We all hope to be invigorated by the intelligence of the person we’re dating, but there’s no real way to tell if you’re intellectually compatible until you get to know someone and begin to understand what subjects and interests you share in common. Dating smart singles doesn’t always have to mean meeting a valedictorian or biochemical engineer, but it does include emotional maturity and a passion for the same values. Someone who is willing to navigate life’s twists and turns with you will require a deep, meaningful connection, and that often takes patience and intentionality.
Highlighting Different Types of Intelligence in Dating
The prospect of searching for other educated singles may seem daunting at first, but once you start identifying the varying forms of intelligence, you’ll gain a better idea of what you’re looking for in a partner and how the various strengths and weaknesses compare to your life and preferences.
- Emotional Intelligence – Your emotional intelligence concerns when and how you manage your reactions and feelings about things in past, present, and future scenarios. This is important because they can change how your behavior is seen and perceived by others and, many times, show your true feelings even if you don’t intend them that way.
- Social Intelligence – People who understand how to communicate and adapt in different social circles or who balance multiple ongoing communities at once show their ability to maintain multi-faceted relationships without losing sight of their personal goals. This is valuable in education, career, friendships, and a lot more.
- Creative Intelligence – Creative intelligence is more rare and calls for one to be aware, inventive, malleable, and clever. These things are typically learned behaviors, but the innate ability to become imaginative and innovate on the fly means that this type of intelligence is unique to the individual in addition to their other skill sets.
- Practical Intelligence – This level of intelligence revolves around everyday life and one’s ability to think on the fly, solve problems in real-time, and handle tricky situations with thought and consideration of the effects. Being practical is valuable in basically every situation, so if you find someone to be consistently handy or helpful, their practical intelligence is high.
- Learning Capacity and Experience – Everything relies on your ability to absorb and process information and then apply it usefully in practice. How well you’re able to take in new or large amounts of information and institute it into your regular life in a proactive way can determine where the limitations or weak points in your intelligence might be and can even help you learn how to address them.
The Importance of Looking for a “Smart” Partner
You may think that making the claim you’re in pursuit of a “smart” partner sounds pretentious, but it likely appeals to the amount of stimulation your brain needs in order to become interested and eventually affectionate toward someone. How can you date someone who doesn’t share their same hobbies and interests? The same applies to intellectual capacity. If someone is unable to stimulate your cognitive needs or unable to meet you on the same wavelength, it can be hard to keep up a conversation and feel like you’re connecting over a topic or issue.
But it’s not just sharing the same beliefs and values that is most important, either. It’s your ability to display compassion, empathy, and understanding for the other person through whatever happens in life, which is largely an application of all of the types of intelligence we touched on earlier. Being able to encourage but also support and aid your partner through challenges is what forge strong bonds, and once time has weathered you both with ups and downs, you’ll have a better idea of your compatibility.
Appeals of Intellectual Compatibility
When you and a partner pride yourself on intelligence, it enables you to have more elaborate conversations about high-brow topics, sometimes diving into so much detail that you get your fill from the discourse alone. Being able to have these sorts of meaningful conversations means that you’re testing each other’s critical thinking skills and constantly learning from one another.
Once you begin to find consistent current events to analyze, certain subjects you’re both fascinated by, and niche interests you can geek out over, you’ll take notice of how respect and appreciation form between both parties, allowing you to grow both individually and as a couple. Two highly perceptive people may be combatant if they’re too opinionated, but if you’re open to discussion and can learn to practice active listening and productive rebuttals, each conversation with your significant other becomes more engaging.
Potential Challenges
There are definitely challenges when hoping to date other smart singles because, truthfully, you want to be on a level playing field without compromising who you are and what you hold near and dear to your own heart. Here are a few issues you may run into when pursuing a brainy partner.
- Educational Level – It may go without saying, but the term “smart” is subjective, and each person will have their own standards of what that means to them. Some people will care about degrees and career success over intellectual capabilities, but finding this out is more a matter of evaluating personal character and compatibility from the beginning.
- Communication Methods – Not all people thrive in the same forms of communication, so it’s important to decipher which appeases your date’s personality, and if it’s not aligned with your daily habits, you can expect the relationship as a whole to be difficult, especially in conflict resolution.
- Inadequacy – You may feel like you’re not living up to someone’s standards if they display a much more complex lifestyle and demanding schedule than you, and although this is trivial if you’ve found a mutual connection, it can be mentally taxing on one of the parties. It’s important to convey these concerns and address them early on.
- Differing Interests – Regardless of how much you think you’re attracted to someone, if you don’t have things to come together over, you’re going to struggle to maintain hobbies or even talking points in your everyday lives, and it will be harder to build a deep, meaningful bond.
- Familial Background – It can be hard to anticipate, but if someone comes from an affluent family and you do not, or vice versa, it can be tough to adapt for all the reasons listed above and more. Remember, you don’t need to fit in perfectly, but being open to a completely different lifestyle may be required.
How the EliteSingles Algorithm Helps
If you’re looking to find the most compatible, educated singles in your area, EliteSingles provides one of the most robust online dating experiences for any dating demographic. Because of our enhanced algorithm, our system is learning each day by analyzing the personality tests of our new and existing users, taking their preferences into account, and sending you three to seven suitable matches that are guaranteed to be aligned with your beliefs, interests, and values. Sign up for EliteSingles today and see why so many smart singles are ending up in intellectually fulfilling relationships.