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Why smart people are better off with fewer friends

來源：https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/18/why-smart-people-are-better-off-with-fewer-friends

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Hell might actually be other people — at least if you're really smart.

That's the implication of fascinating/'f?s?net??/ new research published last month in the British Journal of Psychology. Evolutionary/?iv?'lu??n?ri/ psychologists Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics and Norman Li of Singapore Management University dig in to the question of what makes a life well-lived. While traditionally the domain of priests/pri:st/, philosophers and novelists, in recent years survey researchers, economists, biologists and scientists have been tackling /?t?k?l/ that question.

fascinating/‘f?s?net??/

* adj. 迷人的；吸引人的；使人神魂顛倒的

* v. 使…著迷；使…陶醉（fascinate的ing形式）

* Evolutionary/?iv?'lu??n?ri/

* adj. 進化的；發展的；漸進的

dig in

* 掘土以摻進；掘土把…埋起來；開始認真工作；掘壕固守

* priests/pri:st/

* n. 牧師；神父；教士

* vt. 使成為神職人員；任命…為祭司

* tackling /?t?k?l/

* n. 滑車；裝備；用具；扭倒

* vt. 處理；抓?。还潭?；與…交涉

* vi. 扭倒；攔截搶球

Kanazawa and Li theorize/'θi?ra?z/ that the hunter-gatherer? [‘h?nt?'ɡ?e?r?] lifestyles of our ancient ancestors/'?ns?st?/ form the foundation for what make us happy now. "Situations and circumstances that would have increased our ancestors’ life satisfaction in the ancestral /?n's?str?l/ environment may still increase our life satisfaction today," they write.

theorize/'θi?ra?z/

* vi. 建立理論或學說；推理

* vt. 建立理論

hunter-gatherer ['h?nt?'ɡ?e?r?]

* n. 采集狩獵的人

ancestral /?n’s?str?l/

* adj. 祖先的；祖傳的

They use what they call "the savanna/s??v?n?/ theory of happiness" to explain two main findings from an analysis /?'n?l?s?s/ of a large national survey (15,000 respondents) of adults aged 18 to 28.

savanna/s??v?n?/

* n. [生態] 熱帶草原；熱帶的稀樹大草原

First, they find that people who live in more densely /?d ?nsl?/ populated areas tend to report less satisfaction with their life overall. "The higher the population density/'d?ns?ti/ of the immediate environment, the less happy" the survey respondents said they were. Second, they find that the more social interactions with close friends a person has, the greater their self-reported happiness.

densely /?d ?nsl?/

* adv. 濃密地；密集地

self-reported

* 自述的

But there was one big exception. For more intelligent /?n't?l?d??nt/ people, these correlations /?k?r?'le??n/ were diminished /d?'m?n??/ or even reversed /r?'v?st/.

correlations /?k?r?'le??n/

* n. [數] 相關，關聯；相互關系

diminished /d?'m?n??/

* adj. 減弱的；減退了的

* v. 減少；削弱（diminish的過去分詞）

"The effect of population density on life satisfaction was therefore more than twice as large for low-IQ individuals than for high-IQ individuals," they found. And "more intelligent individuals were actually less satisfied/'s?t?s'fa?d/ with life if they socialized with their friends more frequently."

Let me repeat that last one: When smart people spend more time with their friends, it makes them less happy.

Now, the broad contours/'k?ntu?/ of both findings are largely uncontroversial? ? [?n,kantr?'v?:??l;]. A large body of previous research, for instance, has outlined what some have called an "urban/'?b?n/-rural/'r?r?l/ happiness gradient." Kanazawa and Li explain: "Residents/'r?z?d?nt/ of rural areas and small towns are happier than those in suburbs /'s?b?b/, who in turn are happier than those in small central cities, who in turn are happier than those in large central cities.”

contours/'k?ntu?/

1. n. 等高線；輪廓（contour的復數）

2. v. 畫等高線；畫輪廓（contour的三單形式）

3. uncontroversial? ? [?n,kantr?'v?:??l;]

