Has there been any scientific studies to prove or disprove the subject ?
If proven true, whats the cause for this ? If proven false, how did this myth originate ?
I don’t know about that, but I’ve heard a few Americans comment that English English sounds “snotty” to them.
No idea on any of that; and if — in some places — Americans admire the better kind of English accents, such as Received Pronunciation, it could be class-based ( as when long ago New York hostesses sought minor British aristocrats as guests ), or the belief that anything foreign is exotic, or American cultural Daddy Issues or an interest in the different sounds to those around them.
My own belief is that until the 1930s the American upper class/East Coast/non-ethnically accented New York accents were remarkably similar to upper class English accents — not that either are precisely the same now as then.
So it may be a call back to the previous American ruling class rather than a tribute to a not that interesting people. However the British of the past bequeathed a not rather wholly undeserved or deserved reputation for arrogance, and people like that sort of thing.
Some American actors then ( and sometimes until recently ) could have passed unnoticed in Britain. Noticeable accents of the other nations of the Isles carry their own baggage, whether of victim-hood or charm depending on the assumptions of the foreign hearer, however their variants of upper class accents are generally the most fawned upon.
In Britain the Scottish accent is invested with financial skill and probity, God Knows why.
A sidenote to the OP’s question, but I would imagine that it still depends on the accent in question. A movie pirate’s accent is, theoretically, a particular British accent, yet we don’t have any particular connotation of it sounding erudite. And I’ve personally heard some Shropshire boys talking and despite not being an American accent at all, they still sounded like pig farmers to me.
Don’t think there have been studies. It likely depends on which English accent.
If they sound like this: “I say, old chap, all is tickety-boo, what what” yes.
If they sound like this: “Oy, bruv, you a berk, innit” not so much.
Folks with an upper-class English accent are perceived to be smarter and probably evil. Cite: Jeremy Irons’ career in Hollywood.
I suspect the accent being discussed is Received Pronunciation. I would tend to agree that it does have a bit of a sophisticated air to it to American ears. When I was in college, our house answering machine message was the voice of my female Indian roommate from Hong Kong who had the stereotypical posh RP accent and, I swear, every single male friend of mine who heard that message was just smitten upon hearing her voice, because of that accent. I’m not entirely sure why or how, but I assume we were just conditioned into associating that accent with sophistication and refinement. For me personally, I think a lot has to do with the old James Bond movies, but (obviously, I’d think) that doesn’t hold true for the vast majority of Americans.
Well personally I find the people I’ve met from England all were very bright since when you think about it, only a smart person would be able to afford moving here or be excited about taking a job in America. I’d guess the average Briton is quite content to stay right at home.
The kind of British accent americans (and as I’ve found from personal experience: Chinese) people like is also popular within the UK. That is to say, there’s a certain posh accent, and way of projecting the voice, that is not so common in the UK but many find appealing.
I forget some of the details, but I recall reading about intonation, and that the classic posh British accent uses tones that project precision, certainty…and arrogance.
Is that why my British friends sound different when they are talking to each other rather than when talking to Americans?
Anecdotally I can say that my sister got a lot more male attention in New York than she ever did in London. (Her accent sounds South London to me, but it is pretty RP)
I can also say from my own experience that French girls sound much sexier than their similar looking English contemporaries.
If you mean because they feel superior or whatever when talking to Americans, I don’t know, and that wasn’t where I was trying to go with that.
Generally it’s a good thing if someone speaks differently when speaking to someone from their country/region than with foreigners. It usually means they are trying their best to be understood in all cases (though of course there are also douches out there that talk/look down on “outsiders”).
Indeed, French women do have a certain something with their quaintly mispronounced English and their confident flirting. The French also find the English accent in French quite appealing. Apparently they loved the way Tony Blair spoke French.
Americans do seem to be overawed by an English accent, I put it down to actors from the theatrical tradition who have carved a niche for themselves in Hollywood. But that is only a certain type of English accent used in theatre and also the type common in elite schools where they teach public speaking and debating. British politicians are required to be very able public speakers and skilled in all the right rhetorical flourishes, which may make them sound smarter than they actually are. They are tested in debates on a regular basis. US politicians in contrast seem to be treat with deference and their speeches seem to simply enunciate ‘values’ that are designed to appeal to the voters.
Does the US not have a ‘posh’ clever-clever accent? Some old money East coast millionaire knickerbocker type? Or maybe one of those Southern gentleman accents?
I had a friend who emigrated to the US, he always had a bit of speech impediment. He was delighted to find this went completely unnoticed in the US, where it was put into the ‘Hey you speak funny’ category reserved for curious foreign accents.
Be assured the English can dumb and dumber just as well as any part of the US, but these accents never really make it across the Atlantic. Not a lot of call for them in costume dramas. Whereas the reverse is not true and we get to hear a wide range of US accents coming out of Hollywood.
To my American ears, it often sounds as if a British person’s sentences have an implied “you blithering idiot” at the end. 
Definitely arrogant. And probably due to the tone, as you say.
Heh - I just spent a week herding students around in Paris as part of one of their classes; we had a day in the Louvre so I went looking for the Victory of Samothrace. Anyway, I queried a guard in French about it (of course the one thing I wanted to see is currently undergoing preservation work), and in the course of conversation he asked me if I were British.
We switched to English at that point, and he told me I spoke French charmingly with a British accent, but in English my paint-peeling East Bawlmer accent took over and deeply horrified him. He asked if we could switch back to French.
I have been asked by my students why Hollywood casts British actors as the bad guys all the time (Romans, Nazis, etc) – I figure it’s partly so the Americans can play the cowboy heroes no matter what the era and also because the British have a way of pronouncing ‘evil’ in a deliciously, well evil way that we Septics just can’t wrap out tonsils around.
I don’t know about scientific studies, or surveys, or anything like that. But I can tell you, anecdotally, that UK accents in general sound distinguished to many Americans.
The beauty of it is that, from a commonly-held American perspective, upper-class British accents are not necessarily regarded as “better” than lower-class ones. So long as obfuscating slang is avoided, a salt-of-the-earth Cockney speaker can come across to an American as “classy” as Prince Charles.
You are on the right lines, but I think that immigration/visa restrictions are a bigger factor. Ditch diggers don’t get a work visa. People with degrees do.
I never got the impression Americans in general equate “English” accents with intelligence.
Based on the frequency with which Brits turn up in advertisements, I suspect that florid upper-crust accents are used to make products seem tony. It gets ridiculous when such people are touting non-stick cooking pans. I am also not persuaded that someone with a thick Scots accent is the person to listen to for lawn care advice.
So many of the previous posters have mentioned Received Pronunciation, that I thought it would be a good idea to see what Wikipedia might have to say. And there it is, right in the second paragraph:
Personally, I am intrigued by the comment that RP has “particular prestige” in Britain, without mentioning the Colonies.
Good point. The Geico Gecko has been a mainstay of US TV for years, shilling car insurance with a Cockney accent. It’s actually pretty typical here for people to mistake him as Australian.