Happiness Remains In The Savannah - Research

Other people, indeed, can be hell, as Jean-Paul Sartre suggested: a recent study showed that people with high IQs need less frequent communication with friends and acquaintances than their less intelligent tribesmen, and sometimes experience discomfort from it.

Evolutionary psychologists Satoshi Kanasawa of the London School of Economics and Norman Lee of Singapore Management University published a study in the British Journal of Psychology, where they put forward the theory of "happiness from the savannah." Their main idea is that the human brain and human body were created by evolution for the conditions in which our ancient ancestors, the hunter-gatherers, lived. And not at all for the conditions of the information buzz of big cities with a high population density and unthinkable traffic.

The authors analyzed data from a national survey of 15,000 respondents, who were asked to answer the question how happy they feel in everyday life. Having compared the answers and personal data of the survey participants, psychologists came to several conclusions:

• People from the provinces feel happier (that is, in fact, the theory of the "rural-city gradient" has been confirmed, when villagers are happier than residents of rural cities, who, in turn, are happier than residents of regional centers, who, in turn, are happier than residents big cities).
• People with low IQs feel happier the more they communicate with friends and family.
• In people with high IQ, these dependencies are not only less pronounced, but can also be exactly the opposite: they can experience discomfort from an active social life and feel comfortable in the center of a metropolis.

Here is what the researchers themselves write about this: “The circumstances of modern life are significantly different from those to which our ancestors were adapted. But do we manage to evolve at the same rate that progress develops? Perhaps in many ways we remain the same, which means that the same things make us happy as the inhabitants of the savannahs: the sufficient distance of the tribes from each other and all the conditions for food and frequent communication with people who are really close and necessary for safety, reproduction and a well-organized life ".

“For people with lower IQs, living in the modern world may seem more difficult, not in keeping with their nature. But the more intelligent representatives of humanity are just able to evolve at high speed and respond to the challenges of the new time. It seems to them not so traumatic, therefore, they do not experience discomfort from densely populated cities, countless gadgets and unforeseen situations."

The smarter you are, the easier it is for you to adapt to new realities. The progress that has befallen you appears to you as a new form of protection from the outside world. Hence, you need less "tribe" for safety and comfort. Hence the lack of a feeling of unconditional happiness from just one communication with family and friends. It is for this reason that the results of the study are not at all contradictory, as it might seem at first glance.