Positive relationships between perceived intelligence, actual intelligence and facial attractiveness have been attributed to (a) an attractiveness halo effect in which attractive individuals are attributed with positive personality traits and (b) a “good genes” model of mate choice. We sought to determine whether cues to intelligence exist in the face beyond an attractiveness halo effect and to explore relationships between residual cues to intelligence and personality attributions in male and female faces. In Study 1, we attempted to parametrically manipulate the perceived intelligence of faces while controlling for attractiveness. Results demonstrated that we manipulated perceived intelligence but may not have adequately controlled for an attractiveness halo effect: faces that were manipulated to look high in perceived intelligence were rated as more attractive. In Study 2, we found perceived intelligence to be related positively to perceived friendliness and sense of humour in male and female faces and inversely to perceived dominance in female faces. Results are discussed in the context of models of “good genes” and “attractiveness halo” models of the relationships between intelligence and attractiveness.
R. Arden L. S. Gottfredson G. Miller 2009 Does a fitness factor contribute to the association between intelligence and health outcomes? Evidence from medical abnormality counts among 3654 US veterans Intelligence 37 581 591.
R. Arden L. S. Gottfredson G. Miller A. Pierce 2009 Intelligence and semen quality are positively correlated Intelligence 37 277 282.
T. C. Bates 2007 Fluctuating asymmetry and intelligence Intelligence 35 41 46.
G. D. Batty I. J. Deary L. S. Gottfredson 2007 Premorbid (early life) IQ and later mortality risk: Systematic review Annals of Epidemiology 17 278 288.
P. J. Benson D. I. Perrett 1991 Synthesising continuous-tone caricatures Image Vision Computing 9 123 129.
D. M. Buss 1989 Sex differences in human mating preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures Behavioral and Brain Sciences 12 1 49.
I. J. Deary G. Der 2005 Reaction time explains IQ's association with death Psychological Science 16 64 69.
A. H. Eagly R. D. Ashmore M. G. Makhijani L. C. Longo 1991 What is beautiful is good, but…: A meta-analytic review of research on the physical attractiveness stereotype Psychological Bulletin 110 109 128.
A. Feingold 1992 Good looking people are not what we think Psychological Bulletin 111 304 341.
L. S. Gottfredson I. J. Deary 2004 Intelligence predicts health and longevity, but why? Current Directions in Psychological Science 13 1 4.
M. Haselton G. F. Miller 2006 Women's fertility across the cycle increases the short-term attractiveness of creative intelligence Human Nature 17 50 73.
D. Houle 2000 Is there a g factor for fitness? The Nature of Intelligence John Wiley and Sons Chichester.
L. A. Jackson J. E. Hunter C. N. Hodge 1995 Physical attractiveness and intellectual competence: A meta-analytic review Social Psychology Quarterly 58 108 122.
M. Jokela G. D. Batty I. J. Deary C. R. Gale M. Kivimaki 2009 Low childhood IQ and early adult mortality: The role of explanatory factors in the British Birth Cohort Pediatrics 124 e380 e388.
R. E. Kraut J. Olson M. Banaji A. Bruckman J. Cohen M. Couper 2004 Psychological research online American Psychologist 59 105 117.
J. H. Langlois L. Kalakanis A. J. Rubenstein A. Larson M. Hallam M. Smoot 2000 Maxims or myths of beauty? A meta-analytic and theoretical review Psychological Bulletin 126 390 423.
G. W. Lucker W. E. Beane R. L. Helmreich 1981 The strength of the halo effect in physical attractiveness research Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary Applied 107 69 75.
M. F. Luxen B. P. Buunk 2006 Human intelligence, fluctuating asymmetry and the peacock's tail: General intelligence (g) as an honest signal of fitness Personality and Individual Differences 41 897 902.
G. F. Miller 2000 The Mating Mind Doubleday New York.
M. Prokosch R. Yeo G. Miller 2005 Intelligence tests with higher g loadings show higher correlations with body symmetry: Evidence for a general fitness factor mediated by developmental stability Intelligence 33 203 213.
M. K. Surawski E. P. Ossoff 2006 The effects of physical and vocal attractiveness on impression formation of politicians Current Psychology 25 15 27.
J. P. Swaddle G. W. Reierson 2002 Testosterone increases perceived dominance but not attractiveness in human males Proceedings of the Royal Society B 269 2285 2289.
B. T. Tiddeman D. M. Burt D. I. Perrett 2001 Prototyping and transforming facial textures for perception research Computer Graphics and Applications 21 42 50.
L. A. Zebrowitz J. Fellous A. Mignault C. Andreoletti 2003 Trait impressions are over-generalized responses to adaptively significant facial qualities: Evidence from connectionist modelling Personality and Social Psychology Review 7 194 215.
L.A. Zebrowitz J. A. Hall N. A. Murphy G. Rhodes 2002 Looking smart and looking good: Facial cues to intelligence and their origins Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 28 238 249.
L. A. Zebrowitz G. Rhodes 2004 Sensitivity to “bad genes” and the anomalous face overgeneralization effect: Cue validity, cue utilization, and accuracy in judging intelligence and health Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 28 167 185.