London: A research has dispelled the myth that beautiful blondes and handsome men are not very bright.
Studies conducted by the London School of Economics (LSE) have found that they possess greater intelligence and have IQs 14 points above average.
The children of these couples will tend to inherit both qualities of looks and brains, building a genetic link over successive generations between them, according to the journal Intelligence.
"Physical attractiveness is significantly positively associated with general intelligence, both with and without controls for social class, body size and health," said a Daily Mail report quoting the LSE researcher Satoshi Kanazawa in the Sunday Times.
In other research on social standing, he found that middle-class girls tended to have higher IQs than their working-class counterparts.
In the UK, the study found that men who are physically attractive had IQs an average 13.6 points above the norm while women were about 11.4 points higher.
Kanazawa's findings were based on the National Child Development Study, which followed 17,419 people since their birth in a single week in March, 1958.
Throughout their childhood up to early adulthood, they were given a series of tests for academic progress, intelligence and marked on appearance.
The American research was taken from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which involved a similar study of 35,000 young Americans.
Kanazawa said: "Our contention that beautiful people are more intelligent is purely scientific. It is not a prescription for how to treat or judge others."
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