Where did the myth that attractive people are stupid come from?

Bookish types who couldn't hook up with them?

many would just coast on their looks and never need to develop their brains, beauty is a valuable currency, that alone can carry great advantages and get one far in life. scientific studies show that they are favored in pay, promotion, etc.

It is based on the premise that if you excel in one area (say, looks) you must lack in other areas (like, intelligence) to maintain some sort of cosmic, human balance, because the perfect person, who excels in everything, cannot exist.

I was having this exact conversation in my head earlier today.

It's ironic that people who believe physical attractiveness indicates a lack of intelligence is based entirely on the superficial. The ones asserting this claim are the superficial, not necessarily the other way around. It's ridiculous.

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Social Darwinism. they don't HAVE to be smart ergo...

Can't us ugly people have anything for ourselves? Good looking people have to be smart too?

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Gosh, that is certainly one for the ages isn't it ?

Recall the old saying that looks are deceiving.

Good-looking people tend to have better genes and that includes higher intelligence. Just like inbreeding tends to create uglier and more stupid people.

My husband told me the most beautiful woman he had ever seen was dumb as a post. She was so stunningly beautiful, everyone, men and women, turned to look at her as she passed on the street. She married well, but even her husband, of average intellect, couldn’t live with her. He set her up in a home with their daughter and would drop by for sex. Husband said she embodied the expression “beautiful until she opens her mouth”.

I think that the myth came from Marilyn Monroe movies.

Myth?!?!?

Intelligence is correlated with attractiveness in males. It is not correlated for females.

R16 I wouldn't take those data or so-called research too seriously. A lot of them are biased based on social factors. A few decades ago, it was found that boys perform better than girls at math. Nowadays, it's found that girls perform just as well as boys in mathematics.

R17

No.

NIH study at link.

Girls are less proficient at mathematics because of SEX DIFFERENCES in our BRAINS!

I went to an Ivy League undergrad. I am smart, attractive, etc. - but my observation has been that highly intelligent populations ( > 2 SD above the norm) tend to be less attractive for the simple fact that less time is likely devoted to one's appearance and maintenance when more likely spent toward academic pursuits. There was a general feeling that the student body, by and large, was aesthetically displeasing (yes, this actually came up in conversation...often). I remember that just a small number of individuals were regarded as conventionally attractive or "hot" and about 80% were also the more social members of campus (i.e. Greek life, bars, parties, etc.). Not a coincidence. If you are just talking about your everyday "smart people," perhaps not at that Ivy League extreme, then I am would bet that plenty of them are exceptionally attractive. Just personally speaking, the most attractive people I know are not the smarter ones.

More info shows that boys are both dumber AND smarter than average.

At genius level it is 58 men for every 42 women. Retardation is similar, but reversed- more dumb boys than girls, at 42 girls for 58 boys at <80 IQ.

They are trans exclusionary.!!

Link

I think God divides. If He makes you gorgeous, He makes you stupid, and if He makes you rich, He makes you a bow-wow!

Bo Derek! I asked her once, I said, "How many feet are in a yard?"

She said, "HA-ha, it's a trick question! It depends on how many people are IN the yard at the time!"

According to an article in "The Economist", "girls do better at school than boys".

"And girls in Shanghai excel in mathematics. They outperform boys from anywhere else in the world." In general, Asians are better at mathematical and spatial ability. This could explain why Asian girls are good at drawing anime.

A lot of performance has to do with environmental factors.

R22 Hedy Lamarr, who is definitely more beautiful than Bo Derek, is the inventor of the technology behind Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Despite no formal training and being primarily self-taught, Hedy developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes, which used spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology to defeat the threat of jamming by the Axis powers.

R24

You could create a list of the 100 most influential female scientists, and you would be struggling by number 70.

