Stereotypes of blondes

Among the many prejudices of our society, blondes carry the beauty of begin beautiful
and foolish. How did this myth arise? Is there any scientific evidence that supports or
discredits you? What are the consequences?
The myth of “Dumb blondes” apart from being discriminatory and sexist (Why not “Man
Dumb blondes? Recently, the results of a long-wind study were published, which shows
statistically and scientifically, that the myth of “Silly blondes¨ is totally unfounded.
But first, let’s tell you where all that comes from.
History of Myth

The blonde hair gene appeared 11000 year ago in the region of the Baltic countries. To complete
the stereotype, the blue-eyed gene, appeared 6- 10.000 years ago in the northern Black Sea
region, near the Caucasus. It has been postulated that people with these phenotypes are more
striking, only for a social issue: the different calls our attention. And certainly, these traits also
brought some evolutionary advantage in the place that arose, otherwise, would not have been
preserved in time.

The first clear mention and close to our times of the myth of the “Silly blonde” is in 1775, when a
talented dancer called Rosalie Duthé, became very famous as courtesan of the nobility. Naturally
this attracted the envy of many people. It was characterized by a long pause before speaking, even
if it were to give a small exclamation. We know about her because she was mocked in the theater
play. Presenting it in a brutal way: as a doll of human size, and without spark of intelligence. This
play was a resounding success, and it turned Rosalie into the first recorded case of this myth.

Then, another appearance of the stereotypes would be in the novel “The woman of white”
published in 1859, which shows blondes as languid and without initiative, while brunettes appear
as more proactive and “With feet on Earth”

The myth reappears strongly in 1925, in the novel “The knights prefer blondes” . Yes, the
same as Marilyn Monroe did totally and absolutely yours and set a global level the stereotype of
“The blonde bimbo”

Are blondes stupid? Of course not.

A couple of weeks ago, the results of a very large study were published, regarding IQ and hair
color. Whose participants were between 14 and 21 years of age at the time of being surveyed. The
following year, all participants were subjected to a test of IQ, used by the American armed Forces.
Five years later, all participants were asked for information about their hair color.

This information was crossed by Dr. Jay Zagorsky of the University of Ohio, to find out what was
the correlation between hair color and IQ. Well, these are your results:
As you can see, those who appear with the greatest IQ are the blondes, unseating the recurring
myth of the “Silly Blondes.” Although it is, of course, by a very small margin. But enough, to make
it clear that the stereotypes are wrong.

On the other hand, if you look at the distribution table of IQ, you will notice other details:

If we observe, the blondes, appears with outstanding intelligence, Thing that does not
happen with brunettes and read heads.
Anyway, rather than try a superiority or inferiority of IQ according to hair color, which
proves this study, is that the relationship between blond hair color and a lower IQ is false.
Care! Some caveats regarding these results.
You must have an eye. For example, we should not falling into the fallacy of “Spurious
correlations.” What does the mean? It only gives the sense of causality, but there is not;
it’s a mere coincidence.
Some curious psychological effects of this myth
But if a stereotype is false, it does not mean that it lacks real effects, because people do are
affected by the stereotypes that apply to us. For example, a study by the University of Paris X-
Nanterre, submitted a group of people to a general knowledge test, after sowing them material tat
supported the myth that “blondes are silly.” Results? Blondes responded worse. On the other
hand, in the control group, which was not subjected to the material on “Silly blondes.” They did it
just like all the rest. This has an interesting conclusion: we empathize with the prejudices that
surround us, we make our own and incarnate.
Conclusion
If we realize, although this prejudice seems a joke or a joke for those who do not suffer, it
does have real effects, not only in our culture, but also in the performance of each person.
And not just this bias but every stereotype.
So this kind of information should make us reflect on the effect of our words and our
conception of the world, in the society in general, and in other people in particular.