- It's pretty commonplace to overlook our partners' flaws and to put them on a pedestal.
- According to a new study, many people tend to overestimate how intelligent their partners are too.
- Many people involved in the study estimated their partners' IQ scores based on how happy they were in their relationship.
None of us likes to think we're seeing with rose-tinted spectacles when we fall in love with someone, but it's quite common to overlook a partner's flaws and to idealize them as a person.
If you ever find yourself marveling at how "intellectual" your new-found love is, you're probably not the only one.
According to a study published in Intelligence, you may be overestimating just how brainy your partner is.
We evaluate our partners' intelligence based on our satisfaction with the relationship
Gilles Gignac from the University of Western Australia and Marcin Zajenkowski from the University of Warsaw used their experiment to demonstrate that most regard their partner as being of above-average intelligence.
The two researchers found that, in actual fact, people rate their partner's IQ based on how happy they are in their relationship — the happier you are, the more "intelligent" you'll rate your partner.
While many people assume that their partner is more attractive than themselves, many believe that their partner is as intelligent as they are — which, in turn, means you see yourself as being smarter than you actually are.
It's not clear how significant the findings of the study are
The study involved 218 heterosexual couples who had been together for an average of six years — about a quarter of them were married.
The participants were asked to determine intelligence using IQ tests and evaluate their own intelligence and that of their partner on a scale designed by the researchers.
Most people overestimated their partner's IQ by as much as 30 IQ points.
However, most of the participants also considered their own IQ to be above average.
Generally, most people intuitively look for a partner who is similar to them in terms of intelligence but — since the researchers only used written tests and no verbal tests, further studies will be needed to confirm the results are accurate.
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