Studies show the higher the IQ a man has the less attractive he is to women

Kogikashaikunin · 2023-09-22T15:26:06+00:00

So slightly different take, but I remember reading that women like men around the same intelligence as themselves but if the gap gets too high or low they are turned off.

Given this distribution

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Gaussian-distribution-of-IQ-of-men-s-162-and-women-s-132_fig1_344751288

You would imagine that the most intelligent men find it hard to find "intelligence matched" women and the competition between these men gets higher, with less women available at or near their IQ.

Anecdotally, I remember dumbing down my nerdiness, at the age of 18/19 and I started having a lot more success with women. Basically I would talk about music and films and all the stupid things I got up to last weekend. Which concert I went to and how crazy the mosh pit was, etc. I would leave out how I was interested computers, sciences, etc.

All I said was, "I study physics at uni" and leave it at that. This told them that I was really smart, which came off as a plus. But I didn't bore them with equations.

Rather offered them a joint back at my place and some South Park.

You have to make any woman feel a connection and it isn't going to be with quadratic equations.

meangingersnap · 2023-09-22T18:07:58+00:00

tardmaxxing

Sure-Vermicelli4369 · 2023-09-22T15:47:25+00:00

I find that the "game" or "rizz" women respond to is very cringe and/or try-hard.

KamuiObito · 2023-09-22T15:55:50+00:00

Yea basically dumber people are more extroverted cuz they arent smart enough to come up with reasons it could go wrong..so yea thats also why women say the man they get as options isnt quality..majority of the men thats approaching confidently arent aware of how intrusive they are..so its not confidence but ignorance that’s helping them. I dumb myself down when I approach women.

MidoriEgg · 2023-09-22T14:32:30+00:00

I think sometimes people with higher IQ (as limited as that rating is) are more prone to overthinking and this can lead to taking less risks or doing less well socially, and struggling more to live in the moment.

sine120 · 2023-09-22T15:54:08+00:00

Oof, this hits home a little. Ultimately a lot of higher IQ nerdy types tend to exhibit autistic traits which really put women off. Even if you are not diagnosed autistic, there are behaviors that you might have that just don't mesh well with dating and female relationships. I'm referring specifically to the obsession and focus aspect of it with the mindset that autism is more common in boys.

Dudes opt to play with patterns and machines because that triggers the feel good receptors in our brains, probably a evolutionary leftover from when we had to pick out and kill the big spooky predator hiding in the bushes or something 10000 years ago. Nowadays instead of saving the tribe, the high IQ guy who's great at patterns locks himself in the college lab in the best case, worst case he's playing video games. Even if he's physically able to get into a relationship, he still won't be great at controlling how the woman feels.

Time-Algae7393 · 2023-09-22T16:14:40+00:00

I love smart guys. But I have noticed for example, that engineers or hyper-nerdy guys don't know how to dance or are smooth with their movements. They don't know how to say the 'right' thing to us women. There are some studies that show people who are in STEM have more autistic traits.

"There is a higher than chance representation of autistic people and people with elevated autistic traits in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) industries. Medical students, despite studying a STEM subject, have lower autistic traits than other STEM students."

So if I do see an engineer who knows how to salsa and is in fact a great communicator, then he is for sure, a rare find.

However, let's talk abut blue collar guys and your everyday guys who work in construction. They are definitely way more masculine. Also, because of their physical job, their bodies tend to be strong. And that's hot for us women.

In essence, the perfect man is the combination of the good traits from STEM with the hot stuff coming from blue collar. Conclusion, the perfect man generally does NOT exist. And if he does, then damn, he is earth's No. 1 player, unless he wants to have family and somehow believes in some kind of doctrine that tells him that adultery/fornication is wrong. :D

Another thing, smart guys tend to be seekers of truth. They will spend less time seducing women since they are more seduced by finding knowledge. Ask Tesla who never married and was in love with a bird.

DopeAFjknotreally · 2023-09-22T13:43:48+00:00

It’s because high iq men often get too analytical, which then causes them to forget how to live in the moment and be fun.

You can be both. Once you learn how to be both, you actually have a leg up on the competition.

modidlee · 2023-09-22T15:34:08+00:00

It’s not the IQ that turns women off. It’s the fact that higher IQ people are often socially awkward, too serious, inhibited. If you’re a high IQ guy who’s not socially awkward, knows how to have fun, and isn’t too serious you won’t struggle with women.

wtknight · 2023-09-22T13:40:20+00:00

Higher IQ men are less likely to be in the social situations that will lead to them having sex, so it might not just be because women don’t like high IQ guys. I’m sure that a high IQ, extroverted football quarterback will do very well sexually.

2023-09-22T15:42:36+00:00

Many women like hot men that are also smart

Almost none find intelligence enough to make an ugly guy hot

I won’t discuss myself because I’ll be accused of various things here

But I happen to have a background that has put me into contact with a decent chunk of people with IQ at least 2 SD above the mean, perhaps 3 or more SDs in some cases

This is evidenced by my ability to judge this, them getting perfect scores on the SAT or GRE or other test, and also achievements (making important scientific contributions)

Anyways, if women found smart guys hot then these guys should be swimming in women, and they are not at all unless they are otherwise conventionally attractive

One guy I know was both a huge brain and also tall and looked like a model and was also an athlete and musician (seemed like maybe he was designed in a lab)….anyways, women basically threw their panties at that guy

SianOiseau · 2023-09-22T13:25:56+00:00

You should read what you post.

for males with IQs under 70, 63.3% were still virgins, for those with IQs between 70-90 only 50.2% were virgin, 58.6% were virgins with IQs between 90-110, and 70.3% with IQs over 110 were virgins

People with average IQ have lower virginity rates, while people whose scores are higher or lower than average have higher virginity rates. It's the same with teenagers.

