The intelligent enjoy solitude

According to the NCBI study, highly intelligent people tend to associate with fewer people and seek social interaction less often. Interestingly, their life satisfaction increases when they decide to live according to this strategy.

According to lead researchers Satoshi Kanazawa and Norman Liu, for those seeking happiness, the "hermit" strategy may be the answer - especially for people who are highly intelligent.

Through thorough research, these evolutionary psychologists have determined that human beings are happier when they live in less populated areas.

They also found that happiness increases when there is a higher percentage of social interactions with our loved ones than social interactions with strangers or acquaintances.

It's no surprise, then, that study participants showed higher levels of happiness when they had more frequent social interactions—except for one group. In most intelligent people, this effect was not only reduced, but actively reversed. In fact, as the researchers explained, "more intelligent individuals experience less life satisfaction when they hang out with friends frequently."

Carol Graham, who studies the economics of happiness, presented this effect in an article that appeared in the Washington Post. "The results suggest (and not surprisingly) that those with more intelligence and the ability to use it are likely to spend less time socializing because they are focused on some other long-term goal."

In other words, the weirdos who say they have better things to do than "hang out with friends" actually have a point. In interpreting the results of this study, evolutionary psychologists have discovered the great significance of this dynamic in relation to the "Savannah Theory."

This theory says that we find happiness in the same things that our ancestors would have enjoyed. In the savanna, population density would be low and human interaction would be extremely important for survival. The results of this study, although ultimately supporting this theory, indicate that most highly intelligent human beings have outgrown the needs of this social interaction.

Instead, they begin to favor activities that are more intellectually and economically based and that promote progress in the modern world.

Today's man needs interaction less than his ancestors, so it stopped being a priority.