Why We Think Marilyn Monroe Was Less Intelligent Than Einstein
We contemplate reality under certain stereotypes, although we are not aware of them
When Marilyn Monroe had the opportunity to meet Albert Einstein, she asked him the following question: “What does it say, Professor, should we get married and have a child together? Can you imagine a baby with my beauty and intelligence? Einstein smiled and replied, very seriously: "Unfortunately, I'm afraid the experiment will go the other way and we will end up with a son with my beauty and his intelligence."
This anecdote, perhaps apocryphal, occurred in 1949 and is sympathetic, not so much because of Einstein's occurrence, but because of his own mistake. Marilyn Monroe had an IQ of 165, five points higher than that of Einstein, but no one could a priori guess. Why? For one simple reason: stereotypes. Einstein was a genius in physics, in something that most of us mortals find it very difficult to understand. Marilyn, however, was an actress, blonde, with curves that made her famous all over the world and with a job, which does not seem to be as complicated as the physical one. We believe that in certain professions intelligence is not so necessary to succeed and we look at other things. And all this happens because we contemplate reality under certain stereotypes, even though we are not aware of them.
Stereotypes are collective beliefs that label reality. They are born of our mind programmed for survival, not for happiness. One of the keys to survival is speed when processing information. For example, if we see a lion on the street, the mind does not start to analyze the origin of the lion, if it comes from Africa or a zoo, but directly our mental circuits will yell at us: Run away! To arrive at that order, we had to label reality: "Lion on the street, danger." And we apply these unconscious labels to everything and we think that blondes are stupid or that all Mexicans are rapists, as some are now saying in the United States. In this way, stereotypes are created, which do so much harm to people.
Discriminations are born from unfair stereotypes.
We label people from a certain country or we think that the most important thing that actresses have to do is in their physique, not in their intelligence or in their work. Therefore, it is not surprising that decades after the Marilyn and Einstein anecdote, actresses have risen to war and rebel against the stereotypes that continue to haunt them. Make combs if you are asked what clothes or jewelry to wear to an awards show or decide not to wear makeup. After all, stereotypes are strengthened by collective behavior, but they can also be dismantled.
We all suffer from a certain stereotype. In some cases, because you are a woman and you do not think you are intelligent; or because you are a man and you have to act in a certain way ... Labels and labels that those who suffer from it do not find it funny. Well, if you want to get out of a stereotype, question it. Do not accept it a priori. Because when it is questioned, it advances. Those around you may not understand it, but it doesn't matter. If you think something is not fair, say so. For this reason, I applaud the initiatives of famous women who resist stereotypes of analyzing only their work for their clothes, not for their intelligence. Or those who rebel against labels because of their place of origin. And all this because it is unfair, because talent is lost, because it is myopic and because mistakes are made, like the one that happened to Einstein himself.