Controlling for age, physical maturity, and mother's education, a significant curvilinear relationship between intelligence and coital status was demonstrated; adolescents at the upper and lower ends of the intelligence distribution were less likely to have sex. Higher intelligence was also associated with postponement of the initiation of the full range of partnered sexual activities. An expanded model incorporating a variety of control and mediator variables was tested to identify mechanisms by which the relationship operates.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10706169/

It doesn't mean that they're more or less attractive to the opposite gender, as there are multiple things at play. Maybe people with above average intelligence are less prone to risk-taking behavior, I think there've been some studies showing the correlation between the two. Maybe they spend more time on things they value long-term - like their education. Maybe people who don't fall into the average grade have harder times connecting with their peers so they have less romantic success as well.

Neither the article you've linked nor the study they've attached talk about more intelligent people being less attractive or the need to be dumb to flirt. You shouldn't jump to conclusions without reading at least an abstract from the study, ideally a whole study.

sine120 · 2023-09-22T13:43:36+00:00

As an engineer it's a struggle, because I'm very logical. Women are not logical and you should make them feel emotions.

bluestjuice · 2023-09-22T15:01:09+00:00

When women say they like smart guys, they mean they like a man who has interesting conversations, who understands concepts and has intellectual interests. Probably that he likes to read. Probably that he follows culture, current affairs, or has philosophical or artistic opinions. This tends to mean a preference for higher education or if not, at least the sort of guy who self-educates by continuing to explore the world of ideas.

They definitely do not mean that if you put two guys in a lineup, and one has an IQ of 115 and one has an IQ of 145, the 145 guy automatically is more appealing. Like most things, this is a threshold question, not a maximization question. It is a way of eliminating the portion of the male population who is not-smart (aka can’t do the things described up top).

It is also always meant to be one positive attribute in a list of desirable attributes. Women who like smart guys will still not like a particular smart guy if he has no social skills, is hideously ugly, or falls beneath her other threshold levels in some way.

JNRoberts42 · 2023-09-22T14:30:05+00:00

Not because women prefer idiots, but because people on the spectrum suffer far too many idiosyncrasies to be fun or socially engaging.

Aside from that, intelligence is relative to a task. A hateful, expressionless theoretical physicist who spends every waking moment displaying anger and impatience lacks social intelligence and competence outside his area of hyperfocus.

His IQ may read as success to a statistician, but some of the top performers of our classrooms sit at home and master Lego or first person shooters instead of navigating a job which requires people skills and cooperation.

TL;DR

Because they aren’t any fun.

karlallan · 2023-09-22T13:25:05+00:00

does that then mean the opposite is true, that low IQs are more attractive? if so, how do you explain the inherent conflict on this sub that’s full of idiots who are unattractive to women

ezbyte · 2023-09-22T18:54:12+00:00

I love smart men. It honestly gets me hot when men teach me about things I don’t know in a NON CONDESCENDING manner. But many times high IQ men have low emotional intelligence and lack social awareness, and that’s a turn off for me.

doggiedoc2004 · 2023-09-22T19:54:14+00:00

It’s because many very high IQ dudes have zero social skills and are off putting in their behavior/mannerisms and conversations. I love smart guys but that has to be paired with normal/good social and emotional skills.

Bubbly_Taro · 2023-09-22T13:21:15+00:00

Paper not found.

https://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2006/12/virginity_as_a_function_of_iq.php

Source: Trust me bro.

crushmynutsplz · 2023-09-22T14:55:27+00:00

Reading this has lowered my IQ by about 15 points.

Glass_Bucket · 2023-09-22T15:01:21+00:00

All those rich CEOs, investment bankers, etc must be pretty high IQ no? You can't get rich by being a dumbass

2023-09-22T15:39:06+00:00

There's some strange connections drawn here. You use the word nerd a few times. That's defined as much but what it isn't as by what it is.

I'm smart, but no one would ever call me a nerd. I ski at ,80mph, mnt bike, rock climb, work out daily, play guitar, write songs, fly planes etc etc.

Is it the intelligence itself a turn off? Or intimidating? Or is it the nerdiness? Not all nerds are even smart really .

Lenovo_Driver · 2023-09-22T15:45:51+00:00

I can see that.

You can over think/analyze/complicate things to the point where it comes off as unattractive. I’ve definitely done that, especially when younger by always trying to ensure in my head there was a logical reason for a woman to want me and essentially acted accordingly. (Not making moves, avoiding women I was attracted to, etc)

Women (and everyone) LOVE people that are actually funny. Smart guys can absolutely be funny. If people aren’t laughing you’re not actually funny, being funny isn’t about making yourself laugh, it’s about making others laugh. Knowing your audience and how to make them laugh is all included in being funny.

It’s not that the stuff requires you to be dumb it’s more like that stuff goes against the grain of your life where you have to feel more than you think before acting. Think less, feel more. Different tools for a different job. Being smart won’t make you better at sports that require you to physical attributes.

Attraction, love, relationships or sex isn’t rational especially initially and simply being smart enough to know when it’s time to demonstrate your intelligence will never hurt you. People who try to rationalize it will always do worse than those who simply try experience it.

