The Dumb Blonde Stereotype: Myth Or Fact?

A stereotype (from Greek: stereo + týpos = "solid impression") is a generalized perception of first impressions: behaviours
Presumed by a group of people judging with the eyes/criticizing ones outer appearance (or a population in general) to be
Associated with another specific group

Dumb Blonde Stereotype--Myth or Fact

The Dumb Blonde Stereotype
History

First of all, let's take a little look at where this whole "dumb blonde" idea comes from. One theory is that the ancient
Greeks and Romans so admired their flaxen-haired neighbours to the north, they would bleach their hair to make it blonde.
Seeing as they didn't exactly have the health standards we have today, a considerable amount of bleach repeatedly placed on the scalp
As the lower classes didn't
Usually have a formal education, tan skin and blonde hair became associated with unintelligent, lower class people.

Then there is the ever famous book by Anita Loos and the movie based upon it, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, starring Marilyn Monroe. Released in 1953, this story about two showgirls-a clueless blonde and a sassy brunette. While perhaps highlighting the "fun" side of blondes (in fact, brunette women held a demonstration protesting
The movie, showing that brunettes could be just as much fun), this certainly did nothing to showcase their intelligence.

Nature, Nurture, or Nonsense

The colour of one's hair is determined by either a gene, or a choice to make a chemical alteration to the colour. Does that
One gene, or whatever gene we have that makes us gravitates toward blondeness also affect intellectual capacity?
What is interesting is a study has come out from the University of Paris X-Nanterre that shows that after exposure to blonde Women, men performed worse on general knowledge tests. They concluded that the men subconsciously mimicked the dumb blonde
Stereotype presented before them.

So now we have some history of the dumb blonde--dark headed Greeks and Romans trying to be blonde--and a study showing not That blondes are dumb, but rather make other people dumb.

And a quick sidenote--why is it that when people hear "blonde" or "brunette" or "redhead" they envision women? For a bit of
Reference (and perhaps defence), the person with the highest IQ in the world is a woman--Marilyn vos Savant. A brunette, yes, But then interestingly enough many people argue Hillary Clinton is the world's smartest woman, and she is a blonde. Just
Some food for thought...

A Look at International Standards

While there might not be a whole lot of research on the IQ status of blondes vs. brunettes in the scientific world, there are some interesting studies done every few years to see what countries have "the smartest" kids. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) conducts a test of 15-year-olds around the world every three years to compare student Performance. This past year, Finland scored the highest. Yes, Taiwan and South Korea were up there too, but so interesting That the Nordic, blonde-haired Finnish kids scored the