Are attractive people smarter?
Probably not. The largest careful study, of twins and their siblings, found no link between facial attractiveness and measured IQ. What looks do change is how intelligent people seem: attractive faces are rated as smarter, whatever their real ability.
Looking smart vs being smart
In a 2016 study at the University of St Andrews, strangers rated photos of 100 students. The more attractive a student was, the more intelligent they looked to raters. Attractiveness had almost no connection with the grades those students actually earned.
Psychologists call this the attractiveness halo: one good trait colors how we judge everything else. It is why first impressions of intelligence are so unreliable, and why a face can’t tell you someone’s IQ.
What the research found
| Study | Who was studied | What it found |
|---|---|---|
| Kanazawa (2011) | National samples of children and teenagers in the UK and the US | Children rated attractive scored higher: about 12 IQ points in the UK (r = .38), with a much weaker link in the US (r = .13). |
| Mitchem et al. (2015) | A large sample of identical and fraternal twins and their siblings | No correlation between facial attractiveness and IQ. A review of earlier studies found signs that positive results had been more likely to get published. |
| Kleisner et al. (2014) | 80 university students, rated from photos by 160 people | Raters guessed men’s intelligence slightly better than chance and women’s not at all. Their intelligence ratings closely tracked attractiveness. |
| Talamas et al. (2016) | 100 university students, rated from photos online | Attractiveness strongly predicted how intelligent students looked, but not their actual grades. |
The studies point two ways. Large national surveys found that children rated attractive scored somewhat higher, especially in the UK. The twin study, which used carefully measured attractiveness and IQ in a larger and better-controlled sample, found nothing, and its authors concluded that earlier positive results were probably overstated.
Can you tell intelligence from a face?
Barely, and only for men. In a 2014 Czech study, people rated the intelligence of 80 students from photos. Their guesses matched measured IQ slightly better than chance for men and not at all for women, and most of what they were really judging was attractiveness.
The faces people thought looked intelligent were longer and narrower, with wider-set eyes, a larger nose, slightly upturned mouth corners and a sharper chin. Rounder, broader faces were rated as less intelligent. None of those features had any link to real IQ. Face shape shapes first impressions; it doesn’t reveal how well someone reasons.
Why the myth survives
- The halo is strong: attractive people are rated as smarter, so they can look smarter in everyday life.
- Old studies were noisier: the twin study’s review found signs that positive findings were more likely to be published.
- Real confounds exist: upbringing and living standards can affect both how people look and how they do on tests, which makes national surveys hard to interpret.
Measure it instead of guessing
No photo can tell you your IQ, but a careful test can estimate it. The free MyIQTest IQ test takes about 15 minutes, shows your full result without an email, and explains how it compares with the population. Prefer something quicker? Try the brain games, or see what the average IQ really is.
Looks and intelligence: common questions
Do smart people look different?
Not in any reliable way. In one study, faces people rated as intelligent were longer and narrower, with wider-set eyes, but those features had no link to the students’ measured IQ. They reflect a stereotype, not intelligence.
Is face shape linked to IQ?
There is no evidence that it is. Face shape changes first impressions, and longer faces tend to be judged smarter, but the people with those faces didn’t score higher on intelligence tests.
Can an app guess your IQ from a selfie?
Be skeptical. In the studies above, faces carried little or no real information about measured intelligence, so a photo-based estimate mostly captures how smart you look, which is largely how attractive you look.
Are attractive people treated as smarter?
Yes. In one study the link between a student’s attractiveness and how intelligent strangers thought they were was r = 0.81, a very strong correlation, even though attractiveness had almost nothing to do with their grades.
Sources
- Kanazawa, S. (2011). Intelligence and physical attractiveness. Intelligence, 39(1), 7–14.
- Mitchem, D. G., et al. (2015). No relationship between intelligence and facial attractiveness in a large, genetically informative sample. Evolution and Human Behavior, 36, 240–247.
- Kleisner, K., Chvátalová, V., & Flegr, J. (2014). Perceived intelligence is associated with measured intelligence in men but not women. PLOS ONE, 9(3).
- Talamas, S. N., Mavor, K. I., & Perrett, D. I. (2016). Blinded by beauty: Attractiveness bias and accurate perceptions of academic performance. PLOS ONE, 11(2).
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Take the free IQ testBy the MyIQTest team · Reviewed November 2026