CryptoThroway8205 · 2023-09-22T16:03:00+00:00

There's a lot of blaming when it comes to more intelligent men. "Oh it's their fault they're too introverted". I'm an engineer. My friends were some of the smartest people in the country, they were mostly normal if a bit introverted.

There's a stigma against liking women who are too smart as well but notice how no one's saying smart women are introverted and blaming them. People say it's because men don't like smart or ambitious women. Well we can say it's the same for women since my friends weren't chased more than than people in party majors who worked out. 1 hour in the gym made you more attractive to the VAST majority of women than 1 hour studying because we're still just slightly smarter monkeys. I will say that Indian parents and some smart girls prefer intelligent guys but if you look at the marriage charts ~~often smart women marry physical trainers~~ I dunno I guess I just see them dating not marrying. There doesn't seem to be too many high paying women dominated fields and the ones that exist, the women tend to marry truckers. Not excusing the guy CEOs marrying down, in general the highest paid men marry down and the highest paid women marry straight. That said, I'm never disqualified for my major, I just have to be attractive enough first, then create a "spark". And I think your education and career really only helps with mature women and women who are looking to settle down which often happens at a later age.

Welllarmedhippie · 2023-09-22T18:21:06+00:00

Nerds are not high IQ they just think they are. Most nerds are insufferable pompous douchebags. Genuinely intelligent men don't flaunt it. An intelligent man takes care of business and that's very sexy.

5200-3200-1100 · 2023-09-22T14:08:31+00:00

90% of the posts here hinge on some principle that both things stated in the OP's post cannot exist at the same time, for example having game or rizz or being funny while having a high IQ. Of course anyone with real life experience will realize this is bullshit. In fact high verbal IQ probably increases your chances of getting laid because it makes it easier to smooth talk people.

Aside from that there is a pretty big difference between having high IQ and actually being intelligent. Besides the fact that IQ is not a reliable test of intelligence generally a lower IQ person with developed emotional intelligence and hard work will beat any high IQ intellectual in the intelligence department anytime. A lot of high IQ "gifted" kids end up burning out because they dont have the drive or willpower necessary to make things happen, and these are generally the high IQ losers sitting in their basements not having relationships.

Women (outside fringe tumblr circles) really dislike that self-reflective humor nerdy guys have, unless you're a famous jewish comedian that type of self-analytic humor comes off as neurotic and women think you aren't "confident".

Obviously this is not the only kind of humor intelligent people have and not all high IQ people are nerds. This post might just be the dumbest thing I've read this month. If anything you could use a little bit more IQ.

Veloci-Tractor · 2023-09-22T14:04:57+00:00

high charisma but low int is attractive

high int but low charisma is obnoxious

high both is extremely attractive

this isn't exclusive to genders, and it's obvious if you think about it.

also yes im a dork and think about humans like we have stats, shoot me

harmonica2 · 2023-09-22T14:04:12+00:00

An acquaintance of my girlfriend told her that I'm too smart and not as risk taking and she couldn't be with a man like that if that tracks with what the OP says.

TroidMemer · 2023-09-22T15:32:48+00:00

Can any women here confirm this? Is this true? Because for all my life I thought I had to be smart and be able to have deep conversations with the ladies in order to truly click with them.

2023-09-22T15:48:10+00:00

It is anecdotal and presumptive, but I'd say that like with anything, there are diminishing returns at a certain point. A guy with a slightly above average IQ will be able to socialize easily and have fun while also being able to be intellectually curious, where as a guy with a truly high IQ will likely be socially awkward and not able to enjoy simple things. This likely comes down to behavior more than IQ alone.

Logical-Confection-7 · 2023-09-22T16:24:29+00:00

Intelligent men are less interested in sex and promiscuity, and are better at foresight consequences of their behavior. They are less compulsive and can harder time getting along with peers that are not as smart.

This doesn’t mean women are not attracted to smart men, just that smart men are usually less compulsive at sex. There varios example of this.

AidsVictim · 2023-09-22T22:07:07+00:00

"Middle class" society moved to emulating and valuing low IQ/lower class behaviors and socialization styles and moves towards complete egalitarianism devalues IQ, most of the advantages associated with it center around outcompeting other men in resource provisioning etc.

The result is dysgenics.

Remarkable_Rough_89 · 2023-09-22T23:30:16+00:00

As a nerd I agree

IAbstainFromSociety · 2023-09-23T02:03:04+00:00

That's in high schoolers. Even if I could redo high school and choose anyone I wanted I'd still skip teen love completely. 113 IQ with 140 in two categories. Held back by 75 in memory related categories.

obviousredflag · 2023-09-22T13:49:43+00:00

For high school students, yes. The effect size is also pretty small. you also assume that there is an equal level of interest in sex over the whole IQ range. I was a high IQ high school student and my interest in sex developed long after my classmates had their first sexual encounters. I lost my virginity at 19 and that didn't feel late for me. By now, i have a top 1-2% number of sexual partners for a lifetime. There is a large demographic of women who are into intelligent men, also emotionally intelligent men. Low IQ women are not into me, just as i am not into them. We recognize within a few sentences of speaking that we have no common ground. This also happens with men.

I believe women (on average that is) are turned off by smart, intellectual, nerdy men.

But what use is an average in this case? You could be unattractive to 90% of women but super attractive to 10% of women and could not even date or fuck all of the women who are up to that because they are so into you. Polarizing the people into very into you and not very into you is the best approach to dating.

platinirisms · 2023-09-22T13:35:14+00:00

...But haven't IQ tests been like highly criticized? Like couldn't this also mean that guys who spend more time inside studying for tests instead of going out and meeting people they could potentially have sex with are less likey to be having sex than guys that are out doing average people things?

