In light of two recent studies, expecting parents might consider doing a little social engineering when naming their children. New evidence suggests if you're trying to convey intelligence the more middle initials in your name, the smarter people will assume you to be.
Also, if you want to be trusted more, use a first name that everyone can pronounce. That effect seems to be in line with another study (not peer-reviewed) indicating short first names correlate with higher earnings.
Perhaps one should combine the two and just use initials for all but the surname, like J.P. Morgan?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday May 07 2014, @03:02PM
Not necessarily: Most people think that George H.W. Bush is smarter than George W. Bush.
But then again, "Alfred E. Neuman".
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday May 07 2014, @03:22PM
I see your Alfred E. Neuman, and raise you an Albert Einstein and a Stephen Hawking. If that's not enough, I'll throw in a Sir David Attenborough (did you notice how the prefixing title have a bit more effect than the not normally mentioned middle name/initial?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Funny) by VLM on Wednesday May 07 2014, @03:29PM
"and raise you an Albert Einstein and a Stephen Hawking."
I'll take "Spock"
(Score: 4, Funny) by bob_super on Wednesday May 07 2014, @03:49PM
God
(Score: 2) by mrclisdue on Wednesday May 07 2014, @05:19PM
God, esq.
(Score: 2) by hubie on Thursday May 08 2014, @12:33AM
Jesus H. Christ!
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Wednesday May 07 2014, @04:43PM
He might be, as that is a relative comparison. Unfortunately, compared to most of humanity, they both rank remarkably low...