Intelligent people like to be alone and have few friends

Have you ever seen a scene in a movie when a highly intelligent person was depicted as a loner and without many friends? Actually, even in the real world the fact is like that. Most intelligent people actually prefer to be alone rather than in a crowd. Why is intelligence related to being aloof?

The reason smart people prefer to be alone

The image of a smart person who seems to prefer to be alone in movies is not without reason. This statement was proven through research at British Journal of Psychology .

In the study, experts tried to explain why intelligent people have lower life satisfaction when they have to socialize more often with their friends.

Experts try to explain this reason with the theory of evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology is a new branch of psychology that studies the relationship between genetic factors and human behavior.

With this theory, it can be seen that smart group members are more effective at solving problems without the need for help from their friends.

From this research also formed a picture that people with ordinary intelligence prefer to hang out with other people because it helps them solve problems.

Meanwhile, people who are smarter like to be alone because they feel more able to complete the challenges they are given. How can this condition occur?

The conclusions of this study were obtained after analyzing a survey of 15,197 participants aged 18-28 years. This survey aims to measure their life satisfaction, intelligence, health.

One important finding in this study is that most people with above-average intelligence levels tend to be unhappy in a crowd.

However, when they are surrounded by friends or loved ones their level of happiness increases.

Therefore, maybe for most people socializing with other people can increase feelings of happiness. However, this does not apply to some intelligent people who prefer to be alone.

The relationship between the savanna theory and the intelligent person is solitary

As mentioned earlier, research conducted to see why intelligent people prefer to be alone uses the theory of evolutionary psychology. The theory of evolutionary psychology is in fact closely related to the savanna theory.

The savanna theory is a principle in the world of psychology used by Satoshi Kanazawa, a psychologist from the United States.

This theory proposes that the level of life satisfaction of a person is not only based on what is happening in the present. However, satisfaction can also be based on the reactions of the ancestors that may occur at this time.

That is, most people who live in densely populated settlements tend to be less happy than when they are in rural areas.

This refers to the habit of the ancestors whose population is far less than the current one, so it does not rule out that being in a crowd is actually unpleasant.

Reporting from The Washington Post , population density has an influence on life satisfaction. This is because crowds have an effect twice as large on people with lower intelligence levels than those who are smart.

Therefore, most intelligent people are less satisfied with their lives when they often socialize in a crowd. They prefer to do productive things rather than chat with their own friends at the coffee shop.

In addition, some experts believe that a person's intelligence will evolve as their psychological traits develop when solving problems.

For example, people living in ancient times felt compelled to socialize as a means of survival.

Meanwhile, in today's life, intelligent people tend to be able to solve challenges without needing help from others. As a result, they may value friendships less because they feel they can be alone.

Loving the crowd is not necessarily not smart

Although the findings show that most intelligent people prefer to be alone than with other people, there are some of them who prefer the opposite.

The findings from research do not necessarily indicate that all intelligent people are aloof and dislike socializing.

If you enjoy being in a crowd, it doesn't mean that your intelligence level is below average. The opposite is also true. All loners are not smart.

Therefore, there are some intelligent people who may prefer to be alone, but can adapt to the crowd and feel comfortable in all situations.