To me this says more about the type of guys that score well on tests than it does about their potential partners...

RonMexico432 · 2023-09-22T14:46:13+00:00

High IQ people are generally annoying to be around. Socially awkward, self-important know-it-alls.

Fit_Kiwi9703 · 2023-09-22T15:03:31+00:00

Let’s start by saying that IQ and intelligence are not the same. IQ measures a particular segment of human intelligence: Mathematical logic, word recognition, recollection speed. Human intelligence spans a much wider range of skills, including real-world problem solving, survival, hand-eye coordination, creativity, kindness, empathy, people skills, the list goes on.

It’s more likely that high IQ scorers spend more time cultivating their mental skills, which means spending less time socializing and doing outdoor activities. They become more socially isolated as a result, which can prolong virginity.

That being said, every man I’ve been attracted to has scored very well on their IQ, including my boyfriend. Trust me, my Brown University STEM roommates did NOT have any trouble getting girls.

Coolio_Street_Racer · 2023-09-22T14:59:37+00:00

I think their is a interesting correlation between estrogen, testosterone and IQ.

Estrogen and it's derivatives play a critical role in brain function.
Higher testosterone levels are directly correlated to lower estrogen levels and vice versa.
- As testosterone is either converted to DHT via AR5 enzyme or Estrogen via aromatization.
Higher Body Fat % is directly correlated with increased amortization therefore higher estrogen and lower testosterone levels.

We all know women are attracted to the traits of high testosterone men. I think dumb meat heads and push over nerd has some biological implications behind the stereotypes that may hold some truth.

2023-09-22T15:15:56+00:00

Yeah they don’t really know what it means to be “smart” it’s more about conforming to the standard and personality women look for.

2023-09-22T15:31:55+00:00

I think you fell for the correlation =/= causation trap OP

meta_narrator · 2023-09-22T15:39:32+00:00

It is totally dependent on the womens IQ. The higher her IQ is, the more tolerant of IQ she will be.

Away_Entrance1185 · 2023-09-22T16:56:03+00:00

When it comes to intelligence women are generally attracted to a slightly smarter man but if there's an IQ difference of 20 points or more than it stops being as attractive. Also, people with higher IQ's (both men, but especially women) are reproducing less and less so high IQ people not finding love won't be a problem for future generations.

meteorness123 · 2023-09-22T17:13:37+00:00

Studies show whatever you are looking to prove. Intelligence (linked to status) obviously increases your chance with smarter women. The problem is that men in the manosphere are autistic so what they mean by intelligence is only hyper intelligent men (or any intelligence they identify with). So to these guys, a dude with an IQ of 115 is not intelligent. Only a mighty, autistic engineer is intelligent. Nothing else. He is the pinnacle of being. When he is on a date and the woman makes a joke, he does not play along but he stringently corrects her because he is intelligent. The woman does not like this and perceives the guy to be weird. The engineer now comes to the conclusion that "women do not like intelligence". As he intelligent as he is, he does not understand the impact of demographics in dating and its effect on which trait is considered desirable among what demographic.

grown_folks_talkin · 2023-09-22T18:16:17+00:00

I disagree on

2: Too many experiences, some in first person, where men use self-deprecating humor and even sharing of pain and it aids in facilitating attraction. If you heard the old song “Average Everyday Normal Guy”, I’m sure that guy got panties dropped as a result of putting that out.

3: Intelligent people can mimic those with the proper motivation. I feel like I had experience with this as well. I found that presenting myself as 50% more bland and basic increased make-out occurrences in my mid to late 20s.

In general young women can be turned off by nerdiness (thought that changed in the 2010s though?) but smarts presented without nerdiness can only help.

howdoiw0rkthisthing · 2023-09-22T18:23:30+00:00

The study that the article you linked is referencing is behind a paywall, but it would be nice to know what the distribution looks like for females. Are women at the lower and higher ends of the distribution also less likely to have sex? We don’t know, but unlike the NR writer, the author of the abstract didn’t find it pertinent to say.

Safinated · 2023-09-22T19:51:42+00:00

We already knew nerds are less social and thus less attractive

the_calibre_cat · 2023-09-22T20:48:59+00:00

I think there's a lot of playing fast and loose with "it's because of", so let me simply add my two cents and hypothesize that a possible scenario of this is that high IQ men are probably somewhat choosy themselves, don't want to fuck everything in sight and aren't keen on possibly getting murked with 18 years of child support with a woman they can't be with.

ayleidanthropologist · 2023-09-23T00:02:04+00:00

So wait, the linked study correlates iq and virginity. Not iq and the preference of women. To say nothing of causation.

This sounds like “commoner’s sense” and not science.

Studying, instead of say partying, would make you smarter. And you’d have fewer encounters. Lot of other explanations here…

pieperson5571 · 2023-09-23T03:54:48+00:00

Or maybe the more intelligent you are the less you fall for BS.

purplish_possum · 2023-09-23T05:14:28+00:00

I have an IQ over 140 and an n-count of almost 60.

Substantial_Video560 · 2023-09-23T10:06:45+00:00

Well, many of the famous inventors, scientists, philosophers thoughout the centuries were single celibate men/bachelors.

