Appearance vs. Intelligence

[Marquis de Carabas]

I realise many of you find the "Love is poison desguised as candy" thread to be repulsive to some degree, and I myself grow weary of it, but it has brought up a point I think could spawn some fruitful discussion.

Is there any difference, ethically, in judging someone on appearance and judging them on intelligence?

It seems to me, in general terms, there is not. These are both traits which have a genetic basis, are influenced by development, and can, to some extent, be altered by the individual.

In specific contexts, of course, it may be wrong to judge on one or the other. I fail to see how judging someone's appearance will help you elect a better president or find a better doctor, for instance. But are there any reasons that judging by one is more ethical than by the other in general?

 

[roger]

I don't think there is any ethical problem for preferring trait X. I do feel there are problems when you start judging a person for trait X, and devaluing them as a person if they lack that trait.

For example, I generally prefer being around intelligent and sceptical people. But when I start calling people who don't meet those descriptions as woo-woos and worthless, then I'm the one deficient, not the person I'm badmouthing.

A lot of the latter goes on in these forums.

 

[Nyarlathotep]

I think you hit it when you mentioned specific contexts. I think context is everything in how we deal with people. Most people would judge a potential doctor on intelligence and competance, a potential friend on compatible interests, a potential one night stand on sheer sex appeal, etc. And the contexts don't mix, someone I might want to sit down and have a beer with is not necessarily someone I would want as my doctor and vice versa.

Intelligence and looks figure into love the same way. Somoene I would want to have a life long relationship and grow old with I would choose (okay, since I am married, have chosen) on the basis of intellect and personality, things that do not fade with time as easily as looks. If all I am looking for is a woman to schtup once and be done with it, it's looks all the way, the fact that she seriously ponders which branch of the military Captain Kangaroo is in doesn't play into matters at all.

Their is one reason why if one just wants to make a general assessment of a person why it is marginally better to judge people on intellignece, though. Simply put, I can think of countless situations where I would want smart people around me and only one (a one night stand) where I would prefer the good looking one. But in general I think judging people on the basis of appearance is foolish, rather than unethical.

 

[Yahweh]

Physical Attractiveness and Intellligence have nothing to do with each other. You cannot look at a pretty gal and be able to guess her IQ.

At a bare minimum, they may indirectly influence each other (an unattractive person may have low self-esteem, this decreases their desire to learn, and if this trend were to persist for a while, it would create the illusion of a "dumb" person), but the 1000s of other factors of environment shouldnt be ignored either.

Intelligence isnt something which is solidly defined by genetics. Intelligence comes from environment, and there is no such "gene" that influence "the maximum 'smartness' a person can be". I'm sure Stephen Hawking's children are intelligent as they grew up in an intelligent atmosphere, if they were switched at birth with the "average American household", their intelligence would be indistinguishable from that of the average American.

There is debate to whether genetics influences how well a person can write a speech or draw (I cant find any studies, but I knew a pair of identical twins who had a natural talent for drawing realistically, both of them could draw equally well, of course there is no "drawing" gene but it does seem like genetics does play a part).

As far as beauty, it is a bit more dependent on the genetic lottery. However, environment does in fact make a difference (notice the number of pretty people in Hollywood versus Cleaveland).

If it were possible to measure an abstract concept such as beauty, I bet a scatter chart (or a bell-curve chart) would show most people lie within average intelligence and average beauty, but aside from that, beauty and intelligence have no influence on each other.

 

[Lord Kenneth]

People should, really, only be judged on intelligence and personality.

 

[ImpyTimpy]

Well, no matter what we do we're going to judge people based on their appearance initially followed by their intelligence I believe. For example, would you believe a dirty unwashed human would be capable of holding an interesting conversation about philosophy? No. Would you believe that the well dressed man/woman might have something interesting to say. Of course you would. It's not always a good indicator but it's a fact of life. Personality or intelligence means squat if your outward appearance resembles the town drunk.

Is that unethical? Perhaps it is, but then is someone who dresses like a slob and boasts huge intelligence really as smart as they claim? If they were so smart, wouldn't they have enough brains to dress/behave in a way which would indicate their intelligence level? Perhaps the slobs really aren't as smart as they make themselves out to be.

Perhaps appearance and intelligence do go hand in hand?

 

[Yahweh]

People should, really, only be judged on intelligence and personality.

Modeling (this isnt limited to clothing) is one of the few that can get away with judging people by the their appearence.

I would hardly believe Sarah Michelle Gellar would be appropriate to play and overweight tall black man in a movie...

About judging people on intelligence... how? Are people with average intelligence less favorable than people of high intelligence.

Are nice people more favorable than mean people?

Or am I taking the wrong approach, is intelligence and personality supposed to be judged together? If so, then which is more favorable: A nice person of average intelligence, or an anti-social person of above average intelligence.