Anecdotally, most of the genetically drop-dead gorgeous men that I have known and encountered (I mean HOT natural build with "V" back, great ass and legs, broad shoulders, strong arms, sexy/handsome face, beautiful thick hair, great voice, not always tall but always well proportioned and masculine..) were NOT SMART at all. They bordered on 70 IQ or less. I mention genetics because anyone can exercise, build muscle, partake in cosmetic surgery, etc. These were the naturally gorgeous men who despite not always working out or watching what they eat - are still gorgeous. The HOTTEST men that I have known were really dumb. From the standpoint of wanting to fuck them in the ass and nothing more - this characteristic is very appealing to me. That rarely happens sadly, but yeah - they are often not too sharp.

“You could create a list of the 100 most influential female scientists, and you would be struggling by number 70.”

Women were denied education for centuries so they are catching up.

That's true, R27, and they get to fuck the straight men gays covet.

Ugly people, op. The myth was started and is perpetuated by ugly, jealous, mole people.

It's not a myth, sadly. A personal trainer at a gym I frequent is hands down the most physically beautiful man I've ever laid eyes on. He would put 99% of Hollywood stars and male models in the shade. He's also very nice, kind and friendly. But Lord, and I don't mean this offensively but facts are facts, he is dumb as a post! He has a gorgeous fiancée and is doing well in his work because he gets a lot of customers. I don't expect he's ever had to hassle hard for anything in his life.

Athletes, even more than movie stars, pop/rock stars and models, are the epitome of male attractiveness in society with, right now, Tom Brady being on top. But I've heard Brady speak and I don't think he'll be winning any Nobel prizes in the near future.

That's not to say there are no smart athletes and celebrities. But examples like the super sharp and witty Muhammad Ali are the exception rather than the rule. Brad Pitt is main go-to figure for male attractiveness in this age and he's dumb as a box of rocks, which isn't surprising at all. On the other hand, someone like Kevin Spacey is unlikeable, evil and gross on top of being ugly. But no one would call him dumb.

Man when your looks go, you're just gonna be dead

[quote]I was having this exact conversation in my head earlier today.

I mean...really? What else is going on in there?

[quote]I went to an Ivy League undergrad. I am smart, attractive, etc.

People who refer to themselves as attractive rarely are. It is one of the things best left to others to decide.

stupid people?

I think r29's got it. It's how ugly people feel better about their lot in life. Sort of like how poor people need to believe God favors them over the rich and will let them inherit the earth one day.

If we make a list of Nobel Prize winners in all fields, there will be few good looking people in it. It's just one of those things in life.

It came from the fact I went to Northwestern, and then I spent a weekend visiting a friend at Michigan State and had to jerk off 5 times a day from what was on display there.

I'm not even comparing it to ASU (another good looking school) because the weather is very different. Northwestern does tend to attract less attractive people though. I wonder if the same thing is true of other schools in the higher tier like U of C (lol - yes it is) but maybe there are good looking people at Colombia or something.

People are like dogs.

Collies and Airedales are the good looking blonds of the animal kingdom.

Oh to be clear, I am talking about guys & I am a guy... the females at NU were definitely more attractive. Even in the Greek system, there were like 5 or 6 "good looking" sororities and maybe 1 or 2 "hot guy" fraternities (largely made up of the people who got in on sports scholarships - not academics)...and they weren't even that hot.

[quote]...many would just coast on their looks and never need to develop their brains, beauty is a valuable currency, that alone can carry great advantages.

If a beautiful person of average-to-lower INT can grasp these social mechanics and turn the table to their advantage...just how dumb can they really be?

I would gladly trade a few IQ points to be gorgeous. I work in a field where intelligent people abound and there are very few lookers. Sad!

R30, can your "dumb-as-a-post" personal-trainer friend at least talk intelligently about exercise and nutrition?

ive dated the hottest guys around....

some are dumb

some are not....

most fall into the middle...

theyve merely learned to parlay their looks int $ or sumthin....

theyr businessmen and theyr looks is their charm...

I second R2’s take.

