Psychology: This is what your environment says about your intelligence

Savannah happiness theory
Anyone who lives alone in the city is probably very intelligent

Would you rather be in the city or in the village? Where we want to live (in the long term) seems to be one of the crucial questions of our time. However, our preference is at least partly based on our Stone Age brains. This feels more comfortable in a more manageable environment – for example in the savannah. It is not particularly well equipped for modern city life.

From this insight, the psychologists Norman Li and Satoshi Kanazawa developed the so-called savanna happiness theory. On a large scale study, they put the theory to the test – and discovered something amazing.

Study: What does life satisfaction have to do with the environment and intelligence?

For their study, the two scientists Kanazawa and Li surveyed around 15,000 people between the ages of 18 and 28 about the environment in which they felt more comfortable and how many social contacts they needed. They then put the whole thing in relation to the intelligence quotient.

The result was, among other things, that intelligent people preferred to live in an urban environment rather than in the countryside, while less intelligent people seemed to gravitate towards village life. And Norman Li and Satoshi Kanazawa see the reason for this in the savanna happiness theory.

The point is that the brain of many people today still doesn’t function much differently than it did in the Stone Age – with the difference that our way of life is completely different. According to research, smart people find it easier to adapt to the modern world – which is why they cope better in more hectic urban environments. Your brain has developed further in this environment and the associated challenges and can therefore cope well with many people and high noise levels. Intelligent people often find city life more inspiring and have the feeling that they can fulfill themselves better in the city than in a rural area.

According to the study, people who are not so smart get along better in the village. This is probably because their everyday life is a little more similar to the original life of humans than in the city. Now a village in the 21st century certainly cannot be compared to a savannah – but the pace of life there is more similar to the way of life than in Manhattan or Frankfurt.

Savanna Happiness Theory: Are Intelligent People More Introverted?

To do this, Li and Kanazawa looked at another aspect of their test subjects, namely the quality and quantity of interpersonal relationships. The question was how much social interaction a person needs to be happy and content.

Here, too, the results of the study were exciting: apparently intelligent people are more introverted and satisfied with fewer social contacts than less intelligent people. The latter feel lonely more quickly and tend to be happier when they spend more time with friends and family – so they are more extroverted than people with a higher IQ.

Between the two core questions “city or country?” and “Introverted or extroverted?” the two psychologists were able to establish a connection. The more intelligent people obviously need more time for themselves to recover from the hustle and bustle of the city. If they then spent even more time cultivating interpersonal relationships, the scientists theorize, this would cause additional stress.

The less smart people in the countryside, on the other hand, use the time with their confidants to reduce stress – for them, according to the study, socializing is a means of relaxation.

Alone in the city = genius? It is not that easy

Of course, the results of the study on the savanna happiness theory only show trends and are not general statements about every person who lives in the country or in the city or who is more introverted or extroverted. Of course, not every city dweller is automatically highly intelligent, and of course there are people who enjoy the company of other people and are very smart at the same time.

But the study results provide exciting insights into the factors that lead people to be satisfied with their lives in different environments.

Source used: British Journal of Psychology

mbl
Gala