Do Eyeglasses Actually Make Men Look Smarter? How Eye Glasses Affect Perceived Intelligence Likability & Success

I get this question often:

Do eyeglasses make men look smarter?

Today, I will answer this question with the help of recent research that in my opinion lays out the answer definitively.

So let’s not beat around the bush.

YES – Eyeglasses make you look more intelligent.

However – there are other factors beyond intelligence such as:

• likability
• trustworthiness
• success
• attractiveness

All are scientifically proven to be affected by eyewear.

So read on or watch my quick video summary here:

How Eye Glasses Affect Perceived Intelligence Likability & Success Video

My Story With Eye Glasses

I actually grew up wearing eyeglasses from age 12 to 15.

I wore glasses from the time I entered seventh grade up until my sophomore year in high school.

I stopped wearing them because for the first time in my life I actually had a girl come up to me and said that I looked pretty hot without my glasses (this was a shock to me a shy and skinny kid!)

After that I never wore them again (I haven’t ever asked my mother why she never said anything).

Conventional Wisdom – Glasses Make You Look Smarter 

The conventional wisdom is that glasses do make people look smarter.

I’ve actually come across a lot of articles that say that they do. However, the issue with many of those articles is that the research that they cite is over seventy years old.

So we did some digging around on our own and found that in the Swiss Journal of Psychology, a scientist named Helmut Leder actually put out a study in 2011 entitled:

The Glasses Stereotype Revisited: Effects of Glasses on Perception, Recognition and Impressions on Faces.

He looked at three types of people-

1. those who didn’t wear glasses
2. those who wore rimless glasses
3. those who wore full-rimmed glasses

He then tried to determine how these men were perceived, the distinctiveness on their faces, the eye contact made, attention to the eyes actually given, success perception, intelligence perception, likability and trustworthiness.

So, what did they figure out?

No surprise, without glasses people were perceived as being more attractive and also considered to be more likable.

People with full-framed glasses were considered more distinctive, had more people focus on their eyes and were given more eye-contact and general attention to the eyes. These guys were also perceived as being more intelligent and more successful. However, these guys weren’t as likable, not considered trustworthy and not considered as attractive.

The rimless glasses group did not have the distinctiveness and the eye contact results that the full-rimmed glasses had.

Their attractiveness and likability results were not as bad as the full-rimmed glasses group. The success and intelligent factors for this group was also up compared to the no glasses group.

So, what does all this data tell you?

If you’re going to wear glasses, you STRONGLY consider rimless glasses.

However, if you want to be more attractive and more likable then you may want to ditch the glasses and leverage contact lenses instead.

And so with that - the case of the glasses and whether they make you look smart – is closed…..until new research surfaces

Enjoyed this article?

Also see this article on matching your eyeglasses with your face shape.