‘Dumb Blonde’ and ‘Temperamental Redhead’: The Effect of Hair Colour on Some Attributed Personality Characteristics of Women

Abstract

In a person perception study examining stereotypes based on physical appearance, 150 subjects were presented with 5 photographs of equally physically attractive females whom they rated on each of 5 characteristics: ‘shy’, ‘aggressive’, ‘intelligent’, ‘popular’ and ‘temperamental’. Three groups (25 males and 25 females per group) rated a different photograph of the same woman – as a brunette, as a blonde or as a redhead – as one of the 5 photographs, and rated 4 other photographs that were the same for all 3 groups. It was found that a ‘dumb blonde’ stereotype exists among males, but not females, while ‘temperamental redhead’ is a stereotype found among both males and females.