3rd blog for social psy: short man syndrome isn't just a tall story

In a study conducted in Netherlands and Spain (read "shorter people more likely to be jealous, says study"), participants rated how jealous they felt and gave the qualities about romantic rivals that make them feel most threatened. Men felt most distressed over attractive, rich and strong competitors while women were concerned about looks and charm. Jealousy was negatively correlated with height in men. For women, jealousy was least extreme when they were of average height, although they could also be more jealous when rivals were taller as taller rivals are seen as more domineering with better fighting capacity. From an evolutionary perspective, taller men have better luck with women while women with average height have optimal health and fertility and are most sought after by men.

In social psychology, research has found that in heterosexual dating, taller males were preferred, although not too tall because males below average or way taller than average were deemed less attractive. Besides romantic dating, taller men also have it better in some other aspects. The trait approach to leadership, known as Great Person theory, postulates that successful leaders are believed to possess exceptional virtues: charismatic; intelligent; and decisive. A myriad of personal qualities that might foretell leadership were measured. Leaders are generally taller than nonleaders. Other than leader emergence, height also predicted leader effectiveness. It could be that tall people appear physically more daunting and thus can influence others more easily. Another possible explanation could be a height stereotype – tall individuals are perceived as more talented or forceful and hence carry more weight in their actions.

Given these advantages that taller individuals might enjoy, it is little wonder why people who are vertically-challenged may feel more jealous. Could this account for the societal pressure that women should be supermodel tall? Girls, might this be why we love those high-heels despite the pain on our feet and the potential health hazards? Shorter men are also more prone to provoke taller men into fights. Is this one of their ways of fighting back? Bullied and laughed at in school, they might learn to be more aggressive in order to save themselves. I wonder if it’s true that when choosing pets, shorter men like to be masters of large, aggressive dogs.

Can mild jealousy act like a motivating feeling? It might not be such a bad thing for the vertically-challenged if they grow to be driven and hardworking in school and at the workplace to prove themselves, and become exceedingly knowledgeable and accomplished. Oh, I ponder…