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

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...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: LI, Norman P., KANAZAWA, Satoshi
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1910
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/3167/viewcontent/CountryRoads_2016_afv.pdf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Singapore Management University
Language: English
id sg-smu-ink.soss_research-3167
record_format dspace
spelling sg-smu-ink.soss_research-31672019-07-04T00:37:33Z Country roads, take me home ... to my friends: How intelligence, population density, and friendship affect modern happiness LI, Norman P. KANAZAWA, Satoshi 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. 2016-11-01T07:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1910 info:doi/10.1111/bjop.12181 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/3167/viewcontent/CountryRoads_2016_afv.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Research Collection School of Social Sciences eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University evolutionary psychology positive psychology subjective well-being population density friendships Applied Behavior Analysis Psychology
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic evolutionary psychology
positive psychology
subjective well-being
population density
friendships
Applied Behavior Analysis
Psychology
spellingShingle evolutionary psychology
positive psychology
subjective well-being
population density
friendships
Applied Behavior Analysis
Psychology
LI, Norman P.
KANAZAWA, Satoshi
Country roads, take me home ... to my friends: How intelligence, population density, and friendship affect modern happiness
description 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.
format text
author LI, Norman P.
KANAZAWA, Satoshi
author_facet LI, Norman P.
KANAZAWA, Satoshi
author_sort LI, Norman P.
title Country roads, take me home ... to my friends: How intelligence, population density, and friendship affect modern happiness
title_short Country roads, take me home ... to my friends: How intelligence, population density, and friendship affect modern happiness
title_full Country roads, take me home ... to my friends: How intelligence, population density, and friendship affect modern happiness
title_fullStr Country roads, take me home ... to my friends: How intelligence, population density, and friendship affect modern happiness
title_full_unstemmed Country roads, take me home ... to my friends: How intelligence, population density, and friendship affect modern happiness
title_sort country roads, take me home ... to my friends: how intelligence, population density, and friendship affect modern happiness
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2016
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1910
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/3167/viewcontent/CountryRoads_2016_afv.pdf
_version_ 1770572892929523712