# Would you trade intelligence for attractiveness? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 20, 2007, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771 "2007-12-20T23:51:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/21 "2007-12-21T11:20:23Z")
[QUOTE=Love Rhombus] Basically you have two sliders, one for brainpower and one for general attractiveness (looks, social knack, charisma). [/QUOTE] As you included social knack, I’ll take a bit more of attractiveness at the cost of intelligence, please. The weird thing with intelligence is that the smarter you get, the less smart you feel. “The bigger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder/feeling dumb” I guess. While intelligence brings the reward of endless fascination with the world of ideas and the physical world, for most of us happiness correlates more with pleasant interactions with the people around us. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/22 "2007-12-21T12:21:09Z")
I don’t think I’d give away any brains to be prettier (which is different from “attractive”, part of which is, IMO, based on brains), but I might consider shaving off ten IQ points to be pretty _longer_. Being the smartest person in the room is, as a rule, less fun than being the prettiest person in the room. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/23 "2007-12-21T14:58:30Z")
In a heartbeat. Intelligence is not as good people think it is, but being ugly goes a long way. Intelligence, or even just the expectation of intelligence, can make your life harder without giving much in return. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/24 "2007-12-21T15:31:44Z")
Everyone likes the attractive person. Nobody likes the smartass. Not only would I ditch my brains to look better, but I’d do it at an unfavorable rate of exchange. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/25 "2007-12-21T16:44:54Z")
In a heartbeat. Based on my life experience there is little to no penalty for being stupid. There is an enormous benefit given for being hot. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/26 "2007-12-21T17:04:50Z")
Not a chance. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/27 "2007-12-21T17:52:56Z")
I’m intelligent enough to realise that if I was incredibly good-looking instead, I could have sex with a gorgeous person - myself! ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/28 "2007-12-21T17:58:04Z")
I’d swap intelligence for happiness/inner peace, or a guarantee of perfect health and fitness until I died suddenly at age 80, but not attractiveness. ---
**Author:** ![Pixilated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aeb1de/32.png) [@Pixilated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixilated)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/29 "2007-12-21T18:07:04Z")
Intelligence IS attractive! imho Give me a man who got more on his ACT/SAT/IQ test than slobber, please! ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/30 "2007-12-21T18:26:04Z")
No. **Diana G** may well be right that the prettiest person in the room has more fun than the smartest person in the room, but there’s comfort in the familiar, and I’m used to being the smartest person in the room. (And, sadly, I bet I could gain myself a generous handful of attractiveness points just by losing weight and caring about how I present myself more). ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/31 "2007-12-21T18:44:04Z")
Intelligence is one of the prime requisites for my character class. Can I trade some wisdom or constitution instead? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/32 "2007-12-21T18:46:40Z")
I’d better stand pat. If I got any more intelligent or handsome, people would be scared. No, really. I’ve never thought much of my looks, but evidently I’m not hideous and I wouldn’t say that’s held me back. On the other hand, my intelligence has a lot more to do with who I am and what I hope to do. ---
**Author:** ![Eissclam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/2acd7d/32.png) [@Eissclam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eissclam)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/33 "2007-12-21T18:52:28Z")
Elwood P. Dowd: Years ago my mother used to say to me, she’d say, “In this world, Elwood, you must be” - she always called me Elwood - “In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.” Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me. He said I could, so I am. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/34 "2007-12-21T19:33:05Z")
I would sacrifice a few notches of intelligence in return for several degrees of attractiveness, but would not want to go too far either way: I’ve watched too many attractive women - even ones with a reasonable level of intelligence - make lousy choices when faced with so many offers, while in my experience, when you’re not that special to look at, although the offers might not come that often, one usually attracts the attention of a better class of person. 🙂 That aside, I would welcome the experience of having a perfect body in order to truly indulge my perfect taste in clothes. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/35 "2007-12-21T22:31:36Z")
I’d certainly trade away some attractiveness to get more intellegence. How much depends on the relative scaling, which would be measured in different units if there were any units for measuring them. So, I wouldn’t take severe burn scars and birth defects to be able to master new programming languages in 30% less time. But I’d take baldness and acne scars and a big nose to do so in 50% less time, I think. Especially if I had some buyer’s remorse options. Stephen Hawking isn’t much to look at, but he’s quite a thinker. I wonder what he’d say? He has commented that his disability has freed him to do more thinking, which I’m sure is true and is valuable. And, of course, I mention him because I suppose most would say his odd posture is unattractive, not because unattractiveness is the main feature of his disability. ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/36 "2007-12-21T22:32:59Z")
Sure I’d trade smart for pretty. (Hey, not like I’m a brain surgeon now, kids!) Because… after the trade, how the hell would I know I wasn’t smart anymore, right? But I bet I’d know I was pretty. And I could use it for fun and profit! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/37 "2007-12-21T22:55:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Would you trade intelligence for attractiveness? I’m not saying I’m proud of it, or that I’d recommend it to anyone else, but at the moment, yeah, I would. [QUOTE=Maastricht] As you included social knack, I’ll take a bit more of attractiveness… [/QUOTE] I’ve seen you. There’s little, if any, room for improvement. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/38 "2007-12-21T23:24:17Z")
I’m glad I don’t have to pick. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/39 "2007-12-22T00:51:48Z")
Intelligent = attractive. Unintelligent = unattractive ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2007, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771/40 "2007-12-22T02:42:58Z")
IQ all the way over until looks almost get to “gag a hyena”. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-trade-intelligence-for-attractiveness/430771.md?page=3)