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More Middle Initials Make You Seem Smarter

posted by martyb on Wednesday May 07 2014, @02:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the John-J-J-Schmidt dept.

Angry Jesus writes:

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 That effect seems to be in line with another study (not peer-reviewed) indicating short first names correlate with higher earnings.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?

 
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by ezekielsays on Wednesday May 07 2014, @04:27PM

    by ezekielsays (1297) on Wednesday May 07 2014, @04:27PM (#40584)

    The thing you're missing out on is that initials influence whether people assume you are intelligent, not whether you actually are. Assumptions are apparently a lot more malleable than your actual intelligence level.

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