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Why smart people are better off with fewer friends

来源：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/'fæsɪnetɪŋ/ new research published last month in the British Journal of Psychology. Evolutionary/ˌivə'luʃənɛri/ 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 /ˈtækəl/ that question.

fascinating/‘fæsɪnetɪŋ/

* adj. 迷人的；吸引人的；使人神魂颠倒的

* v. 使…着迷；使…陶醉（fascinate的ing形式）

* Evolutionary/ˌivə'luʃənɛri/

* adj. 进化的；发展的；渐进的

dig in

* 掘土以掺进；掘土把…埋起来；开始认真工作；掘壕固守

* priests/pri:st/

* n. 牧师；神父；教士

* vt. 使成为神职人员；任命…为祭司

* tackling /ˈtækəl/

* n. 滑车；装备；用具；扭倒

* vt. 处理；抓住；固定；与…交涉

* vi. 扭倒；拦截抢球

Kanazawa and Li theorize/'θiəraɪz/ that the hunter-gatherer  [‘hʌntə'ɡæðərə] lifestyles of our ancient ancestors/'ænsɛstɚ/ form the foundation for what make us happy now. "Situations and circumstances that would have increased our ancestors’ life satisfaction in the ancestral /æn'sɛstrəl/ environment may still increase our life satisfaction today," they write.

theorize/'θiəraɪz/

* vi. 建立理论或学说；推理

* vt. 建立理论

hunter-gatherer ['hʌntə'ɡæðərə]

* n. 采集狩猎的人

ancestral /æn’sɛstrəl/

* adj. 祖先的；祖传的

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

savanna/səˈvænə/

* n. [生态] 热带草原；热带的稀树大草原

First, they find that people who live in more densely /ˈd ɛnslɪ/ populated areas tend to report less satisfaction with their life overall. "The higher the population density/'dɛnsəti/ 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 /ˈd ɛnslɪ/

* adv. 浓密地；密集地

self-reported

* 自述的

But there was one big exception. For more intelligent /ɪn'tɛlɪdʒənt/ people, these correlations /ˌkɔrə'leʃən/ were diminished /də'mɪnɪʃ/ or even reversed /rɪ'vɝst/.

correlations /ˌkɔrə'leʃən/

* n. [数] 相关，关联；相互关系

diminished /də'mɪnɪʃ/

* adj. 减弱的；减退了的

* v. 减少；削弱（diminish的过去分词）

"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/'sætɪs'faɪd/ 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/'kɔntuə/ of both findings are largely uncontroversial    [ʌn,kantrə'və:ʃəl;]. A large body of previous research, for instance, has outlined what some have called an "urban/'ɝbən/-rural/'rʊrəl/ happiness gradient." Kanazawa and Li explain: "Residents/'rɛzɪdənt/ of rural areas and small towns are happier than those in suburbs /'sʌbɝb/, who in turn are happier than those in small central cities, who in turn are happier than those in large central cities.”

contours/'kɔntuə/

1. n. 等高线；轮廓（contour的复数）

2. v. 画等高线；画轮廓（contour的三单形式）

3. uncontroversial    [ʌn,kantrə'və:ʃəl;]

4. adj. 非争论性的；不会引起争论的

5. controversial  /ˌkɑntrə'vɝʃl/

6. adj. 有争议的；有争论的

urban/‘ɝbən/

* adj. 城市的；住在都市的

* n. (Urban)人名；(西)乌尔万；(斯洛伐)乌尔班；(德、俄、罗、匈、塞、波、捷、瑞典、意)乌尔班；(英)厄本；(法)于尔邦

rural/'rʊrəl/

* adj. 农村的，乡下的；田园的，有乡村风味的

* Residents/‘rɛzɪdənt/

* adj. 居住的；定居的

* n. 居民；住院医生

* suburbs /'sʌbɝb/

* n. 郊区；边缘

Why would high population density cause a person to be less happy? There's a whole body of sociological/ˌsəʊsɪə'lɒdʒɪkəl/ research addressing this question. But for the most visceral/'vɪsərəl/ demonstration /ˌdɛmən'streʃən/ 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/'vɪsərəl/ adj. 内脏的；出于本能的；发自肺腑的；粗俗的

demonstration /ˌdɛmən'streʃən/

1. n. 表明;证明;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 /'frikwənt/ social interaction detracts from the pursuit/pɚ'sut/ of these goals, it may negatively affect their overall satisfaction with life.

