Country roads, take me home… to my friends: How intelligence, population density, and friendship affect modern happiness

Abstract

We propose the savanna theory of happiness, which suggests that it is not only the current consequences of a given situation but also its ancestral consequences that affect individuals' life satisfaction and explains why such influences of ancestral consequences might interact with intelligence. We choose two varied factors that characterize basic differences between ancestral and modern life - population density and frequency of socialization with friends - as empirical test cases. As predicted by the theory, population density is negatively, and frequency of socialization with friends is positively, associated with life satisfaction. More importantly, the main associations of life satisfaction with population density and socialization with friends significantly interact with intelligence, and, in the latter case, the main association is reversed among the extremely intelligent. More intelligent individuals experience lower life satisfaction with more frequent socialization with friends. This study highlights the utility of incorporating evolutionary perspectives in the study of subjective well-being.

Spatial nature of urban well-being

“…This contrasts with, for example, the results of Ballas and Tranmer (2012), who found no statistically significant geographical variations in happiness. However, it seems that the density of the immediate surroundings does not have a relationship between well-being in any of the specifications, which contrasts with the result of Li and Kanazawa (2016) on the negative relationship between census-block group density and global life satisfaction. Thus, the results suggest that densifying infill construction does not necessarily lead to lower SWB, at least not in the long run, even if the disturbances related to the construction phase can probably be accompanied with short-term fluctuations and discontent.…”

“…Likewise, Ferreira et al (2013) found no significant relation with life satisfaction and density. However, Li and Kanazawa (2016) found population density at the level of the census block group to decrease self-reported life satisfaction, and a similar finding was made by Cramer, Torgersen, and Kringlen (2004). Similarly, Schwanen and Wang (2014) suggest that there is an inverse relationship between overall life satisfaction and level of urbanization at the intra-urban scale in Hong Kong, China.…”

“…Second, comparisons are difficult as the units of analyses differ, and often, with the exception of Millward and Spinney (2013), the crude density alone is used to control for the spatial context. The smallest unit used by Li and Kanazawa (2016) was the census block group, which comprised on average between 600 and 3000 people, whereas Ferreira et al (2013) used density at the level of NUTS-2 region. Thus, the variables used in the study are detailed in describing the immediate living environment.…”

The Company You Keep

“…A related study found that individuals with Machiavellian traits both rated friendships as less important and tended to form low-quality friendships (Lyons & Aitken, 2010). Socially skilled and pro-social children form more and longer lasting friendships than aggressive and manipulative children do (Parker & Seal, 1996), while highly intelligent individuals appear to have fewer friends and to find it more difficult or less rewarding to interact with friends compared to individuals with normal levels of intelligence (Janos, Marwood & Robinson, 1985;Li and Kanazawa 2016). Previous studies have also highlighted how friendship characteristics affect personality, and vice versa.…”

Genome-wide association study of social relationship satisfaction: significant loci and correlations with psychiatric conditions

“…Whilst subjective wellbeing is positively genetically correlated with measures of cognition, we identify a small but statistically significant negative correlation between measures of correlation and the two phenotypes. A recent study highlighted that people with very high IQ scores tend to report lower satisfaction with life with more frequent socialization 44 . This also highlights the distinctions between subjective wellbeing and social relationship satisfaction.…”