Question: Are "Blondes" Scientificly Not As Smart As Other People?

Seyyed Shah answered on 19 Jun 2012:

No, there is no evidence that hair colour is linked to how intelligent you are. The idea that blonde people are less intelligent is a stereotype which has stuck because people have generalised. A good scientist always studies something by looking at the evidence.

Some scientists say that some races or people of a particular colour may be less intelligent than other people or other races. One very famous scientist who helped to discover the structure of DNA, James Watson, has talked about this in the news. But, many scientists argue that because most of our DNA is the same as anyone else’s, we can be just as intelligent as someone else. Scientists have shown that humans share 99% of their DNA in common, with only 1% difference. So, we are more similar than we think.

I believe that some when some people talk about people with certain features or from certain backgrounds are more or less intelligent, they are basing their arguments on prejudice. These arguments were around long before anyone knew about genes. Genetics is used as an excuse to keep sticking to these prejudices.

One final point that may be helpful. In the middle east, people were making scientific discoveries, advancing in medicine and building libraries and universities when people in Europe were uneducated and suffering from unhygienic practices, lack of learning and no academic progress. When the knowledge of the east was transferred here to the west, they too became great academics and scientists. No one is superior to anyone else.