A 2018 study, published in the journal Intelligence, has found that the 90th IQ percentile (IQ ≈ 120) is the most sexually attractive.
Researchers from the University of Western Australia looked at the sexual and romantic preferences of 383 18-to-35 year old participants.
The study asked participants to respond to statements such as “It would excite me sexually to have an intellectually stimulating conversation with a potential partner”.
It found that most people showed no significant response to the intelligence trait, but around one in ten linked it to sexual attraction.
It was, however, the second most important non-physical trait after ‘kindness’, coming higher than ‘easygoing’ and ‘exciting’.
An IQ of over 135 was found to be less attractive than 120. Mensa membership is restricted to individuals with an IQ of 140 or over.
Author Dr Gilles Gignac states: “The emergence of the popular culture notion of a sapiosexual, an individual who finds high levels of intelligence (IQ) the most sexually attractive characteristic in a person, suggests that a high IQ may be a genuinely sexually attractive trait, at least for some people.”
The dating app Sapio looks to serve the newly identified demographic, matching users on their answers to interesting and challenging questions.
Read the study here [paywall].