5 Tips that will make you “look” smarter

There will be no turning backs under many important occasions— a job interview, a pitch, even a blind date. You want to show your best side and act more intelligent than other competitors. Here’s the good news. There are actually some scientifically proved tips that can make you “look” smarter. The writer has arranged and listed some simple tips that are being most recommended and can be easily executed.

Wear glasses

Wear glasses, really? Yes. It is that simple. Some people choose contacts over glasses because they believe wearing glasses makes them less attractive. However, studies have shown that wearing glasses does help people succeed in interviews. Dr. Neil Handley, the curator of the British Optical Association Museum at the College of Optometrists, stated that glasses not only cover eyes, the window of someone’s soul, but also surrounding tissues, cheekbones, frown lines and so on. With these body parts covered, it would be more difficult for others to indicate one’s thoughts. People tend to assume others are better and greater when there is a knowledge gap, thus when people couldn’t scrutinize your thoughts by facial expression, they tend to think you’re more intelligent. In addition, many people believe in the myth that people wearing glasses read more than others and are thus more knowledgeable.

Use Middle Initial

Names with middle initials are often presented in formal contexts, notably while referring to intellectual achievements. Thus people often considered those who use middle name initials having higher social status and intellectual capacity. Psychologists Tilburg and Igou(2014) conducted a study that authenticated this bias. In the study, 85 students were asked to read an article and rate it on its quality. Different kinds of names were presented as the author of the article, including “David Clark”, “David F. Clark”, “David F.P. Clark” and “David F.P.R. Clark”. Among the names, “David F. Clark” achieved the highest rating. An assumption for this bias is that when people receive letters from high-intellectual professionals such as doctors, lawyers or other high-status experts, the documents are often signed with middle initials. After reading a lot of such letters, the association between middle initials and high intelligence is made in people’s mind.

Smile

Studies have proved that smiles not only make people appear more attractive, but smarter as well. According to anthropologists Kleisner, Chvatalova and Flegr (2014), there is a correlation between presented emotions and perceptions of intelligence in faces, while smiling faces are perceived as high-intelligence and angrier faces are perceived as low-intelligence faces plus untrustworthy. An explanation for the connection between smile and intelligence is related to confidence. People often assume that the more you know, the more confident you’ll act, and people of smile when they’re confident.

Engage more
The perception of intelligence people have on you will increase if you engage more in the conversations and there are many ways to do so. While listening to others, slowly nodding your head is a good way to show that you’re going along with others point of view. Slow nodding not only indicates understanding, but also shows approval and encourages others to keep on talking.

According to Murphy, a psychologist at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, in addition to nodding your head while listening, another strong sign of intelligence is to look at others when you’re talking to them. Also, people believe you’re more intelligent when you stand or sit straight and talk in an expressive, confident way.

Something you should NOT do: to talk TOO much

As Abraham Lincoln once said “Better to remain silent and be though a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt”. People would not be impressed by others’ lengthy speech, even if the person does know a lot about the topic. One should only express his or her opinions if those thoughts could help the conversation. Also, don’t talk too much when you are unfamiliar with the topic. Many people try to act smart by commenting on every single topic. However such action actually risks exposing what they don’t know.

Of course it is important to enrich our mind and learn practical knowledge. However, no matter how smart you truly are, you all need to allow people to have interests in you in order to notice your intelligence. Acting smart is a great way to get involved. Remember these tactics, they may come in handy someday.

References 

Baer, D. (2014). Here’s why using your middle initial makes you look smarter. Business Insider. Retrieved from: http://www.businessinsider.com/middle-initials-make-you-look-smarter-2014-5

Ingraham, C. (2014). Want people to think you’re smarter? Smile more. The Washington Post. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/04/07/want-people-to-think-youre-smarter-smile-more/

Kleisner, K., Chvatalova, V., & Flegr, J. (2014). Perceived intelligence is associated with measured intelligence in men but not women. PLos One. 9(3). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081237

Murphy, N. (2007). Appearing smart: the impression management of intelligence, person perception accuracy, and behavior in social interaction. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 33(3), 325-329

Patel, N. (2015). Psychology explains why people with glasses look smart – Or do they just look better. Inverse. Retrieved from: https://www.inverse.com/article/6670-the-psychology-of-glasses-and-intelligence

Paulas, R. (2015). The hidden psychology of wearing glasses. Pacific Stanford. Retrieved from: http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/more-than-just-four-eyes-the-hidden-psychology-of-wearing-glasses

Shellenbarger, S. (2015). How to look smarter.

Tilburg, W., & Igou, E. (2014). The impact of middle names: Middle name initials enhance evaluations of intellectual performance. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44(4), 400-411.