Blondes Have More Fun, And They’re Smarter

New research has busted the 'dumb blonde' myth

The dumb blonde stereotype is a myth.

A new research paper, provocatively titled ‘Are blondes really dumb?’ has blown apart the idea that blondes are pretty, but stupid.

In fact, this new research concludes that blonde women actually have a higher mean IQ than women with brown, red and black hair. Furthermore, blondes are more likely to be classified as geniuses and less likely to have extremely low IQs.

Take that, all you people making blonde jokes.

Economist Jay Zagorsky of Ohio State University conducted the study with the intention of addressing the pervasive and damaging idea that blondes are scatterbrained: ‘Discrimination based on appearance has serious economic consequences' writes Zaegorsky, 'Women with blonde hair are often considered beautiful, but dumb, which is a potentially harmful stereotype since many employers seek intelligent workers.’

Zagorsky used survey data from baby boomers (aged between 14 and 21 at the time of data first collection, who were interviewed at least a further 26 times periodically) to try and figure out the connection between blonde hair and intelligence. NB: Caucasian people were the only group studied, since most people with blonde hair are white.

The women that were born with blonde hair had the highest average IQ scores of all women.

This research also questions the theory that more attractive people receive larger financial rewards than those less aesthetically blessed. The thing is, if blondes are both more likely to be considered attractive and are in possession of higher IQs then the ‘beauty premium’ coined in previous research into the economics of beauty, then this may not be discrimination based on looks but reward based on merit.

This is just one study and it's not definitive: much more research needs to be done on the true effects of attractiveness, intelligence and success... but if you're blonde do feel free to revel in this news anyway.

And non-blondes, don’t feel down, Zagorsky also noted in this research that blonde intelligence could be down to many blonde participants in the research growing up in more literary households than their non-blonde counterparts.

So essentially, bleaching your hair is not the secret to brain-boosting - books are. We knew that already. We all did, because we don't really believe the colour of what comes out of your hair follicles is significantly intelligence-shaping.