Study: Blondes Make Men Dumb

(Paris, France) A group of scientists at Paris Nanterre University conducted research to gather evidence that blonde women make men dumb.

The methodology was to have men view a series of pictures of women with different-colored hair and then make the men take a general knowledge test.

Those who had been shown pictures of blonde women scored lower marks than those who had been shown pictures of brunettes and redheads.

Professor Thierry Meyer, joint author of the study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, said: "It proves that people confronted with stereotypes generally behave in line with them.

"Blondes have the potential to make people act in a dumber way, because they mimic the unconscious stereotype of the dumb blonde."

Previously scientists have found that people walk and talk more slowly in front of the elderly, while other studies have revealed that unconscious racial assumptions and prejudices emerge in written tests.

The stereotype of the "dumb blonde" emerged with the development of films, television and glossy magazines.

Notably, there is no scientific evidence that blonde women are less intelligent than brunettes or redheads. Sadly, there now apparently is scientific evidence regarding the intelligence of the men they are with. Personally, I think the study is flawed.

In fact, according to a study conducted in 2004, blonde women became dumber when subjected to negative prejudices toward blondes.

"But after exposure to negative social-stereotypes about them, the fair-haired participants performed significantly more slowly in the tests," said Jens Foerster, a social psychologist from the International University Bremen in Germany.

When people are told they can't perform a task well, they work more slowly to try to make fewer mistakes, explained Foerster.

Regarding men, I think they may actually become smarter when in the presence of a blonde woman. It's been suggested that a smaller auxiliary brain is triggered to work when men are around blondes and this results in an actual increase in total brain mass.