By Anupum Pant
Background
I know, I’m not a very big fan of intelligence scores or IQ points measured using the standard IQ tests available today. And even if this study does rely on those scores, I still find it pretty interesting. You will too…
Judging a book by its cover isn’t unwise after all. A recent study published by researchers from the Czech Republic proves that all of us humans have a natural ability to estimate how intelligent a man really is, by just looking at his facial features. That said, the study also mentions that you can’t judge a woman’s intelligence by observing her facial features. It works for only men. However, both men and women have this ability to estimate the intelligence of a man by looking at his face.
The study finds no solid correlation between the features of a woman’s face and their intelligence. That means, to find out about how intelligent a woman is, you’ll have to dig deeper than just the facial features.
People can accurately judge intelligence by looking at faces of men, but not women.
The study did not use a very huge sample – Still pictures of 40 men and 40 women were used. Nevertheless even 80 pictures contribute a significant amount to science. No experiment is a bad one. We’ll probably see more such studies and know more about the phenomenon in the near future.
They also measured the intelligence of these 80 people using standard IQ tests and asked people to rate their intelligence. It was found that people were able to almost accurately tell the IQ of a man by looking at his picture!
How do we do it?
We have an inbuilt ability to spot the shape and features of intelligent men. This could be a pretty logical evolutionary trait.
Faces of intelligent men: According to the researchers, longer faces with greater distance between the eyes, pointy chins, larger noses, slightly smiley lips are the features of highly intelligent men.
Faces of not so intelligent men: Whereas broader and rounded faces with eyes closer to each other, shorter faces, sad lips and bigger chins are the signs which tell us that a man is not so intelligent.
Here see the difference yourself. What do you think? Could you spot it? Which one of these faces is the closest to your face? Tell me in the comments below. Tell me about mine too.
Did you like this article?
Every day I send out a newsletter with an un-cut new article and exclusive content for readers. It’s basically my way of keeping in touch with you and letting you know what’s going on. Your information is protected and I never spam.
Subscribe from the sidebar to stay connected. Feel free to reply to these newsletters too…
Guess these researches are more of statistical data rather any science behind them. What do you think ?
Yes, this one is definitely a small and mostly a statistical study, but it does have a very strong point. It does contribute to science. These little things often end up being huge when people all around the world start testing and contributing data.
Still, I think they prove a very interesting point. I myself have noticed that I have an inbuilt ability to spot intelligent men. It could have something to do with these specific facial features they’ve mentioned. If nothing, it makes me aware. I might be able to exploit it better in my life. It does teach you something. I’d be very interested to see further studies on this.
If by “science” you mean a theoretically modeled causal mechanism linking intelligence to facial morphology, you are correct. But, by that definition, Galileo’s gravitational experiments were not “science,” nor were the recent Nobel-winning measurements of Type I-A supernovae that implied the acceleration of the universe’s expansion. True science must always be informed by facts, for which we need first of all to establish what are the facts. So, yes, this study does contribute to science.
Wonder if there’s a science to identify men who are ‘intelligent & considerate’ ? There seems to be a real dearth of that combination!
Hehe not at all. There are enough of all kinds of people. It’s just that we don’t always come across the best ones.
But like you said, intelligent ones very often seem to be mean. I think it has something to do with their excessive use of sarcasm (requires intelligence). Like House MD is one good example. Still, even with his prickly nature, you can’t stop loving that character more.
That’s something!
Anupam, I do know that people judge us all the time. But, appearances can be deceptive, just as you have mentioned not to judge a book from its cover.
But, still there must be strength in such research findings.
Another point- If people’s ears are larger & curved towards the front like that of an elephant, they are considered intelligent! 🙂
Hey! About the large ears, my mom has always told me that. And I have observed this all the time. These people indeed are very clever. I always stay extra aware when I see someone has long ears 😀
I’m gonna disagree on this one. 😛
perhaps a few do, then again we cant say the same for all men.
Haha yeah. There is no reason to strongly agree already. This was just a small interesting piece of research. But nothing is absolute. Exceptions are always there…we need much much more data to weed out every possibility.
You know after reading this, I looked at myself in the mirror (actually the webcam). I don’t want to sound conceited, but I think I can say I have good IQ 😀
Hahah
*looks at myself in mirror*
I’m pwettay!
Long face check.
Less distance between eyes check.
Nice chin check.
Man..uhm wo-man check 😀
Ps.I has the iq test results too
ähhhhhh.
intelligence can not depent on face look…
shit… all shit. just some stupid text from girls for girls how to find a good mate…..
but face not inportant…look into the heart of each person. 😉
my family slap me brutaly more than 10 years… i look very sad. and little like a gangster
like in picture 1…
but i know how to program websites with mysql/php/html and hack into servers. my main software on computer is linux…
i not learnet it in school. i learned by my self…
so what i am now?!
From last 3 centuries west some how manipulated with human history to pitty .Since western countries civilization are owed to Romans so naturally Roman have same elongated symmetrical Hollywood features .Asian are all mix feautures and mostly short round and goofy features as chineses always have small eyes due their genome ,Arabs always be more on rounder side and Indian Always be shorter but Chinese and Indians are most intelligent nations proven by history .they owe to their ancient civilizations,while west today’s maths own to Islamic historians scientisties .
These findings, if sufficiently general, might sound like good news to those among us who are more intelligent (i.e., “people can tell”). So I wonder whether there is any correlation between the intelligence of responders here versus their reaction (positive or negative) to the reported findings? Also, somewhat more seriously, I wonder whether the same traits would be perceived similarly in other locations or cultures besides Central Europe? That could be a question for further research.
Another interesting study is that women can identify men as homosexual with accuracy based on their smile.
Well I am looking in the mirror now.
Broad face – check
Round face – check
Eyes close to each other – check
Shorter face – check
Sad lips – Can’t tell if my lips are feeling sad or happy
Big chins – Probably yes, since they aren’t pointy
Guess I should forfeit my Mensa India membership…..
The reason this is wrong is because ethnicities sometimes favor narrow or short faces so someone with a short face in an ethnicity with short faces can be genius. Actually testosterone makes faces more broad and testosterone makes people more intelligent according to most studies so this is contradictory.