Why do some people believe a person cannot be smart and beautiful at the same ti

1. 65

   Alessio Ganciposted 8 years ago

   Why do some people believe a person cannot be smart and beautiful at the same time?
   
   It is a stereotype shared among all the society: many people believe there are two type of other ones:
   
   - people smart but ugly (the "nerd" stereotype you can find in any movie and also in some parts of real life)
   
   - the beautiful man/woman (who is shown as everything but smart)
   
   My question is: why does this (stupid, in my opinion) stereotype is so common? How could have been so much successful?
   
   I know many people who are smart and really cool physically, so I cannot realize why such a stereotype still exists!
   
   

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2. 85

   gmwilliamsposted 8 years ago

   
   
   Many people have a limited, dichotomous, &/or either/or consciousness, mentality, mindset, outlook, philosophy, & psychology.  They believe & think in either/or, black/white, & never outside such dichotomies.  They also have an immature consciousness, mentality mindset, outlook, philosophy, & psychology.  They think along a certain purview & refuse to think outside that purview.
   
   Many people furthermore have an exclusive purview when it comes to viewing life.  One must be one component or another.  One can't contain two components or more.  This belief goes back to the limited thinking that so many people have because they are comfortable w/such thinking & if they begin to think inclusively in terms of characteristics & components, they would become uncomfortable, even threatened.
   
   Many in our culture, civilization, & society have rigid, dichotomous, & extreme limiting, even childish stereotypes when it comes to beauty & intelligence.  It is a very strong contention that one can't possibly be beautiful & smart which is fallacious, even illogical thinking.  There are many beautiful people who are intelligent, smart, & even geniuses while there are ugly people who are of very average, even mediocre intelligence.
   
   Let me add in our culture, civilization, & society, beauty & intelligence are red light signals.  Beauty & intelligence are seen as threats to many people.  Many are either overtly or covertly envious of the beautiful &/or intelligent so they are comfortable when a beautiful person is dumb or an ugly person is intelligent because such components satisfy their supposed lack whether in the looks or intelligence/smarts department.  Now, when a person has a combination of beauty & intelligence, such unsettles many people's sense of being.  They really feel inadequate, even inferior when compared to such people.

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   1. 65

      Alessio Ganciposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      This is a good observation, finding a smart and beauty person may lead to feeling inferior than him/her. In this case, feeding up a stereotype such as "beautiful OR smart" means trying to autoconvince something doesnt exist only because of fear.

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   2. 85

      gmwilliamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Why, THANK YOU.

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3. 83

   tamarawilhiteposted 8 years ago

   Because of the stereotype that smart nerds are ugly, awkward. Even if the girl is portrayed as cute, they give her a handicap like clumsiness or glasses.

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   1. 65

      Alessio Ganciposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, in fact is the stereotype which should be analyzed in order to know why it is so popular. I know some people who are really smart, but also go out on Saturday nights and care about their look. I know some nerds follow the stereotype, but not all

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4. 94

   Billie Kelpinposted 8 years ago

   I'll never forget my junior year in college when a course called, "The Exceptional Child," was part of our curriculum.  Of course, "exception" ran the spectrum to studying the child with developmental difficulties all the way to the gifted child (the latter, an area of study that had previously been ignored). The chapter on the gifted child and the professor's lecture was fascinating. "Back in the day" the stereotype of the gifted child was that this child was most likely very inept at sports and other such activities.  The statistic that I remember from that class is that when you are gifted, often you are gifted across the board.  Thus the child who is consistently stellar on the football field or volleyball court is also gifted in the classroom. 
   My favorite, favorite, favorite show, "The Big Bang Theory," of course,  plays out your example loud and clear in the character of Penny, and on the flipside with the guys. J)ohnny Galecki and Simon Helberg are certainly no Ryan Goslings although Simon Helberg does have amazing eyes.)
   It's been my observation, having been always attracted to really smart men in my youth, that the stereotype is definitely wrong.  Initially I had been attracted to these men because of their looks or how they moved, only LATER to find out that they were really, really smart - one a nuclear engineer, 2 electronic engineers, and 1 a software programmer. 
   Of course the use of the term "ugly" is never appropriate, and it's important to realize that standards for physical beauty are cultural and change with the time.  Many women and men who are in the movies now and considered "beautiful people" would NEVER be considered in the 20s when beauty meant symmetry of the face, high cheek bones, and other criteria.  And lips plumped up with Botox?  People would have thought that a sad condition that one had to endure.
   No matter what, it is clear that beauty emanates from the inside.  Whether intelligent or not, a person is perceived as beautiful if they are truly centered, and if they are genuinely unselfish, thinking more of the person they are talking to than of themselves.  A person is perceived as intelligent if their grammar and vocabulary are correct, if they are well-read, and if they make logical arguments.  Intelligence is also a nebulous concept and has a huge number of facets as Guillford's Cube of Intelligence indicates.
   So, all in all,only one thing is clear - no one likes to be thown in the box labled "stereotype."

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   1. 65

      Alessio Ganciposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I know "The Big Bang Theory" TV series, and that is a good example! I also think "ugly" and "beauty" are personal views,even if also society puts some "aesthetic canons" shared by many people!
      
      Stereotypes are always a bad thing for me

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5. 69

   dashingscorpioposted 8 years ago

   
   
   Jealousy and envy causes people to seek out the negative about others who appear to have obvious advantages in life.
   "Good looking people are shallow, stupid or lack commonsense"
   "Rich people don't have (real love) in their lives."
   "Successful people are a-holes who take advantage of others."
   "If it sounds too good to be true it probably isn't."
   "Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it."
   In other words every "advantage" has a (hidden disadvantage).
   If that's not the case than "life isn't fair" in their mind.
   Many people tell themselves such things in order to feel better about their own station in life. There's always the blue collar stiff who thinks he's smarter than the CEO and management team.
   It's also human nature to believe it's not possible to "have it all".
   Being good looking, rich, successful, kind, compassionate, and generous makes some folks try harder to find "something wrong".
   A lot of people need to feel they are "better" at something than everyone. He/she may have that but (I) have this!

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      gmwilliamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      EXCELLENT OBSERVATION INDEED!

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