Some of them were probably austistic, asexual or homosexual, so that may account for that! 🤔

TheCultOfGrogg · 2023-09-23T11:06:02+00:00

I’ve always thought this myself. That’s why I say this idea that women’s mate-picker leads them to the best mate, it’s bullshit. I’d actually say most crime comes from the kids off single mothers, and seeing as women control with men get sexual access, most of the crime in society comes from men but it’s caused indirectly by women. Women choose the WORST men to be fathers and husbands.

meta_narrator · 2023-09-23T22:36:14+00:00

This applies to all people, not just the sexes. The quickest way to make someone hate you, is to let them know you are smarter than they are. It doesn't even matter if you're incredibly tactful about it, and that whatever it is you said or did had no underlying motivations to belittle. It just doesn't matter. If you want to be liked, feign stupidity.

InjectAdrenochrome · 2023-09-22T13:29:53+00:00

Attractive face is a better predictor of high IQ than even parents educational attainment.

Good looking people have a higher IQ on average than ugly people.

I just Hiroshima Nagasaki pilled you

John_Oakman · 2023-09-22T14:19:29+00:00

Maybe people just don't like the arrogance (either conscious or subconscious) that comes with a lot of high iq people?

Your intelligence is not superior to my stupidity.

DConstructed · 2023-09-23T01:18:03+00:00

Date equally smart women.

MarBitt · 2023-09-22T13:46:56+00:00

Studies show the higher the IQ a man has the less attractive he is to women

Source? Your linked study:

"Controlling for age, physical maturity, and mother's education, a significant curvilinear relationship between intelligence and coital status was demonstrated; adolescents at the upper and lower ends of the intelligence distribution were less likely to have sex."

In my opinion, it does not mean that the higher the IQ, the less attractive. But rather that people are looking for compatibility. There are most women with IQs around 100, so they will have the most compatibility with men with IQs around 100.

But let's say you have an IQ of 130. Does that mean you are less attractive to a woman with an IQ of 130 than if you had an IQ of 100?

My counter claim is that women are most attracted to men of equal or slightly higher intelligence. You can take it, for example, according to the elections, that US presidents have an average IQ of 115.5. They are not the smartest people, but the people who can attract the largest number of voters.

Another counter-argument is that people with a higher IQ (up to 140 I guess) achieve on average higher education and income. Thus, they have a higher social status. And thus they are more attractive.

That intelligent people have sex later is not necessarily an argument proving that they are less attractive to women. Because even intelligent women have sex later. It's just that intelligent people think more about things, doubt more. It is a question of whether having sex early is really intelligent.

CranberryNo1448 · 2023-09-22T14:04:02+00:00

thank god leave all the high iq guys for me

Cjaylyle · 2023-09-22T14:43:04+00:00

The hell are you on about self reflective humour about the irony of day to day absurdities and such, funny is funny, you can be positive and negative in your humour as long as it lands and isn’t clown humour women, nay, people, find that attractive.

A lot of it doesn’t land for young basic women though but when you’re old enough to get good at it (late twenties/thirties) you won’t want younger 18,19,20,21 year olds anyway

LovesGettingRandomPm · 2023-09-22T14:50:09+00:00

Youre correct, I notice this anecdotally, its good if youre a little dumb I suspect it makes the girl be more at ease and she feels more secure knowing she can get one up on you.

Its like when dads tell you that women are always right, they know they have to give her the upper hand sometimes instead of debating for being right

Neat-Skill-3452 · 2023-09-22T14:32:14+00:00

I believe women (on average that is) are turned off by smart, intellectual, nerdy men.

Water is wet, fire burn.. of course intelligence is highly overrated for attraction and for women. That's only what they say to get some social point, but in action...

it's also the case for men in regard of women.. Intelligence is not really a factor.

Intelligence, personality are a meme.

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2023-09-22T14:19:47+00:00

If you can’t figure out that this study says absolutely nothing about attraction… you probably had a lot of poorly thought out drunken bad sex in high school.

Green-Quantity1032 · 2023-09-22T14:54:58+00:00

My IQ is ~127 (I'm basing it off being top 3% in psychometric test in my country, so expect some variance - though it's pretty agreed upon I'm the smartest guy in every peer group I've been part of)
I'm jewish.
No, just be a little cocky in an endearing way.

I did stay virgin until I was 21, but after that my success with women is above average, and improved even more in last years.

I can see why higher-IQ would need to jump some self-conscious hurdles which 'dumber' people can just hop over, but if you're attractive and treat your social anxiety IQ should be more of a gift than a curse.

bonjarno65 · 2023-09-22T16:02:58+00:00

This is just super false. I likely have a high IQ (I got a PhD in physics from an elite school, and was a professional scientist).

When dating I always used my IQ to my advantage, by switching up my game if what I was saying or the way I was saying wasn’t getting the girl interested.

I also used my IQ to write lots of witty flirty texts and witty sarcastic jokes when texting girls in OLD. Nowadays I guess you could use ChatGPT to do this but yeah it helped.

Also women I was dating could tell I was intelligent and they liked that, so yeah not sure where the claims of “being turned off by intellectuals” comes from.

Epiphanic_Eros · 2023-09-22T17:32:59+00:00

Women love smart men, if their intelligence gives them some power over the world. They generally do not like men who are stuck in their head, and cut off from their body and emotions and senses.

Azweik · 2023-09-22T17:53:19+00:00

i believe in the correlation but I dont think "intelligence" in itself is unattractrive.

I think just the more intelligent someone is, the more he might overthink, and the more he might rule over his instincts, and this can be a disadvantage in mating.

calfshrug · 2023-09-22T18:03:32+00:00

Huhuhuhu, just look at my Reddit comment history and you’ll be able to figure this one out hahahah

meangingersnap · 2023-09-22T18:13:11+00:00

Is there one for women and their iq?

