blondes get the last laugh?

Shelly Emling (of the Cox News Service) reports on new research from France which indicates that men and women both have lower mental performance when exposed to pictures of blonde women.

From Marilyn Monroe to Paris Hilton, "blonde" has long been code for a woman who's long on looks and light on brains.

Now French researchers have found that the stereotype can actually affect mental performance.

A recent study showed that otherwise intelligent men performed below par on general knowledge tests after viewing photos of blonde women.

The real surprise? Women's performance also dipped in the tests.

The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, examined people's ability to answer Trivial Pursuit game questions after viewing photos of women with different hair colors.

Exposure to blondes resulted in the lowest scores.

Thierry Meyer, joint author of the study and professor of social psychology at the University of Paris X-Nanterre, said that the study proves a general phenomenon.

"There's a decrease in performance after an unobtrusive exposure to a stereotype about people who have the reputation to be cognitively impaired," he said.

In plainer language, blondes might make people act in a less intelligent manner because the people believe — whether they want to admit it or not — that they are in the presence of someone who's not very smart.

Previous studies also have shown how information from a person's social context can influence their behavior.

For example, when people are exposed to elderly people, they tend to walk and talk more slowly. When people sit beside someone who is fidgeting, they tend to fidget as well.

"The mere knowledge of a stereotype can influence our behavior," said Clementine Bry, another author of the study.

It's not clear how the stereotype of the dumb blonde came about, although some researchers point to the 1950s movie "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" starring Marilyn Monroe.

But through the years a wide range of blonde actresses — from Mae West to Suzanne Somers to Goldie Hawn — have perpetuated the stereotype.

Bry was quick to point out that there is "absolutely no scientific evidence" to support the stereotype of the dumb blonde.

OK, but Miss South Carolina didn't help much-- with her pageant performance earlier this summer!