An awkward-looking character such as Cyrano de Bergerac might sniff at the suggestion, but recent scientific research shows beauty, brains and brawn may in fact all be allied, writes Dr Raj Persaud.
(46) Psychologists have concluded that we may be drawn to the stereotypically attractive because of what their faces reveal about their intelligence and success in later life. In American, research led by Professor Leslie Zebrowitz, of Brandeis University, has shown an association between facial attractive and IQ. Strangers briefly exposed to a target’s face were able to correctly judge intelligence at levels significantly better than chance.
The same team also researched how a person’s attractiveness might bear relation to their intelligence. They found that good-looking people did better in IQ tests as they aged. (47) Their research sought to prove that how a person perceived himself and was perceived by others predicted how intelligent he apparently became more accurately than his past intelligence. (48) Perhaps because the more attractive people were treated as more intelligent, they ended up having more stimulating and, therefore, intelligence-enhancing lives.
Does this mean that your face really could be your destiny Sociologists Dr Ulrich Mueller and Dr Allan Mazur, of the University of Marburg in Germany, recently analyzed the final year photographs of the 1950 graduates of West Point in the United States. Dominant facial appearances turned out to be a consistent predictor of later-rank attainment:
Again, they believed there could be a self-fulfilling effect. (49) Because some men looked more authoritative, they naturally drew respect and obedience from others which, in turn, assisted their rise through the ranks.
A team at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin has been investigating the sensitive subject of links between physical and mental abnormalities. Led by Doctors Robin Hennessy and John Waddington, the team used a new laser surface-scanning technique to make a 3-D analysis of how facial shape might vary with brain structure. Their findings showed that in early fetal life, brain and face development are intimately connected. From this they concluded that abnormalities in brain elaboration probably also affect face development.
This, according to them, explains the striking facial features of some one with Down’s syndrome. (50) Using similar techniques, the team also demonstrated how other disorders linked to brain aberrations could be associated with facial alterations.
So the very latest scientific research suggests that nobody should try to look too obviously different from average.
(48) Perhaps because the more attractive people were treated as more intelligent, they ended up having more stimulating and, therefore, intelligence-enhancing lives.