad.
To love being alone does not necessarily mean that you are unhappy. The results of this research can not be applied to anyone with above-average intelligence. Some highly intelligent people prefer to develop and master their gifts and are therefore less available to spend more time socializing simply because they are concerned about their long-term goals.