TristanAurelius · 2023-09-22T18:40:49+00:00

I honestly wasn’t attractive when I was younger (short, overweight, poor social skills, etc) and girls still liked me who went to class with me because they could tell I was clever (in their eyes) and a genuine person.

It is extremely hard for me to be with someone I find intellectually very run of the mill or to connect with random people in a deep, romantic way, therefore I have spent a lot of my life contentedly abstaining.

Just anecdotal experience.

wwwArchitect · 2023-09-22T18:46:41+00:00

So glad. I absolutely love the self reflective nerds. Such a buyer’s market for this with like zero competition ☺️

LaTableEstBasse · 2023-09-22T19:08:21+00:00

It's the other way around:

The more IQ a guy has, the more uninteresting girls become.

WistfulPuellaMagi · 2023-09-22T20:01:17+00:00

My bf is nerdy and that’s one reason I like him.

MMATH_101 · 2023-09-22T20:54:35+00:00

This is true. But shouldn't be a suprise to anyone.

Like "Street smarts", this vague term really just means human-smarts. Aka being a functional well rounded human being.

Of course that's more attractive than IQ which mostly just correlates to your ability to navigate modern academic and intellectually demanding work environments.

It's an overvalued and misunderstood measure that doesn't say as much about physical fitness, charisma, common sense, reliability and trust. It's really just a measure that correlates with success in the modern world. Which in the grander scheme of things... is a largely made up, transient and arbitrary skillets that weren't as valuable 200 let alone 20,000 years ago.

There's no reason or right for this to somehow also unlock female attraction that's rather based on thousands of years of evolutionary refinement.

2023-09-22T21:42:26+00:00

Maybe I'm not that smart. But I've heard women tell me they like my intellect. And I've heard this from both intellectual women as well as those who weren't as intellectual. My GF recently said "no one wants to date a dummy". But of course extremes are another story. Maybe someone with genius level IQ is a whole other can of worms. Especially if say they behave like they're on the spectrum

DzejSiDi · 2023-09-22T22:33:09+00:00

IQ measures just one facet of something we understand as "inteligence" and it's the more abstract/autistic side. Not very sexy, nothing new here.

Stuff like "having game", "confidence" or "rizz" requires being dumb to an extent in order to internalize extremely gendered behavior patterns uncritically, a intelligent guy will either have to be a psycho to mimic these, or he will see the irony in them and cringe at it.

Holy mother of cope, adaptability and wittiness are big part of inteligence and really help your game. If you have zero ability to improvise outside your overanalysed plans, maybe you're not as inteligent as you thought you are. Same goes for other aspects you have mentioned, learn evo psych, so you can advance from being "iamsmart" to being smart in this context. Calculating integrals in your mind is not as impressive for women as big muscles, and every nerd that failed to understand this is more cringe than any 90 IQ meathead.

dela_man10 · 2023-09-22T22:41:48+00:00

I don’t understand this narrative of women don’t like smart guys. You have to strike a balance. Most people are not that smart. Use your smarts to make more money, learn things about seduction and relationships that are missed by other people, give good advice, make witty jokes, explain stuff to her (I made world politics and economics interesting to my ex and other women I dated and even shared funny memes with them). Relating to people is a skill. Sometimes you have to dumb yourself down and sometimes you need to take things seriously. It’s an art not a science. I know lots of smart guys but they try too hard to intellectualise everything. There’s a fine balance you need to strike. Same with something like dressing well. Some things will look good on the mannequin, model or Chad and not on you. You need to adjust. Stop following cookie cutter advice.

2023-09-22T23:01:53+00:00

This article does not say ANYTHING you just claimed. It says higher iq = higher virginity rate.

Nowhere does it say smarter men are less attractive. Correlation does not equal causation. These dudes could be virgins because they’re smart enough to not have sex with a girl they’re not ready to commit to. They could be busier because they’re in AP classes, or studying for tests.

You came up with your own conclusion with absolutely no evidence to back it.

Secondly, talk about the Dunning Kruger effect. My man really thinks he’s so smart that’s why he’s not getting laid and yet you can’t even decipher scientific data properly.

🤡

TESLAkiwi · 2023-09-22T23:10:30+00:00

I highly doubt this - and I have an average IQ

EugeneCezanne · 2023-09-22T23:14:28+00:00

The type of guy women get turned off is the self-reflective nerd who sees irony in the absurd things that constitute our everyday social reality.

Oof, that's absolutely me. But women generally think I'm smart and funny. So...?

that type of self-analytic humor comes off as neurotic and women think you aren't "confident".

Okay, I get what you mean. I think there's a fine line, often overlooked, at play here. You can absolutely be charming and analytical at the same time. You can participate in social norms while maintaining an ironic distance and be charming at the same time. Where a lot of people go wrong--and I see this mostly in men, but also in a lot of educated women--is that you also need to be "fun." No one likes a buzzkill. The key is to find everything preposterous while also enjoying that everything is preposterous.

I wouldn't call that advice, for the record. I think it mostly comes with maturity, or not.

On a related note, most people are attracted to intelligence,but only insofar as they can follow it. The people whose intelligence is an asset are those who can demonstrate it in a way that engages, rather than alienates, their audience. The better you're able to turn a sharp mind to dull topics, the more appealing your company will be.

NittyGrittyDiscutant · 2023-09-22T23:19:48+00:00

I believe women (on average that is) are turned off by smart, intellectual, nerdy men.

i think it goes both ways it's harder to please someone intellectual/smart/nerdy then someone who is not

Thrice_Banned80 · 2023-09-22T23:42:26+00:00

The source your article cites is a dead link.

