Is it really true that the geeks, as they say, will inherit the earth? Or that the nerdy kids in school will go on to find fame and fortune (think Bill Gates, and most musicians and artists), while the good-looking, popular kids end up in their home towns, and quickly start large families? Or is that just a stereotype? Take the test to find out.
Q1 At school, were you (a) a jock or jockette: good looking, popular, on the sports teams, grades not so great, or (b) a nerd: hard- working, good grades, not so good looking, not popular with the cool kids?
Q2 Compared to other people of your age in your local area, do you have (a) more or (b) fewer children?
Q3 Is your income (a) higher or (b) lower than the average for your local area?
If you answered (a) “jock” to Q1, then, on average, you are – in keeping with the stereotype – likely to have more children (Q2) than those who answered (b) “nerd”. However, if you answered (b) “geek” to Q1, then, on average, you are – this time bucking the stereotype – likely to have a lower income (Q3) than those who answered (a) (“jock”). These, at least, were the findings of a study of around 300 participants in the small US town of Plattsburgh.
Although these findings do not neatly fit the conventional stereotype, we should perhaps not be so surprised, given the wealth of previous evidence showing that physically attractive people (who tend to be jocks) enjoy many advantages in life, and tend to end up both healthier and wealthier as a result.
Order Are You Smarter Than a Chimpanzee? by Ben Ambridge (Profile Books, £12.99) for £11.04 at bookshop.theguardian.com