One example of that phenomenon is (some would argue) Ivanka Trump. She is (some would argue) attractive and was a model. She presents herself as the sane, balanced, courteous Trump, and she presents herself as an accomplished, intelligent businesswoman. But anyone who listens to what her words actually say will realize that behind the conventionally attractive-in-a-suit facade, she is totally vapid and probably dumb as a rock. She has learned how to appear pretty and accomplished, but’s it’s a facade in front of a ruin.

We now know that lots of supermodels go on to become under-the-radar multimillionaire marketing genuises, so the myth of dumb beauties is fading. But it’s a myth that has been culturally constructed for eons. Marilyn Monroe’s sex appeal wasn’t only her appearance, but her performance as a mindless sex object. The idea that beautiful people have nothing to offer but beauty comes from their compliance in objectifying themselves as being worthy of attention only as objects of desire.

For the record, though, I have been in a number of business meetings at which there was one unusually attractive person per meeting, and that person contributed nothing but smiling and laughing on cue. A colleague actually brought this up to me a couple of years ago and pointed out that consultants often bring one beautiful person in tow who says little to nothing, and that doing that is an effective way to sell anything—just having a distracting pretty person tag along. Are those people stupid because they don’t say anything, or are they smart enough to know that their job is just to look good? I have no idea.

It's no myth that people with Hillbilly accents are perceived as dumb.

R46 that’s because they are dumb. If they were intelligent they’d refine their accent and vocabulary.

I second R47. Intelligent people (Madonna, Lindsay Lohan) from depressed areas always speak with fake European accents to convey their intelligence. Losing one’s Southern accent has nothing to do with actors’ not wanting to be typecast or the requirement that news readers speak with a generic “non-accent” broadcast accent; they do it naturally because they are smarter than the average person!

[quote]I think [R29]'s got it. It's how ugly people feel better about their lot in life. Sort of like how poor people need to believe God favors them over the rich and will let them inherit the earth one day.

The fuck are you on about? Why are you pretending like this only comes from the minds of envious, ugly people when in fact you can trip over a dumb, pretty person in every populated area of the planet? The “Myth” comes from the overabundance of examples we encounter on a daily basis.

The two traits are not necessarily related but many people don't want to believe that some of their peers really do have it all: looks, brains, athletic ability, money, and charm. People who seem to have overwhelming success in every single area of their lives make the rest of us feel inadequate.

R50 nails it.

It’s obviously a case by case situation. Some beautiful people really do seem to find open doors and smiles everywhere they go and end up pretty fucking naive and never really have to learn to hustle because things come easily to them. This happens with people of various privileged positions.

But I have also known gorgeous people who I think were disadvantaged by their appearances—they were smart to start with, and had to work as hard as people with other disadvantages to navigate to the world they wanted. A specific example: We hired a beautiful, tall, very modelesque young woman at my job and she was *brilliant.* I’m gay and so I wasn’t distracted by it, but I immediately realized my boss (CEO) and her boss (a VP) wanted her around as eye candy, but really resisted the idea that she was valuable as an employee. They were very dismissive of her, and she worked extra-extra hard to prove herself. Which she ultimately did. She also downplayed her appearance because she knew it was hwld against her. A couple of times she came in in heels and makeup because she had an event after work and she was really incredibly gorgeous, and everyone commented on her appearance all day and I can imagine that would be annoying quickly for someone who wants to be heard and respected instead of stared at. She confessed to me before she left that she intentionally wore oversized, boxy blazers and frumpy skirts and pulled her hair back at conferences to avoid the predatory attentions of old men who were everywhere. I learned from her that depending on a person’s interests and goals, being “too attractive” really can be a handicap, or at least a burden.

She is now finishing a PhD and married to (no joke) an actual rocket scientist who works with NASA.

Don't know how to reply to a particular comment or copy text on this site but @Reply34... of course it's moo to debate this on an anonymous board (?), but I was understating things by saying I was attractive. I was actually very attractive especially in my 20s, and I got sucked into that whole thing of relying on my looks, preoccupied with the attention and who I was dating, when I actually did have a brain that I should have kept using. My life got off track for a long while, and I have real regrets, but, now, in my mid-30s, I managed to piece it back together.

