Physically attractive women ‘more likely’ to go the distance with intelligent men - Study

NERDY guys are in luck, not only do they have brains, they are said to be more likely to get a physically attractive partner — a recent study has found. 

The study, published by the American Psychological Association, looked at the link between physical attractiveness and intelligence when it came to finding a partner, finding that physically attractive women were more likely to have more intelligent husbands.

We predicted that more physically attractive women would have more intelligent husbands, but that a man’s physical attractiveness would not predict his wife’s intelligence, the study — Cross-Trait Assortment for Intelligence and Physical Attractiveness — hypothesised.

The researchers noted both men and women valued intelligence and physical attractiveness in mates — but men placed higher emphasis on physical attractiveness as a fitness indicator when judging the value of a potential mate, while women looked for higher intelligence.

Women may place greater emphasis on intelligence because it indicates the ability of a potential mate to acquire resources, which makes intelligence a valued trait.

On the flip side, the study found women considered to be “below average in attractiveness” were more often married to men with less education.

The data focused on the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, which collected data of about 10,000 men and women between 1957 and 2011. The study noted the sample size was largely caucasian.

Study author Curtis S. Dunkel of Western Illinois University told PsyPost: 

The results of the study suggest that intelligence may be slightly more important to women when choosing a long-term mate.

More specifically, a woman may look for a man who is slightly more intelligent than she is and she uses her physical attractiveness to secure a more intelligent husband.

He did note however that the sample group was made up of American Midwesterners who were born in the mid-20th century.