Brains worth more than beauty

Nice guys may finish last, but it’s the smart ones that come in first with the lookers close behind, according to a University of Florida study that finds people with intelligence earn more in their lifetime than those who are attractive or self-confident.

“While beauty matters to career success, brains matter most,” said Timothy Judge, a University of Florida  management professor whose research is published in the May issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology.

“If you were somehow able to choose from being smart, good-looking or self-confident, our study shows that while you’d want all three qualities, brains are the most important to economic success.”

Intelligence is rewarded early in life with positive strokes from teachers, which boosts self-confidence and encourages future academic success, he said.

“Smart people do better in their careers because they are more likely to be educated and are more confident in their abilities,” Judge said.

“And it’s also possible that smart people make better career choices, learn more on the job, negotiate for pay more effectively and adapt better to changes in the workplace.”

Judge’s team analysed data from the Harvard Study of Health and Life Quality, a national, longitudinal study. Measures of intelligence were derived from a series of established tests, while self-confidence was determined from a 15-item questionnaire examining attitudes about one’s ability to cope with various life situations. Researchers judged attractiveness by rating personal photographs of the participants on a scale of one to seven.

By knowing men’s and women’s scores in the areas of intelligence, beauty and self-confidence, the researchers were able to accurately classify them into one of 35 income categories more than half the time. After brains, self-confidence ranked second in importance, followed by beauty.

“We can be somewhat heartened by the fact that the effects of general intelligence on income were stronger than those of attractiveness,” said Judge. “It turns out that the brainy are not necessarily at a disadvantage to the beautiful, and if one possesses intelligence and good looks, then all the better.”

“Employers who interview people for jobs need to make sure they are not favouring the attractive — and there is evidence that they do — while denying its importance,” he said.

“Intelligence is a legitimate factor to consider in almost all jobs because research shows that intelligence predicts job performance in nearly all types of work, even fairly simple, entry-level jobs. While the same can be said for self-confidence, looks are another matter.”

Reference

Judge, T. A., Hurst, C., & Simon, L. S. (2009). Does It Pay to Be Smart, Attractive, or Confident (or All Three)? Relationships Among General Mental Ability, Physical Attractiveness, Core Self-Evaluations, and Income. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 742-755.

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