2. PERCEPTION OF INTELLIGENCE 2
Abstract
Previous studies found that individuals who are perceived as attractive are more likely to
be perceived as intelligent by other and that individuals report their own positive characteristics
as being higher than what they truly are. The two hypotheses to be evaluated in this study are 1)
those who are perceived as physically attractive are thought to have higher intelligence than
those who are less attractive, and 2) participants who rate themselves as being highly attractive
will rate themselves as being above average intelligence. Participants completed a 27 question
online survey and predicted the intelligence of 23 pictured individuals. Results showed no
relationship between perceived attractiveness and intelligence. Results suggested a significant
correlation r =.31 between self-ratings of attractiveness and intelligence. This study provided
partial support for the tested hypotheses. The perceived attractiveness and intelligence were
taken from separate samples, which could be the reason that no correlation was found between
the variables for H1.
3. PERCEPTION OF INTELLIGENCE 3
Introduction
Commonly, intelligence is measured by an intelligence quotient in IQ tests. Stereotypes
have been conceptualized through the concept of intelligence. Examples of common intelligence
stereotypes are: “men are more intelligent than women” and also that “Asian’s are better at math
than African Americans.” Individuals tend to rate their own intelligence higher than what it truly
is.
In a study conducted by Gabriel and colleagues, they found that both men and women
rated their intelligence greater than what it truly was. It was also found that men also rated their
attractiveness as being greater than it truly was, as rated by others (Critelli, p. 146). Both results
could be explained by the self-enhancement effect, where individuals rate themselves higher in
positive qualities which helps them to maintain their self-esteem.
Attractiveness is measured by how aesthetically appealing an individual perceives
another. This concept can include sexual attraction but is not limited to it. Individuals tend to
believe that those who are highly attractive have good traits and characteristics (Hamilton, 2015).
Highly attractive individuals are commonly believed to be smarter, more honest, and nicer than
those who are less attractive.
Individuals tend to attribute positive traits, such as intelligence, to those who are more
physically attractive. The reason why this happens is due to the halo effect (Zebrowitz, Hall,
Murphy, & Rhodes, 2002, p. 239). The halo effect occurs when an individual bias towards
another clouds their overall perception of them. A person may unintentionally focus on a single
positive characteristic of another individual causing them to overlook the present negative
characteristics. This is why it was believed that those who are “attractive” will be thought to
have a higher intelligence level than those who are “less attractive.”
4. PERCEPTION OF INTELLIGENCE 4
Priming has also been determined to play a role in the perception of intelligence as
influenced attractiveness. Individuals tend to place highly positive characteristics onto others,
such as being intelligent, after being primed by someone’s initial high attractiveness. This can
also be used to explain why those who are “less attractive” are perceived as being less intelligent.
It has been shown that individuals who have been primed associate negative inferences about
intelligence with those who they view as being more negative (less attractive) (Chia, Allred,
Grossnickle, & Lee, 1998, p. 472).
Some studies say there is a link between attractiveness and actual intelligence as well.
Kanazawa conducted an experiment that empirically supports the theory that beautiful people are
more intelligent, which in turn leads to them being perceived as being more intelligent
(Kanazawa, 2004, p. 227). Men tend to seek out women who are more physically attractive while
women seek out men who are wealthier and have higher status.
Narcissists are high in vanity and will tend to rate themselves as being highly attractive.
Those who rate themselves as highly attractive may also perceive themselves as being more
intelligent than others due to positive narcissistic illusions. Personality psychologists have found
a trend where narcissists experience “self-deception” and “cognitive biases” connected to the
positive illusions that they place upon themselves, which in turn leads to them feeling superior
over others (Holtzman, 2010, p. 135).
The purpose of this pilot study is to identify if there is a correlation between
attractiveness and perceived intelligence. The population of interest consists of American males
and females over the age of 18. The two hypotheses to be evaluated are 1) Those who are
attractive are thought to have higher intelligence levels than those who are less attractive and 2)
5. PERCEPTION OF INTELLIGENCE 5
Participants who rate themselves as being highly attractive will perceive themselves as being
above average intelligence.
Methods
Participants
This study was IRB approved and recruited participants through Amazon’s MTURK
using simple random sampling. To be included in the analyses participants needed to be at least
18 years old, a resident of the United States, able to read English, and fully completed the
survey.
Procedure
Participants completed an online survey resulting in a total of 27 questions. The first
question simply asked for consent from the participant. Questions 2-24 asked the participant to
predict the intelligence level of the pictured individuals provided. Questions 25-27 collected
non-identifiable information about the participant’s sex, their perceived intelligence and
perceived attractiveness of their self.