*moot

I think good looks make self-love and narcissism more likely - and empathy less likely, because they don't relate to others' misfortunes, having such an easy time of it as kids/young adults. Lots of show-biz examples. They hear how beautiful/handsome they are so much they become addicted to adulation. And that narcissism stunts development and can make a person shallow.

There are exceptions - just by good nature or having bad luck in some other areas in life - but too much good fortune spoils people quite often.

r49 You can just as easily trip over a dumb ugly person in every populated area on the planet. Not sure if you've noticed but there's an overabundance of dumb people in the world, both pretty and ugly.

It's based on truth.

Actually, R53, the phrase is "moo point." It's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter.

“I think good looks make self-love and narcissism more likely - and empathy less likely, because they don't relate to others' misfortunes, having such an easy time of it as kids/young adults. Lots of show-biz examples. They hear how beautiful/handsome they are so much they become addicted to adulation. And that narcissism stunts development and can make a person shallow.”

I’ll add, although it’s gratuitous, that self-love and narcissism are not synonymous. A person can really respect and take care of oneself without being a narcissist, and a lot of narcissists actually basically treat themselves like battered spouses or abuse their bodies because they think they are invulnerable to life’s cause and effect processes. I think of self-love as nurturing and narcissism as delusion. I know a true sociopathic narcissist who just lost a job of 20 years—absolutely did not see it coming because of her self-delusions—as a direct result of her narcissism; she also has major health problems and neglected caring for herself (“self-love”) because she was obsessed with putting on a show at work. So a case of narcissism working against oneself.

In cases of narcissistic world views brought about by people being told they are gorgeous and special all their lives, life does turn the table on those people inevitably as long as they don’t die young. As with something someone above posted, the perspective of “ugly people,” less attractive people often accept and progress into later years with greater ease because they aren’t obsessed over losing their youth and beauty. They are used to being conventionally unattractive. Meanwhile, beautiful young people go through an endless series of personal crises when they see cracks appear in their power: first fine lines (Get me a miracle cream!!) and small wrinkles (Botox!! Fillers!!), and then if they are a person of means, they begin to mutilate themselves surgically. And today we seem to have a divide that puts beauty in the eye of the beholder. If you watch the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, for example, you’ll see that the aged beauties on that show *and* the men in their lives appear to view surgically altered and puffed up 55+-year-old faces as “ageless” and beautiful. I look at them and, in all honesty, I see people who look like they’ve been mutilated at the knifepoint of organized crime. I would much, much prefer to look at an actual 60 year-old or 80 year-old face—far more beautiful to my eyes—than $100,000 of plastic surgery that makes a former beauty pageant winner look like a bee stung burn victim. Yet to those narcissistic women, such surgery actually looks beautiful; they are convinced that they have some sort of timeless beauty that they have preserved. Reality has become very odd indeed.

r59, then you would have hated the pictures of the Mar-a-Lago crones hanging on to Trumpie when he walked through the diningroom.

Everyone a bee stung burn victim. Ugh.

R60 Why in the world would I have any interest in anything relating to Mar-a-Lago? Just knowing it’s associated with Trump and has a lame Chick-fil-A type hyphenated, senseless name tells me all I need to actively avoid it.

If you are r59, it would have validated your thesis.

But after that pissy reply r61, what a cunt.

I care not what you think

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r60

R62 You’re mad because I don’t give a shit what kind of deranged people hang out at Donald Trump properties?!

still a cunt

Sad!

There’s speculation Lamar didn’t contribute those inventions r24, that it was the work of her neighbor, who has an expertise in that area.

Good looks and intelligence aren’t mutually exclusive.

How about me ? I'm super bright and cute as a button !

Your mouth to God's ears, OP!