M_Ptwopointoh · 2023-09-22T23:46:25+00:00

Big IQ = kid has a big cranium = excruciating to give birth

Candid-Mortgage4759 · 2023-09-23T00:30:37+00:00

“”Having game”, “confidence” or “rizz” requires being dumb to an extent”… sounds like copium.

GRIZLLLY · 2023-09-23T00:34:21+00:00

It's because some high IQ men prefer high IQ women.

Implentofhell · 2023-09-23T01:09:56+00:00

thelightinmydarkness · 2023-09-23T01:12:48+00:00

It does not require “being dumb to an extent” to learn how to seduce people. “He will see the irony in them and cringe at it.” Not everyone with high IQs will purposely make their lives harder by not learning social skills because it is “cringe.”

I personally am not turned off by smart, intellectual nerdy men. Before anyone comes at me and says, “you just don’t know what nerdy is,” no… I do.

Intellect of any of the sort is attractive. But, I adore people who are street smart as I am not at all, lol. They can be beautifully brilliant.

Inevitable-Log9197 · 2023-09-23T02:23:48+00:00

That’s why you gotta be a psycho 😏

y2kjanelle · 2023-09-23T02:47:12+00:00

All this proves is that men with higher IQs value social skills less and are worse at them. People in general who are super smart often are described as too analytical, condescending, boring/never go out/criticizes people who are or have fun, critical, and have superiority complexes.

It’s literally a trend right now making fun of the STEM people making fun of other majors. Yk? The engineer majors who always complain that business is so easy and they do so much work? Like okay cool bro you take chemistry but don’t know how not to be condescending in a basic conversation 👍

pending_ending · 2023-09-23T03:54:54+00:00

there is likely a point where IQ becomes high enough that your worldview is just too different to most people, making it hard to socialize in a way that is appealing and disarming. what i find a tad surprising is that even high-IQ guys are still enslaved by their normative, biological urges for mating as much as any other type of dude.

Operatesinreality · 2023-09-23T04:01:29+00:00

My husband is very, very intelligent. But he is not some nerd. He is all-around brilliant both intellectually, and mathematically but also in real life including the capability to end a fight and having a sense of humour. That is why he never found a place well, because he is way smarter than the average person but not locked in his head like the intelligent ones. That's why we clung to each other so much because we are similar in those ways. But I would take a stupid kind guy over pretentious precious little genius any day. Genius has to be standing on the ground of reality.

ProbablyFunPerson · 2023-09-23T05:53:47+00:00

The study you mentioned was conducted in 2007 on a sample of 1000 teenagers being asked about their sexual experience among various grades and that being compared to their IQ test results. That's not a highly credible source of information to date as an adult, considering limited scope, sample size and date of the study.

From myself personally, I simply disagree with the title of the post, it's not that women don't like smart guys, it's that people like people that are smarter/wiser than them but within a certain threshold. I wouldn't date a girl that's extremely intelligent not because it's unattractive, but because she may not be even thinking in ways I can grasp, so we both wouldn't find each other interesting. People tend to look for some regular marginal improvement in their skills and knowledge, so an appropriate partner should be able to satisfy that need by being their unique self which is to say, not stupid, nor possessing extreme intelligence.

JackJaminson · 2023-09-23T08:03:10+00:00

As an above average intelligence person I would disagree.

My lived experience is that matching hypothesis loosely correlates to intelligence too.

I would go as far to say that intelligence is comparable to humour, attractiveness, physicality etc. in that it can set a man apart from the pack.

Excellent_Badger123 · 2023-09-23T09:19:24+00:00

I always liked really smart guys. Low IQ was worse than sub par looks, just a hard no. That said my college boyfriend who was a “physics major” was also a hang gilder pilot who put that physics brain to use. He held the record for longest flight time when we dated. Dude could float for 7 hours, it was impressive. We didn’t talk about physics on our dates - but we did talk about flight and a lot of other things.

WillyDonDilly69 · 2023-09-23T09:47:26+00:00

Depends on what you mean by intelligence because i clasify it as two types, you ether are GENERALLY INTELLIGENT or AURISTICALLY INTELLIGENT. First one means you have mental system and develops and can be applied for everything and you can get good mostly at everything either it be theoretical or social. The latter means you are extremely good at one subject and lack at everything else meaning you can't use/translate the intelligence developed to other matters of life. I think the latter one is not attractive.

kitterkatty · 2023-09-23T10:48:19+00:00

That tracks.

washington_breadstix · 2023-09-23T11:26:06+00:00

I'm not sure whether I'm actually expressing disagreement with you by writing this comment, but here are my two cents regardless:

I take statements like "Women are attracted to smart guys" with a grain of salt, and I think it's similar to ideas like "Women are attracted to strong guys". There's not an exact linear relationship between "lifting more weight" and "being more attractive". When you unpack the statement, it's more like "She wants to feel as though the guy can fight for her and protect her". She's not literally comparing bench press numbers among potential suitors.

Something similar has to be happening here. If "Women want smart guys" were a true statement at face value, then men would be more invested in achieving high numbers on IQ tests, for example, as a way of proving their worth to women. But, similarly to strength, the type of display of intelligence that women actually respond positively to is always in the form of a direct impact on their reality, not some abstract metric. "I want a smart guy" probably just means "I want to feel as though I can learn something from the guy and occasionally take a backseat to him and let him lead me when making decisions". Does this actually require the guy to have a high IQ? Not really, he just has to have some passion for one or another subject or hobby and enough confidence to speak authoritatively now and again. The shorthand version is "smart" and some people mistakenly take this to mean the girl is looking for the guy with the highest IQ.