4. adj. 非爭論性的；不會引起爭論的

5. controversial? /?kɑntr?'v??l/

6. adj. 有爭議的；有爭論的

urban/‘?b?n/

* adj. 城市的；住在都市的

* n. (Urban)人名；(西)烏爾萬；(斯洛伐)烏爾班；(德、俄、羅、匈、塞、波、捷、瑞典、意)烏爾班；(英)厄本；(法)于爾邦

rural/'r?r?l/

* adj. 農村的，鄉下的；田園的，有鄉村風味的

* Residents/‘r?z?d?nt/

* adj. 居住的；定居的

* n. 居民；住院醫生

* suburbs /'s?b?b/

* n. 郊區；邊緣

Why would high population density cause a person to be less happy? There's a whole body of sociological/?s??s??'l?d??k?l/ research addressing this question. But for the most visceral/'v?s?r?l/ demonstration /?d?m?n'stre??n/ of the effect, simply take a 45-minute ride on a crowded rush-hour Red Line train and tell me how you feel afterward.

visceral/'v?s?r?l/ adj. 內臟的；出于本能的；發自肺腑的；粗俗的

demonstration /?d?m?n'stre??n/

1. n. 表明;證明;示范

2. <非正>游行示威

Kanazawa and Li's second finding is a little more interesting. It's no surprise that friend and family connections are generally seen as a foundational component of happiness and well-being. But why would this relationship get turned on its head for really smart people?

I posed this question to Carol Graham, a Brookings Institution researcher who studies the economics of happiness. "The findings in here suggest (and it is no surprise) that those with more intelligence and the capacity to use it ... are less likely to spend so much time socializing because they are focused on some other longer term objective," she said.

Think of the really smart people you know. They may include a doctor trying to cure cancer or a writer working on the great American novel or a human rights lawyer working to protect the most vulnerable people in society. To the extent that frequent /'frikw?nt/ social interaction detracts from the pursuit/p?'sut/ of these goals, it may negatively affect their overall satisfaction with life.

frequent /'frikw?nt/

1. adj. 時常發生的；頻繁的；慣常的

2. vt. 常到，常去；時常出入于

But Kanazawa and Li's savanna theory of happiness offers a different explanation. The idea starts with the premise/?pr?m?s/ that the human brain evolved /?'vɑlv/ to meet the demands of our ancestral environment on the African savanna, where the population density was akin/?'k?n/ to what you'd find today in, say, rural Alaska (less than one person per square kilometer). Take a brain evolved for that environment, plop/plɑp/ it into today's Manhattan/m?n'h?t(?)n/ (population density: 27,685 people per square kilometer), and you can see how you'd get some evolutionary friction /'fr?k??n/.

premise/?pr?m?s/

* vt. 引出，預先提出；作為…的前提

* n. 前提；上述各項；房屋連地基

* vi. 作出前提

* akin/?'k?n/ adj. 同族的；同類的；類似的

* plop/plɑp/

* n. 撲通聲；掉下的聲音

* vt. 把…沉重地放下

* vi. 撲通落下

* adv. 撲通一聲地；突然地；出其不意

* friction /'fr?k??n/.n. 摩擦，摩擦力

Similarly with friendship: "Our ancestors lived as hunter–gatherers in small bands /b?nd/ of about 150 individuals," Kanazawa and Li explain. "In such settings, having frequent contact with lifelong/'la?f'l??/ friends and allies was likely necessary for survival /s?’va?vl/ and reproduction /?ripr?'d?k??n/ for both sexes." We remain social creatures today, a reflection of that early reliance /r?'la??ns/ on tight-knit/'ta?t'n?t/ social groups.

small band of 一小群

band

1. n. 帶, 箍

2. 條紋

3. 價值、數量等的范圍; 無線電的波段, 頻帶

4. 一群, 一伙

5. 樂隊, 樂團

6. vt. 用帶綁扎

7. vt. & vi. 結合起來; 伙同

8. lifelong/‘la?f'l??/ adj. 終身的

reproduction /?ripr?’d?k??n/

1. n. 繁殖,生殖,繁殖方式

2. 復制,再現

3. 復制品

reliance /r?'la??ns/ n. 依靠, 依賴

tight-knit/'ta?t'n?t/ adj. 密織的,緊湊的,構造結實的

The typical human life has changed rapidly since then — back on the savanna we didn't have cars or iPhones or processed food or "Celebrity /s?'l?br?ti/ Apprentice/?'pr?nt?s/" — and it's quite possible that our biology hasn't been able to evolve fast enough to keep up. As such, there may be a "mismatch" between what our brains and bodies are designed for, and the world most of us live in now.

