Do Geniuses Have Fewer Friends?

Chelsea Wrots
Onedio Member
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Source: https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/o...

Are you one of those people who say “Why do I even have friends?” when you're blamed for being too distant?

Is it more pleasing to spend time alone instead of going out with your friends?

According to a newly established study, your desire to be alone might be because you're intellectually gifted. Here are the details, with the contributions of Vice:

Evolutionary psychologists Satoshia Kanazawa and Norma Li thinks that extremely intelligent people prefer to be alone.

According to their findings, “People who are 'extremely intelligent' are actually happier when they don't spend time with their friends.”

Ann Clarkson, the communications manager of Mensa- the world’s largest and oldest high IQ society- says this situation depends on one’s personality, and there are both extroverts and introverts among genius people.

'It is also recognized that very intelligent people can sometimes feel isolated from those around them just because they think and see the world differently. Finding someone else who processes information as you do can be difficult if your brain works the same as only two percent of the population.'

Dr. Robert Sternberg, a professor of human development at Cornell University, says there is no exact psychological meaning of the phrase ‘highly intelligent.’

Steinberg states that psychologists have different ideas of the definition of high intelligence and the number of different kinds of intelligence.

'In my own theory of successful intelligence, I distinguish among analytical intelligence (IQ), creative intelligence, and practical intelligence (common sense),' he says. 'High IQ does not guarantee either of the latter two. Our schooling so rewards kids with high IQ that those kids have little incentive to develop high social/emotional/practical intelligence, with unfortunate results.'

Washington Post says that Satoshia Kanazawa and Norma Li's theory depends on “the hunter-gatherer lifestyles of our ancient ancestors that form the foundation for what make us happy now."

According to this, genius people don’t need anyone else because they can overcome their problems by themselves.

On the other hand, according to Dr. Steinberg, it’s a little too much to base things on evolutionary psychology and states that highly intelligent people might stay away from those around them because they don’t want to get stopped on their way to success.

Nevertheless, there are many people who are highly intelligent but fail in their career life because they lack emotional intelligence.

'High (academic) intelligence is only poorly correlated with social, emotional, and practical intelligence. Ironically, the smart person who does not want to interact with others may be the person who most needs to interact with others to succeed in life.'