We’ve all heard the dreaded insults commonly targeted at people wearing glasses. From “four-eyes” to “nerd alert” people love to see our frames and call us names. But I have news for all the lame jokesters out there: there is scientific proof that people who wear glasses are smarter.
“It may be that needing glasses is an indicator of knowledge in other ways – glasses may be created by learning. A recent paper found that attaining a higher level of education and spending more years in school were associated with a greater prevalence and severity of myopia – nearsightedness.” [source]
This, along with other studies has proven that glasses may be caused by a higher focus on learning. Scientists have found that in the US, nearsightedness effects more than 42% of the population. Developed Asian countries also reports rates of up to 80%, which parallels the level of the country’s education in comparison to the US. German researchers conducted a study and continued to find comparisons:
“To further analyze the association between myopia development and education, researchers at the University Medical Center in Mainz, Germany examined nearsightedness in 4,658 Germans ages 35 to 74, excluding anyone with cataracts or who had undergone refractive surgery. Results of their work, known as the Gutenberg Health Study, show that myopia appeared to become more prevalent as education level increased:
- 24 percent with no high school education or other training were nearsighted
- 35 percent of high school graduates and vocational school graduates were nearsighted
- 53 percent of university graduates were nearsighted
“Since students appear to be at a higher risk of nearsightedness, it makes sense to encourage them to spend more time outdoors as a precaution,” said Alireza Mirshahi, M.D., lead author of the study.” [study]
The Proof is in the pudding, nerds really do wear glasses! But that’s not all, people who were glasses are full of perks:
- A [study] done by the British College of Optometrists found that “one-third of Brits believe that specs make a person look more professional while some 43% of the respondents believe spec wearers look more intelligent. And 40% of the respondents said they’d consider wearing glasses even if they didn’t need them just to up their chances of landing a job.” [source] Due to these findings researchers are led to believe that wearing glasses is possibly an indication that you are more likely to land a job – perk!
- “Other research shows that people see more pretty awesome traits in glasses-wearers, too” [source] – perk!
All in all, people who wear glasses rock. Call me a nerd, call me four-eyes…you’re two-eyed and average – jokes on you!
I agree with all your comments on the aspect of third variable that likely effect the studies done on this. I have to agree that I may have person bias due to the fact that I myself wear glasses. Education is a huge contributor to this correlation. There are millions of people who wear glasses out there who aren’t very intelligent and vice versa. But it is important to recognize that the main study I analyzed in this blog focuses on how eyesight can be impaired due to the amount of time spent focusing on objects such as books and papers. It does not account for things such as farsightedness, and getting glasses as a younger age or due to old age. Like I previously said, there are plenty of people out there who wear glasses and aren’t geniuses, but there is likely a similar amount that are! But I mention again, my personal bias along with countless third variables play huge roles in the way I conducted my blog post and likely the conclusion of experiments. The world is full of amazing people with different views and thats what makes it so great!
I did not have glasses until my sophomore year of high school. Ever since, I have found it much easier to concentrate and focus on things. I need to wear my glasses when I do anything important. While I should have had glasses my whole life because of astigmatism, since I started wearing them I have seen a huge difference in things I do. My grades in the final two years of high school were much better than my grades the first two years, even though they were still good grades. Having glasses has effected my life in a completely positive way, and I have come to love wearing my glasses, so the four eyes comment does not bother me.
It’s crazy to think that being nearsighted could mean that you are more intelligent. Could there be a third variable that could be correlating the two together? One variable could be some type of gene that affects the level of intelligence and the shape of your eye that leads to myopia. On the other hand, it could be that those who are more intelligent are more likely to get myopia through outdoor activities or activities that can affect eyesight, as they seem to be doing more than those less intelligent. Both theories would have to be tested separately to find out if they have an effect on either intelligence or myopia. But for now, it’s great knowing that there is one benefit to being four-eyed!
I believe that the study that suggests that being visually impaired makes you smarter seems to have some personal bias. I think that the Texas Sharpshooter had an affect to play in this blog showing data that the study wanted people to see but in fact the outcome is just based on the personal work effort of each individual person.
I like this blog because it effects me becauseI have been wearing glasses since the 1st grade and when i was little I got called every name under the sun. But I personally don’t believe that people that wear glasses are smarter. Although there are a lot of studies about this matter, I don’t see how its possible to clearly determine that people with glasses are smarter. It doesn’t seem like there is a correlation between intelligence and glasses. I agree with Adam, I do believe that there is a third variable of education and even financial status. The financial status could be a third variable because some people are able to purchase glasses and increase there sight which will help them focus in school better, but those who aren’t financial stable will struggle during school because they are able to afford glasses.
I think that there are a lot of third variables that affect the results of the experiments. For one, there is no direct correlation to one’s intelligence and wearing a pair of glasses. The thing that links them however is their education. Therefore, depending on where the people got their education could affect the outcome of the results. Here is an article I found that goes more into this topic. Click Here
This blog is a great example of how a third variable can play a role in data. If you just look at the studies, they might suggest that people who wear glasses are inherently smarter. However, when you dive into the subject it becomes apparent that there is no direct link between intelligence and glasses. Rather, the third variable of education links the two together. Also, this blog made me wonder what exactly about higher education leads to an increased chance of being near sited. Is it the fact that we are constantly looking at writing far away, or is it linked to the increased amount of books that are read? Here is an article that discuses this question. http://www.allaboutvision.com/parents/learning.htm