frequent /'frikwənt/

1. adj. 时常发生的；频繁的；惯常的

2. vt. 常到，常去；时常出入于

But Kanazawa and Li's savanna theory of happiness offers a different explanation. The idea starts with the premise/ˈprɛmɪs/ that the human brain evolved /ɪ'vɑlv/ to meet the demands of our ancestral environment on the African savanna, where the population density was akin/ə'kɪn/ 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/mæn'hæt(ə)n/ (population density: 27,685 people per square kilometer), and you can see how you'd get some evolutionary friction /'frɪkʃən/.

premise/ˈprɛmɪs/

* vt. 引出，预先提出；作为…的前提

* n. 前提；上述各项；房屋连地基

* vi. 作出前提

* akin/ə'kɪn/ adj. 同族的；同类的；类似的

* plop/plɑp/

* n. 扑通声；掉下的声音

* vt. 把…沉重地放下

* vi. 扑通落下

* adv. 扑通一声地；突然地；出其不意

* friction /'frɪkʃən/.n. 摩擦，摩擦力

Similarly with friendship: "Our ancestors lived as hunter–gatherers in small bands /bænd/ of about 150 individuals," Kanazawa and Li explain. "In such settings, having frequent contact with lifelong/'laɪf'lɔŋ/ friends and allies was likely necessary for survival /sɚ’vaɪvl/ and reproduction /ˌriprə'dʌkʃən/ for both sexes." We remain social creatures today, a reflection of that early reliance /rɪ'laɪəns/ on tight-knit/'taɪt'nɪt/ social groups.

small band of 一小群

band

1. n. 带, 箍

2. 条纹

3. 价值、数量等的范围; 无线电的波段, 频带

4. 一群, 一伙

5. 乐队, 乐团

6. vt. 用带绑扎

7. vt. & vi. 结合起来; 伙同

8. lifelong/‘laɪf'lɔŋ/ adj. 终身的

reproduction /ˌriprə’dʌkʃən/

1. n. 繁殖,生殖,繁殖方式

2. 复制,再现

3. 复制品

reliance /rɪ'laɪəns/ n. 依靠, 依赖

tight-knit/'taɪt'nɪt/ adj. 密织的,紧凑的,构造结实的

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 /sə'lɛbrəti/ Apprentice/ə'prɛntɪs/" — 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:əu/-diet. But are you ready for paleo-happiness?

paleo/'peili:əu/-diet 古饮食

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/'ɛntəti/ and situations," they write.

novel /'nɑvl/

1. adj. 新奇的；异常的

2. n. 小说

3. entities/'ɛntəti/n. 实体, 独立存在体, 实际存在物

If you're smarter and more able to adapt to things, you may have an easier time reconciling/'rɛkənsaɪl/ your evolutionary predispositions/'pridɪspə'zɪʃən/ 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 /'dʒɛtɪsn/ that whole hunter-gatherer social network — especially if they're pursuing some loftier /'lɔfti/ ambition.

reconciling/'rɛkənsaɪl/

1. vt. 使和好; 和解

2. 使一致, 使和谐

3. predispositions/‘pridɪspə'zɪʃən/n. 易染病体质；素质；倾向

4. jettison /‘dʒɛtɪsn/ vt. 抛弃,丢弃

5. loftier /'lɔfti/ adj. 崇高的；高级的；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 /ə'lɛdʒ/ benefits of the paleo-diet fad.

over-hypedn. 负债过多

alleged /ə’lɛdʒ/

vt. 宣称，断言；提出…作为理由

时 态:  alleged, alleging, alleges

形容词: allegeable

名 词: 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/flɔ/ 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 没有争议的

flaw/flɔ/ n. 缺点, 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/ɪm'pɪrɪkl/ 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/ɪm'pɪrɪkl/adj. 以观察或实验为依据的

Kanazawa himself is no stranger to controversy/'kɑntrə'vɝsi/. In 2011 he wrote a blog post for Psychology Today entitled "Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?" The post ignited /ɪɡ'naɪt/ a firestorm of criticism and was swiftly/ˈs wɪftlɪ/ taken down.

controversy/‘kɑntrə'vɝsi/n. 公开辩论, 论战

ignited /ɪɡ'naɪt/

1. vt. 点燃；使燃烧；使激动

2. vi. 点火；燃烧

swiftly/ˈs wɪftlɪ/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/'dɛnsəti/ 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 /'frikwənt/ social interaction detracts from the pursuit/pɚ'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:əu/-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.