研究表明:聰明人更喜歡獨處

Smart people may be far happier with their own company than meeting friends.

比起和朋友見面，聰明的人自己獨處時更快樂。

A new study has found that for intelligent people, the more frequently they socialise with friends, the less satisfied they are with life.

最新研究發現，聰明的人和朋友們社交越頻繁，他們對生活的滿足感越低。

The findings come from two evolutionary psychologists who challenge the modern view that the more social contact we have the happier we will likely be.

這項發現來自於兩位進化心理學家，他們要挑戰當代人的這個觀點：社交生活越豐富，我們的幸福感越強。

Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics and Norman Li of Singapore Management University propose that the core social skills developed in our ancient past still hold sway over our happiness today.

倫敦經濟學院的禪洲金澤和新加坡管理大學的諾曼·李認爲，發源於古代社會的核心社交能力依然主導着我們今天的幸福。

They propose that the 'savannah theory' is at the root of modern happiness. This theory dictates that the factors which made early humans satisfied are still true with modern life.

他們認爲，“草原理論”是影響現代人幸福感的根源。該理論認爲，那些令早期人類感到滿足的因素，在現代生活中依然發揮着作用。

Using data from a long-term study, which surveyed adults from 18 to 28, they applied the theory to explain the findings of self-reported levels of life satisfaction.

基於對18到28歲成年人進行的一項長期調查得出的數據，他們將上述理論，用於解釋受調查者關於生活中自我滿意度的研究結果。

The pair focused on just two of myriad factors, which they say characterise basic differences between modern life and the way our ancestors lived - population density and how frequently we interact with friends.

影響這種滿意度的因素有很多，他們兩人主要關注兩點——人口密度和我們與朋友互動的頻次。這兩點也是現代生活方式與古代生活方式之間最基本的不同之處。

As might be expected, they found people living in more densely populated areas reported lower levels of life satisfaction.

不出所料，他們發現，生活在人口稠密地區的人們，生活滿意度水平較低。

For anyone who braves the daily grind of the rush hour commute in a city, this is no surprise.

對於那些要每天面對上下班交通高峯的人來說，這不足爲奇。

Also as we might expect, more frequent socialisation with friends had a more positive association with levels of life satisfaction.

同樣如我們所料，跟朋友間的交往越頻繁，生活滿意度水平越高。

But these two factors interact strongly with intelligence.

但這兩個因素與當事人的智力程度有極大關係。

The authors explained that'among the extremely intelligent' more frequent social interaction is actually linked with reduced satisfaction.

兩位作者解釋稱，“在極聰明的人中”，頻繁的社交活動實際上降低了生活滿意度。

According to the Washington Post, self-reported happiness is higher in small towns than in cities.

據《華盛頓郵報》報道，小城鎮居民的生活自我滿意度比大城市高。

Kanazawa and Li's approach suggests the brains of our hunter-gatherer ancestors were perfectly adapted to life on the African savannah, where the population would have been sparse, living in groups of around 150.

金澤和李的研究表明，我們的祖先以狩獵爲生，他們的大腦完全適應了在非洲大草原的生活，那裏人口稀少，多爲150人左右的羣居。

Social interaction would have been crucial to survival, in terms of co-operation and finding a mate, but the space was equally important.

雖然社會交往對生存來說至關重要，比如合作和尋找配偶，但空間距離也同樣重要。

The pair believe there may be a mismatch between the way we have evolved and the rapid lives we lead today – where society has left our minds and bodies struggling to keep up.

兩位研究者認爲，我們的進化方式和我們今天的快節奏生活之間可能並不匹配——我們的頭腦和身體不得不努力跟上如今的社會發展。

The researchers believe smarter individuals may be able to better adapt to the challenges of modern life, and may find it easier to leave ancestral social roots behind in order to forge ahead.

研究人員認爲，聰明的人可以更好地適應現代生活的挑戰，更容易脫離祖先的根源性影響，去銳意進取。

For the most intelligent among us, it may be that there is conflict between aspiring to greater goals and being tied to our evolutionary past.

而對於我們中最聰明的那部分人來說，追尋更大目標與維持進化關聯之間，可能存在衝突。