Why people with higher IQs might be less happy socialising

Pychologists at the London School of Economics and Singapore Management Universities have noticed two interesting trends when it comes to people’s IQ levels and social interactions.

The study, published in the British Journal of Psychology, looked into the data of of 15,000 adults aged 18 to 28 and discovered that people with higher IQ’s are less satisfied the more time they spend with friends.

It concludes: “The effect of population density on life satisfaction was therefore more than twice as large for low-IQ individuals than for high-IQ individuals. And more intelligent individuals were actually less satisfied with life if they socialized with their friends more frequently,” the study read.

So what does this mean? Simply put, it means population density has a greater influence on people with lower levels of intelligence, while those with higher IQs are less affected. Equally, while many would predict life satisfaction would peak for all if they socialised plenty with friends, those with higher IQs actually felt less satisfied with too much of this.

See the full study here.