People who have very high IQs also have a much higher chance of displaying autistic traits and being very socially inhibited. There seems to also be a sort of Dunning-Kruger-esque effect at play here (let's be clear, however: what I'm talking about isn't actually what the original Dunning-Kruger research said). Average-intelligence people have a hard time knowing what high-IQ traits actually look like. They can't distinguish high-IQ individuals from overconfident average-IQ individuals, and are more likely to respond positively to the latter. If you're within one standard deviation of average intelligence (i.e. most of the population), then the smartest person you know is probably someone who never seemed particularly smart to you, and who you always just thought was "so weird".

No_Hat9118 · 2023-09-23T12:42:34+00:00

Maybe stop banging on about irony dude, women don’t care.

GiggleBanger · 2023-09-23T13:19:06+00:00

Cause he sees through their shit. And they don't like it if they can't play their games and pull thier shit.

Puzzleheaded_Fuel365 · 2023-09-23T14:57:01+00:00

There’s a difference between being nerdy and being smart. I’ve always liked intelligent guys, but they have to not be annoying about it. I’m also really intelligent too so there’s that, but I’ve noticed that even lower-intelligence women seem to like the intellectual guys I date. I am also pretty attractive and date attractive guys so maybe this isn’t a good case study lol.

XoxoSnobbishGirl · 2023-09-23T19:15:12+00:00

No way

2023-09-23T21:30:49+00:00

Considering the average STEM major is unattractive to women, yea I’d say this is pretty accurate. What women like is the intelligence that musical or artistic dudes have (there was name for it in psych but I can’t remember)

VFiorella · 2023-09-24T01:25:34+00:00

Well, been social adaptable is also intelligence in a way. IQ tests shows one type of intelligence.

2023-09-24T16:23:40+00:00

It’s just about neuroticism, not IQ. The more neurotic you are, the less likely you are to provide someone with their ideal of unconditional love

Sabrepill · 2023-09-24T16:40:30+00:00

Intelligence is a very generic term that doesn’t mean much, since there are so many different types of intellect. But you’re absolutely right that the average woman isn’t drawn to the booksmart nerdy dude who has glaring intellectual deficiencies in other areas such as communication and socializing

desiringyouall8 · 2023-09-25T07:21:33+00:00

Keep in mind that regardless of the truth of your argument, statistically, both sexes still tend to enter long term commitments like marriage with someone of similar intelligence, although women seem more often to prefer men who are slightly more intelligent than them.

Lower-Director1043 · 2023-09-25T16:03:03+00:00

Because smart men can't walk eggshells around a woman's ego !

Hosj_Karp · 2023-09-26T06:47:34+00:00

people assortively mate by a variety of factors. IQ is a major one. thus people on either extreme of the distribution have a much harder time finding partners. especially so for men because there is somewhat more variance in the IQ distribution for men compared to women.

2023-09-28T15:06:43+00:00

i’m not sure it’s fair to assume the conclusions you’re making based on the results of the study. if you look at the results it’s essentially a bell-curve with men with more average IQs having a higher likelihood of having lost their virginity by a certain age while the inverse is true for men on the high/low ends of the IQ spectrum. for the men on the low end of the spectrum, it’s easy to understand why they aren’t having sex. low intelligence is seen as almost universally unattractive by both men and women (yes there are exceptions, yes it probably does not matter as much in regards to men’s attraction to women). but for men on the high end of the IQ spectrum, i think it has less to do with women’s attraction to them and much more to do with how they spend their time. highly intelligent men in young adulthood are more likely to devote their time towards studying and preparing for high-paying careers. as a result they aren’t spending as much time in social settings around women like more average intelligence men. for that reason they’re less likely to get laid just as a result of not spending as much time in proximity to women. so it’s probably not an issue of what women find attractive but how men invest their time. and of course you could also factor in things other commenters have suggested like highly intelligent men are more likely to overthink things and be perceived as awkward or shy.

just anecdotally i find low intelligence in men very unattractive. part of the reason i originally started crushing on my boyfriend is he could have long conversations on complex topics. he’ll talk about advanced math concepts that go over my head completely but i still find it cute. i suppose it’s a bit patriarchal but it’s reassuring as a woman to know my partner is intelligent and can solve problems.

Covard-17 · 2023-09-28T18:52:35+00:00

High is is useless if you dont get into a good paying field.

Like if you become an engineer, a physicist or a mathematician you will be worth much less than an investiment banker or a doctor

Forward-Title-7023 · 2023-10-20T15:39:07+00:00

Nothing New. Thats why i Always try to Play dumb and in some ways i literally am dumb. dominant unbothered masculine Bro. d.u.m.b.

Gabore77 · 2023-12-02T10:11:24+00:00

The whole article is totally true. The more primitive and stupid a man is, the more WOMEN prefer to date them. Ladies run away from intelligent men because they see through them.

Title	Studies show the higher the IQ a man has the less attractive he is to women
Author	Napo_De_Leone
Upvotes	277
Comments	426
Date	September 22, 2023 1:17 PM UTC (2 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/PurplePillDebate
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/PurplePillDebate/comments/16pa47m/studies_show_the_higher_the_iq_a_man_has_the_less/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/PurplePillDebate/studies-show-the-higher-the-iq-a-man-has-the-less.1232640 https://theredarchive.com/post/1232640

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