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R66 Oh it came from Hedy but she may have gotten the concept from her first husband Fritz Mandl who was an big time arms dealer to Italy and Germany before WWII. She likely heard conversations about the “secret weapons” that Germany was developing at dinner conversations she forced to sit through. Or perhaps one of Hitler’s goons wanting to impress her started bragging about “frequency hopping”? In any event the torpedo guidance system was not the only thing that she and Anteil worked on, they also had two other inventions they submitted, one of which was a proximity fuse for anti-aircraft defense but the military really thought they were a joke and didn’t, pursue any of their ideas seriously, too bad they should have been listening to them. I do believe from talking to engineering friends that the Markey (that was her married name at the time) Antheil patent is the source of the subsequent coding for telecommunications. They gave their patent to the government and didn’t receive anything from it..no wonder she was bitter as she got old.

This is a myth and always will be a myth. In fact most of them “smartest” people I know are visually appealing.

R2 is correct.

I think it comes from the idea that attractive women are intimidating to men so they play dumb (dumb blonde/Marilyn Monroe "sexy" behavior) - and/or attractive women are not taken seriously so they play it down (the librarian with her hair in a bun and thick glasses meme).

Also, I guess ripped jocks are often good looking, and they often ARE dumb, either because they're out practicing all the time and don't concentrate on their studies, or they can get away with not studying because they're good looking, or their heads are so damaged by their sports.

Some of it is the jealousy of plain people, wanting to think something's wrong with these gorgeous creatures, so they go with that.

I used to work with a young woman who was gorgeous and almost six feet tall, and very, very intelligent. Also one of the kindest people I’ve ever known. The president and VP of my company (she reported to the latter), both men, resented her and both told me many times that “she’s so smart it scares me.” The woman was smart but not Nicola Tesla, and she was about as dangerous as a bunny rabbit. They were intimidated by her and denigrated her at every opportunity. It upset her greatly for a while and I even had to listen to and counsel her until 8:30 one night while she tried to figure out if our CEO was sexually harassing her or why he treated her in such a bizarre way. Ultimately, being smart, she opted out of the drama altogether and skipped the country to finish her graduate degree, and then she came back to the US, married a NASA scientist and both are teaching at a university while she works on her PhD. I’m a 40 year-old gay man and now that my eyes have been opened, I see really fucking weird mindfucks being played with attractive women and with black people almost every day.

I used to work for a fashion Vogue - very very low level, as in 'I asked for iced coffee no cream' level, but went on a number of fashion shoots.

I don't totally agree with the premise that level of attractiveness defines degree of intelligence, as some of the models came across as intelligent, or at least able to hold a conversation.

However, two stand out as simply just stupid, not a thought of consequence crossed their mind: Adriana Lima, Adriana Ambrosio and Kate Moss. Hands down, the dimmest, least verbal, most boring conversationalist you can imagine. Adriana, although pretty in pictures, is very odd looking in person - very exaggerated features. When she walks into a room you notice her, but after that, nothing. She's Brazilian, I think, so maybe her ability to speak clearly was a result, but besides giggling, spewing something then laughing, nothing, nil. All she did was laugh, giggle and everyone in the room thought it was so endearing.

Adriana, she's confounding. Again, in pictures, she's ok. She could never do runway as she has a cheap look, like Victorias Secret look. She's tall. But vapid as the day is long. Granted, these girls are necessary for anything else, but how they get married, carry on a conversation, engage men - it has to be all about guys just wanting to fuck them, cause after that, you may as well talk to a sock.

Kate sounds like a truck drive - horribly uneducated voice, barely comprehends questions. One time at Milk Studios, the photographer explained what he wanted, was speaking directly to her explaining everything for about five minutes. After he finished and kind of nodded, she said "what?" I'm not kidding - she didn't listen to ir was unable to process anything he said. Maybe she was stoned - don't know. And, she had terrible skin.

I wrote above post - was writing quickly without editing : I worked for Vogue and meant to write three stand out

It sounds more like the definitions of attractive and/or smart are the issue both in context and application.

been my fifty yrs of chasin studs tht its usually true.....