A friend and I started talking about whether we wanted our kids to be smart or good looking. I turned the question inward. What would I want for myself?
Thought Experiment
You're going to be reincarnated tomorrow. You will be reborn a human, and you get to choose your intelligence and attractiveness. Your sex and parents will be randomly assigned.
Your intelligence and attractiveness must be inversely proportional. So in order to be the smartest human on Earth, you'll have to also be the ugliest. Or you can be average attractiveness and average intelligence.
Using percentiles, you get to pick your future rankings. Choose a percentile between 1-99 for both attractiveness and intelligence. The sum of your two numbers must not exceed 100.
Click here for more on IQ testing.
Click here for more details and images of attractiveness ratings and statistics.
Normal Distributions
It looks like intelligence and attractiveness should both follow normal distributions. So when making a choice, it is safe to assume the 68, 95, 99.7 rule, click here for more details.
Things to Consider
Men and women are treated differently based on their looks and intelligence. You should be prepared for living your choice as a male and female.
Regardless of your attractiveness, some people will find you more attractive.
Where are you now? What percentile are you in intelligence and looks.? What is that total number. I'm guessing most people are going to think they're above 100, but statistically speaking most people wouldn't be. I'm realizing, for the first time in my life, I'm probably below average attractiveness. I always thought I was average to above average, but probably not. People grow up with their families who look like them and share the same features. People all probably over estimate their family features and traits. In that case, people might find themselves more attractive than they actually are. Because they have a bias for their parents, siblings, and families physical traits.
I looked up the distributions of my ASVAB score from the military, and I my score was over two standard deviations from the 50th percentile when I took it. That's not directly related to an IQ score, but it's probably safe to say I'm close to a standard deviation about the average IQ score of 100. According to assortative mating, I might be above average looking like I thought! Although my dating history doesn't confirm that conclusion.
Either way, my reincarnated self will most likely have to take a hit on intelligence to keep my looks, or sacrifice my looks to keep my brains. Or I'm just way too overconfident in my looks and smarts. What about you?
Final Answer
I'm going to think about this more. But for now, I have to stick with a 50/50 split.
I am gonna have to say 65% intelligence and 35% attractiveness. Theory- many relationships start in the workplace, with that being said... I'd likely work with a like minded female that is 55% attractive and 45% smart. Then we end up both balance eachother.
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