Photographs
The photographs used were electronic headshots of 12 females and 10 males. Each
picture was taken at a similar angle and upon a solid white background. Four individuals were
pictured twice to demonstrate an attractive appearance and a less attractive appearance. In the
attractive appearance the individuals styled their hair and makeup while in the less attractive
appearance they did not.
In a pilot study, a “standard of attractiveness” was collected by 81 Indiana University
Kokomo students using convenience sampling. The students rated each photograph on a scale of
1 to 5 with 1 being unattractive and 5 being highly attractive.
6. PERCEPTION OF INTELLIGENCE 6
A median split was used to categorize 12 of the photographed individuals as attractive
with an average score greater than or equal to 2.7 and 11 of the photographed individuals as less
attractive with an average score less than or equal to 2.6.
Analysis
Equal variances were assumed. Correlations were conducted to determine if relationships
existed between attractiveness and perceived intelligence. Correlations were also conducted to
determine if a relationship existed between those who rated themselves as being highly attractive
and rated themselves as being above average intelligence. T-tests were conducted to determine
differences between perceived intelligence/attractiveness when wearing graphic t-shirts and not
wearing graphic t-shirts.
Results
Out of the 81 Indiana
University Kokomo students who
contributed to the standard of
attractiveness. 21 participants were
male while 60 were female. The total
mean perceived attractiveness score
was 2.64. The females mean perceived
attractiveness score was 2.71 while the
males score was 2.57. 204 participants
fully completed the online survey. 93
were males and 111 were female. The mean
perceived intelligence was 97.60. Two questions guided this research: 1) Those who are
attractive are thought to have higher intelligence levels than those who are less attractive and 2)
*Blue:Attractive *Grey:Less attractive
Table 1
Pictured Attractiveness Number of Raters
W 3.6 (n=75)
C 3.3 (n=80)
G 3.2 (n=81)
R 3.1 (n=73)
V 3.1 (n=79)
N 3.0 (n=77)
B 2.9 (n=80)
I 2.8 (n=72)
J 2.8 (n=80)
F 2.7 (n=78)
O 2.7 (n=79)
A 2.7 (n=80)
E 2.6 (n=80)
T 2.5 (n=81)
H 2.5 (n=77)
M 2.4 (n=81)
L 2.4 (n=79)
D 2.2 (n=68)
K 2.2 (n=79)
Q 2.2 (n=79)
U 2.2 (n=79)
S 2.1 (n=78)
P 1.9 (n=52)
Pictured Perceived Intelligence
W 103.62
C 102.69
G 106.09
R 104.58
V 109.58
N 93.89
B 99.08
I 109.75
J 100.19
F 99.37
O 96.75
A 110.37
E 99.39
T 100.51
H 102.48
M 96.25
L 101.93
D 102.91
K 101.01
Q 102.71
U 99.22
S 101.42
P 104.85
7. PERCEPTION OF INTELLIGENCE 7
Participants who rate themselves as being highly attractive will perceive themselves as being
above average intelligence.
Table 1 shows the average attractiveness and perceived intelligence scores received by
each pictured individual. Correlations were conducted to determine if a relationship existed
between the pictured individual’s attractiveness and their perceived intelligence and no
significant correlation was found (p > .20).
To examine the second research question, 25 participants rated their own attractiveness as
being 70 or greater on a scale of 100 were considered as rating themselves as being highly
attractive. Correlations were
conducted to determine if there was
a relationship between participants
who rated themselves as being
highly attractive and also rated
themselves as being above average
intelligence. 107 participants who
rated their intelligence a 115 or
higher out of 150 were considered as
rating themselves as above average
intelligence. A relationship between those who rated themselves as being highly attractive and
above average intelligence led to results that suggest a significant 1-tailed correlation of r = .31
(p < .001). This data demonstrates how the higher an individual rates their attractiveness the
higher they rate their own intelligence. This correlation is demonstrated in graph 1.
Graph 1
8. PERCEPTION OF INTELLIGENCE 8
In attempt to figure out why there was no correlation between attractiveness and
perceived intelligence, t-tests were ran to determine if the pictured individual’s clothing played a
role. The pictured individuals were divided into groups of wearing graphic t-shirts and not
wearing graphing t-shirts and were tested against perceived intelligence and attractiveness. No
significant results were found (p > .08). Similarly, to determine if the four individuals who took
a “more attractive” and “less attractive” photos had a relationship with attractiveness,
correlations were ran. No significant correlation was found (p > .25).
