Compatibility algorithm

Vera connects compatible people – but how? The secret lies in the compatibility algorithm.

Keep reading to find out:

• What we mean by compatibility
• How we connect compatible people
• What tests we use to determine compatibility

It might come as a surprise that you have a whole lot of truly compatible people all around the world – but first things first. What is a compatible person?

When we say “compatible”, we mean a person who is likely to be the perfect friend, perfect business partner, perfect activity buddy, or perfect love.

Compatibility encompasses what you are looking for, your preferences, your location, your age, and much more. But besides these obvious factors, we at Vera believe in the importance of psychometrics. Therefore, we measure the personality, intellect, emotional capacity, ethical values, love type, and many other psychometric factors of all our members and connect you to the most psychometrically compatible profiles.

Finding the people who are the most compatible with you and making it possible for you to get to know them in a natural setting is what we do at Vera!

What we describe as the compatibility algorithm is the formula we use to choose which Vera members are ideal for us to introduce to you. It’s at the center of what we do as it ensures that the connections you will form are well-considered and meaningful.

We’ve developed an advanced, powerful algorithm based on extensive academic and scientific research in the field of compatibility – and its goal is to make sure you finally meet great friends or a well-suited partner!

Our recipe for success is unique because it combines a wide variety of relevant tools for predicting relationship success such as personality, IQ, emotional intelligence, love style, ethical values, interests, and more.

In practice, that means it learns from feedback from all Vera members as well as from you individually. The algorithm analyses what kind of introductions have become successful, meaning they lead to connections, interactions on the site, and positive relationships.

In fact, we do not connect users according to a single algorithm but use several algorithms, each of them carefully constructed. This means that every 10 introductions you get might have all been selected according to 10 different algorithms. Each algorithm is focused on a combination of different criteria, such as personality, IQ, location, site activity, and many more. The fact that we use different algorithms ensures that you get connected with diverse people.

Over time, we will understand which people you like the best based on individual algorithms, and be able to connect you to more of them.

The criteria we use are:

• Distance from your location
• Gender preferences
• Age preferences
• Interests (such as sports, books, and movies)
• Languages
• Activity level
• Profile popularity
• What you’re looking for: other preferences
• Psychometric test results
  • Personality type
  • Love style
  • Intelligence and emotional intelligence
  • Ethical values
  • Character traits

For example, let’s assume you have the MBTI personality type INTP, which stands for introversion, intuition, thinking, and perception. We would normally connect you with people who have the same or similar results in the middle two letters – in this case NT. So we’d connect you to other INTP, or ENTP, or INTJ, or ENTJ members.

However, you might have had the experience that you get along best with ENFJs or ENFPs, i.e.: with people who are ‘feeling’ rather than ‘thinking’-oriented.

If you already know this, then all you have to do is go to Compatibility Settings and adjust the default settings. This feature allows you to set your personal importance level for each compatibility criterion.

So how do we use the results of our psychometric tests to connect you to compatible people? Keep reading to learn science-based arguments for why these particular five tests are the most important.

What is the science behind it? Based on the “similarity-attraction hypothesis”, studies show that the more similar two individuals are, the higher the attraction between them. It is usually reassuring and comforting to meet others who are like us. Similar people validate our beliefs about the world and ourselves, and typically create very harmonious interactions, reducing the risk of conflict and disagreement (Dijkstra, Barelds, Groothof, Ronner & Nauta, 2012). Also, a study in the Netherlands finds that almost 40% of divorcees report mismatches in personalities as the major cause of their break-up (De Graaf, 2006).

Find out more about the science of personality or take the personality test.

Individuals prefer, and usually select, partners with a similar IQ. (Dijkstra, Barelds, Groothof, Ronner & Nauta, 2012).

Find out more about the science of intelligence or take the IQ test.

However, with emotional intelligence, there is not generally one type that works well for some kinds of people and another kind that works well for other people. Instead, in emotional intelligence more is always better.

Our EQ test is based on the work of Reuven Bar-On (2006). He defines emotional intelligence (EI) as being concerned with effectively understanding oneself and others, relating well to people, and adapting to and coping with the immediate surroundings to be more successful in dealing with environmental demands. Bar-On argues that EI develops over time and that it can be improved through training, programming, and therapy.

Also, Hein writes in EQ for Everybody: “EQ can mean the difference between love and hate, violence and non-violence, and, ultimately, war and peace.” Hein, (1996). EQ for Everybody.

In romantic relationships, both partners having a high EQ is directly related to greater chances of building a long-lasting, happy and fulfilling relationship.

So, “healthy emotional intimacy requires two sensitive and aware people; you can’t create it alone. What you can do alone, however, is work on elevating your own EQ so you will increase your odds of attracting and keeping a healthy, happy partner.” Hein, (1996). EQ for Everybody.

Find out more about the science of emotional intelligence or take the EQ test.

The love type is what you are looking for and how you behave in a romantic relationship. It is important that your love type matches that of your romantic partner.

This theory is yet to be studied in depth by psychologists – we’ve developed it further after observing the successes and failures of the connections we initiated between our members before introducing ethical values as a part of our algorithm.

We saw that couples and friends with different value systems often argued and didn’t demonstrate much understanding of each other, especially in discussions about politics and society. An example of a couple likely to encounter problems would be where the husband is a law and order loving conservative, and the wife is a strong feminist who supports diversity.

For that reason, we’ve developed our own ethical value test that is largely based on the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The algorithm continues to learn on its own too, taking into account the feedback it receives from our users on an ongoing basis.

To sum up… we really do our best to ensure you meet truly compatible people!