Smart People Have Fewer Friends

Having few friends is not considered very smart, on the contrary. Being surrounded by a small number of friends relegates you to the group of “strange people”, those people who don’t like hanging out with others. But what is the truth in all of this? Is it true that having fewer friends is weird? Some say it’s smart people.

This is a revolutionary statement that has made many people feel concerned, while others have widened their eyes. A study found that smart people have far fewer friends, possibly because they act differently than we are used to seeing.

This statement was greeted by many with a fair amount of disdain, a bit like a myth that one hears, but for which there is no proven proof or study. Until the day when statistics were published which confirmed that this legend was very real.

Smart people and friends

Maybe by intelligent people you think of those who have good grades after studying or who are always seen with a book in their hands. These people prefer to spend their time in the library advancing on the exercises that their teacher has asked them to do. Socializing is not something they feel the need for. This is the reason why, they seem happy in their loneliness.

The study which was carried out by the London School of Economics and the Singapore University of Management found that people with higher IQs don’t need to interact as much  as others to feel good.

On the other hand, people with a lower intelligence quotient showed this tendency to socialize, to spend more time meeting people. It has shown that smart people go against the grain of the rest of the population. They don’t do what we consider “normal”. They are happy without a very active social life.

15,000 people between 18 and 28 took part in this survey. A rather young age group where the need for interaction and meeting other people is greater. Despite this, smart people didn’t feel so happy when socializing with others. They did not perceive the pleasant feeling of being with other people and meeting new ones in the same way, which turned out to be very significant.

Loneliness and independence

Many people have serious problems with loneliness and emotional addiction. We were not brought up to live on the margins of everything and everyone, on the contrary. We are social beings who have the ability to enjoy companionship and sometimes we even feel like we need that companionship. But what happens when you’re happy being alone?

The study found that smart people were much more satisfied when they spent time on their own. This doesn’t mean that they wandered away from the world, as they obviously interacted with the rest of the people, but rather with people who were close and familiar.

Smart people count their friends on their toes, and if they betray them, they have no problem moving forward. They are prepared to face life in need of any support. Unlike many people, they don’t leave their happiness in the hands of others.

Thus, they are much more independent and they enjoy their solitude, something unthinkable for many. In relation to this, we took into account in the survey the  savanna theory,  a theory which is based on the evolution of our brain from the beginning until today.

When Homo Sapiens  took their first steps in this world, they were not separate from others, but lived with their fellows in large open spaces. They were very few in number, and in order to protect themselves and survive, they formed what is known today as “a group”.

Smart people feel like they are in such big, lonely places, with few people around them. This is why they are prepared to face challenges on their own, without help from anyone, without support from strangers. They are confident and maybe dealing with other people they don’t know could slow them down in achieving their goals.

The smartest people who brought great inventions to this world did not stand out for their sociability. It is possible that their plans and goals make them much happier than interacting with others. London School of Economics psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa made another shocking claim: The smartest women do not have children or have them at an older age.

It makes some sense if we take a look at the world around us. People who study the longest, or any type of training, do not have children before 30 years old. On the other hand, many women who left their studies early at the university or after the bac have already started a family made up of one or more children.

It seems that being more or less intelligent is intimately linked to our addiction and the meaning of our life. According to the study presented, a greater or lesser intelligence will lead us on one way or another.