Discussion
The two hypotheses that were evaluated were 1) Those who are attractive are thought to
have higher intelligence levels than those who are less attractive and 2) Participants who rate
themselves as being highly attractive will perceive themselves as being above average
intelligence. When the standard of attractiveness data was collected from Indiana University
Kokomo students, they were asked to not rate the photographs of individuals they knew in order
to avoid potential bias.
Unlike previous research, no correlation was found between attractiveness and perceived
intelligence. Yet similar to previous research of narcissistic trends, there was a significant
correlation between participants who rated themselves as highly attractive and above average
intelligence. By yielding similar results as previous studies it increases the external validity of
this finding. With both studies agreeing that individuals who rate themselves as attractive will
positively correlate their perceived self-intelligence, the reliability of this finding is also
increased.
Previous studies have determined that the halo effect and priming both contribute to
attractive individuals being perceived as being more intelligent. The halo effect could have
taken place by participants disliking the graphic t-shirts worn by the pictured individuals. For
9. PERCEPTION OF INTELLIGENCE 9
example, one pictured individual was wearing an Under Armor shirt. If the participants do not
like Under Armor it could have led them to contributing negative characteristics to the pictured
individual, such as being less intelligent.
Additionally, participants were potentially primed by some individual’s graphic t-shirts to
believe they were less intelligent. For example, one of the pictured individuals was wearing a
graphic t-shirt that read “Senior 2013.” This could have primed the participants into thinking
about the limitation of a high school level intelligence.
The correlation found between participants rating themselves as highly attractive and
above average intelligence could potentially be due to participants being highly narcissistic.
Individuals with narcissism tend to be high in vanity and may believe themselves as being more
intelligent than others due to narcissistic illusions. Narcissists may attribute positive illusions as
their true characteristics, such as being above average intelligence, leading to their own cognitive
biases (Holtzman, 2010, p. 135). To test this theory, a correlation was conducted to determine if
participants who perceived themselves as being above average intelligence viewed the pictured
individual’s as being less intelligent than them. No correlation was found.
A limitation of this study includes the convenience sampling used to find the standard of
attractiveness. The Indiana University Kokomo students primarily consisted of Caucasian
psychology majors who were traditional college students. By only using traditional college
students it lessens the generalizability of the standard of attractiveness by limiting the ages of
those who created the standard; consisting of ages 18-22. By using convenience sampling the
external validity of the standard of attractiveness is low. An additional limitation of this study is
that the standard of attractiveness and perceived intelligence were taken from separate samples,
10. PERCEPTION OF INTELLIGENCE 10
which could be the reason that no correlation was found between attractiveness and perceived
intelligence.
Future research could be conducted that controls the outfits of the pictured individuals
and only focuses on facial attractiveness. To control the outfits all individuals could wear a solid
black t-shirt. By having all individuals wear similar clothes perhaps it would lead to a correlation
appearing between attractiveness and perceived intelligence. Also, a study could be conducted
that identifies if facial attractiveness and wearing glasses results in a relationship with perceived
intelligence. By comparing the perceived intelligence of those with and without glasses it would
be possible to identify if those who wear glasses are perceived as more or less attractive and
more or less intelligent. Furthermore, a study could be conducted that changes the skin color of
pictured individuals to determine is ethnicity plays a role in attractiveness and/or perceived
intelligence.
11. PERCEPTION OF INTELLIGENCE 11
References
Chia, R. C., Allred, L. J., Grossnickle, W. F., & Lee, G. W. (1998). Effects of Attractiveness and
Gender on the Perception of Achievement-Related Variables. The Journal of Social
Psychology, 138(4), 471-477.
Furham, A., & Rawles, R. (1995). Sex differences in the estimation of intelligence. Journal of
Social Behavior and Personality, 10(3), 741-748.
Gabriel, M. T., Critelli, J. W., & Ee, J. S. (1994). Narcissistic Illusions in Self-Evaluations of
Intelligence and Attractiveness. J Personality Journal of Personality, 62(1), 143-155.
Hamilton, D. L. (1981). Cognitive processes in stereotyping and intergroup behavior. Hillsdale,
NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.
Holtzman, N. S., & Strube, M. J. (2010). Narcissism and attractiveness. Journal of Research in
Personality, 44(1), 133-136.
Kanazawa, S. (2011). Intelligence and physical attractiveness. Intelligence, 39(1), 7-14.
Kanazawa, S., & Kovar, J. (2004). Why beautiful people are more intelligent. Intelligence, 32,
227-243.
Zebrowitz, L. A., Hall, J. A., Murphy, N. A., & Rhodes, G. (2002). Looking Smart and Looking
Good: Facial Cues to Intelligence and their Origins. Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin, 28(2), 238-249.