To sum it all up: You've heard of the paleo/'peili:?u/-diet. But are you ready for paleo-happiness?

paleo/'peili:?u/-diet 古飲食

There's a twist, though, at least as Kanazawa and Li see it. Smarter people may be better equipped to deal with the new (at least from an evolutionary perspective) challenges present-day life throws at us. "More intelligent individuals, who possess higher levels of general intelligence and thus greater ability to solve evolutionarily novel /'nɑvl/ problems, may face less difficulty in comprehending and dealing with evolutionarily novel entities/'?nt?ti/ and situations," they write.

novel /'nɑvl/

1. adj. 新奇的；異常的

2. n. 小說

3. entities/'?nt?ti/n. 實體, 獨立存在體, 實際存在物

If you're smarter and more able to adapt to things, you may have an easier time reconciling/'r?k?nsa?l/ your evolutionary predispositions/'prid?sp?'z???n/ with the modern world. So living in a high-population area may have a smaller effect on your overall well-being — that's what Kanazawa and Li found in their survey analysis. Similarly, smarter people may be better-equipped to jettison /'d??t?sn/ that whole hunter-gatherer social network — especially if they're pursuing some loftier /'l?fti/ ambition.

reconciling/'r?k?nsa?l/

1. vt. 使和好; 和解

2. 使一致, 使和諧

3. predispositions/‘prid?sp?'z???n/n. 易染病體質；素質；傾向

4. jettison /‘d??t?sn/ vt. 拋棄,丟棄

5. loftier /'l?fti/ adj. 崇高的；高級的；高的；高傲的

It's important to remember that this is an argument Kanazawa and Li are proposing and that it's not settled science. "Paleo-" theories — the idea that our bodies are best adapted to the environment of our earliest ancestors — have come under fire in recent years, especially as food companies and some researchers over-hyped the alleged /?'l?d?/ benefits of the paleo-diet fad.

over-hypedn. 負債過多

alleged /?’l?d?/

vt. 宣稱，斷言；提出…作為理由

時 態:? alleged, alleging, alleges

形容詞: allegeable

名 詞: alleger

Kanazawa and Li's main findings about population density, social interaction and happiness are relatively uncontroversial. But Brookings's Carol Graham says one potential flaw/fl?/ in their research is that it defines happiness in terms of self-reported life satisfaction ("How satisfied are you with your life as a whole?"), and doesn't consider experienced well-being ("How many times did you laugh yesterday? How many times were you angry?" etc.). Survey researchers know that these two types of questions can lead to very different assessments of well-being.

uncontroversial 沒有爭議的

flaw/fl?/ n. 缺點, 瑕疵, 缺陷

For their part, Kanazawa and Li maintain that that distinction doesn't matter too much for their savanna theory. "Even though our empirical/?m'p?r?kl/ analyses ... used a measure of global life satisfaction, the savanna theory of happiness is not committed to any particular definition and is compatible with any reasonable conception of happiness, subjective well-being, and life satisfaction," they write.

empirical/?m'p?r?kl/adj. 以觀察或實驗為依據的

Kanazawa himself is no stranger to controversy/'kɑntr?'v?si/. In 2011 he wrote a blog post for Psychology Today entitled "Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?" The post ignited /?ɡ'na?t/ a firestorm of criticism and was swiftly/?s w?ftl?/ taken down.

controversy/‘kɑntr?'v?si/n. 公開辯論, 論戰

ignited /?ɡ'na?t/

1. vt. 點燃；使燃燒；使激動

2. vi. 點火；燃燒

swiftly/?s w?ftl?/adv. 很快地；即刻；敏捷地

His current research on well-being is not likely to generate as much criticism as that blog post. But the evolutionary perspective on happiness and intelligence is likely to prompt some heated discussion in the field.

In an email, Kanazawa said that his approach to understanding happiness is fundamentally different than the arguments about, say, the benefits of a paleo-diet. "Blindly introducing our ancestors’ diet when we do not have other aspects of the ancestral life seems like a dangerous and nonsensical prescription to me," he said.

"I only explain nature; I do not tell people what to do or not to do," he added.

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Sentences

what makes a life well-lived

The higher the population density/'d?ns?ti/ of the immediate environment, the less happy

Let me repeat that last one: When smart people spend more time with their friends, it makes them less happy.

To the extent that frequent /'frikw?nt/ social interaction detracts from the pursuit/p?'sut/ of these goals, it may negatively affect their overall satisfaction with life.

To sum it all up: You've heard of the paleo/'peili:?u/-diet. But are you ready for paleo-happiness?

But the evolutionary perspective on happiness and intelligence is likely to prompt some heated discussion in the field.