People in general seem to associate personality with hair colour. Dr Tony Cassidy and Georgina Harris, of the University of Coventry, asked 120 people consisting of 60 men and 60 women to look at photographs of a woman sporting four different coloured wigs of platinum blonde, neutral blonde, red and brunette. The group was asked to rate each model for intelligence, shyness, aggressiveness, popularity and temperament.
The brown haired model was rated as more shy while the natural looking blonde was thought to be more popular, and the platinum blonde was rated least intelligent (especially by men). Dr Cassidy recently told the BBC, “It seems that the stereotype of dumb blondes did exist, but only in terms of platinum blondes. It is important to understand that we do make judgements based on stereotypes, and if we make judgements that have important implications for the people we are judging, we need to be aware of this situation.”
The mystery still remains why the “dumb” label was only attributed to the platinum blonde and not the natural blonde, but Dr Cassidy does feel that the media is largely responsible for this platinum blonde stereotype. Stereotypes date back to thousands of years, archaeologists have found that the redheads of the Celtic lands were considered fierce and passionate, while blondes were held in higher esteem and thought of as pure and virtues. Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday Mr President” in her seductive and sexy voice remains a moment frozen in history that the new generation of platinum blondes aspire to. Pamela Anderson, Sophie Dahl and even the late Anna Nicole Smith have to a certain degree aspired to gaining such iconic status with the help of their blonde locks.
So why would seemly intelligent people buy into such a ridiculous stereotype? It all comes down to our fast paced life style and need to make quick judgements in a very short period of time. According to David W Johnson, from the University of Minnesota and author of Reaching Out “The world is simply too complicated to attend to every detail and therefore the perceiver relies on stereotypes to simplify social perception. By reducing the complexity of the social environment stereotypes make it more manageable.” As well as “help us make sense of who we are and what is happening” in the world.
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