THE NERD DEFENSE 737
being more intelligent, well-educated, well-read, and better
employed.^56 In 1993, a study examining the effects of eyeglasses
and gender on perceived social forcefulness and mental
competence confirmed that, overall, both men and women who
wear eyeglasses are judged as having decreased forcefulness and
heightened mental capacity.^57 However, this study found that
eyeglasses tend to detract from social appeal more in women
than in men.^58 In 2011, a study found that faces depicted with
eyeglasses were consistently judged to be significantly more
successful, more trustworthy, and more intelligent than faces
depicted without eyeglasses.^59 Even details such as whether the
eyeglasses worn are rimless or full-rimmed can have an impact
on trustworthiness and facial recognition.^60 An earlier study
using African-American and Caucasian subjects analyzed the
effects of wearing eyeglasses in a courtroom setting.^61 Echoing
the results of previous studies, researchers found a strong link
between wearing eyeglasses and perceived intelligence and a
correlation between perceived intelligence of a defendant and
decreased likelihood of a juror to render a guilty verdict.^62
The perceived correlation between wearing eyeglasses and
heightened intelligence may be the result of a “nerd stereotype”
that is deeply rooted in one’s schemata, in one’s social
(^56) See Mary B. Harris, Sex Differences in Stereotypes of Spectacles, 21 J.
APPLIED SOC. PSYCHOL. 1659, 1674–75 (1991).
(^57) Terry & Krantz, supra note 41, at 1757, 1765–66.
(^58) Id. at 1759.
(^59) Leder et al., supra note 24, at 218–19.
(^60) Id. at 216–19 (noting that “faces without eyeglasses [are] judged to be
less successful and less intelligent than faces with full-rim glasses or rimless
glasses,” and observing that it takes longer to recognize faces with full-rim
glasses than it does to recognize faces either without glasses or with rimless
glasses).
(^61) See Brown, supra note 9, at 3 (finding no significant difference in the
number of guilty verdicts rendered against African-American defendants
(forty-nine percent) and Caucasian defendants (fifty-one percent) and
concluding that, overall, participants rendered “guilty” verdicts forty-four
percent of the time against defendants who wore eyeglasses while rendering
“guilty” verdicts fifty-six percent of the time against defendants who did not
wear eyeglasses).
(^62) Id.