Tall Guys - and girls (and boys) who love 'em.

*before I write about today's topic - I experienced the "contrast principle," again!  (read the post below this one if you don't know what I'm talking about)  I went to UPS today to inquire about shipping a 29 pound package to South Korea.  The clerk told me the rates in this EXACT ORDER:

(some fancy name here) ... $371.92  (O.M.G.)
(another fancy name here)... $304.37  (whew a little better)
(something else)...              $222.70  (...wait, this actually sounds reasonable)

Now, even $222.70 is quite a ridiculous price to ship a 29 pound package to Korea but it didn't sound as bad after nearly $400.  So keeping the contrast principle in mind, politely said thank you, went to USPS, and found out that they ship for half the price. 

I love US Postal Service, and I hope they can establish something like it with our health care system.  If US Postal Service can compete so well against UPS and Fed Ex, why not at least give it a shot with health insurance?


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So we all know that many girls, even those who don't admit to it, love tall guys.  Well you are not alone - even guys like tall people.  consider this excerpt from Blink, p. 86:

"...there's plenty of evidence to suggest that height - particularly in men - does trigger a certain set of very positive unconscious associations... I found that on average, male CEOs were just a shade under six feet tall.  Given that the average American male is five foot nine, that means that CEOs as a group have about 3 inches on the rest of their sex.  But this statistic actually understates the matter.  In the US population, about 14.5 percent of all men are six feet or taller.  Among CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, that number is 58 percent.  Even more striking, in the general American population, 3.9 percent of adult men are six foot two or taller.  Among my CEO sample, almost a third were six foot two or taller.

    ...of the tens of millions of American men below five foot six, a grand total of ten in my sample have reached the level of CEO, which says that being short is probably as much of a handicap to corporate success as being a woman or African American.  (The grand exception to all of these trends is American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault, who is both on the short side - five foot nine - and black.  He must be a remarkable man...


    ...have you ever wondered why so many mediocre people find their way into positions of authority in companies and organizations?  It's because when it comes to even the most important positions, our selection decisions are a good deal less rational than we think.  We see a tall person and we swoon."

We unconsciously make decisions upon factors such as race or attire all the time, regardless of how important the decision may be.  We need to add height to that list.



(From Influence, p. 186)

At first, the cartoon may seem funny.  But really, it's actually very scary.  There's so much truth in it.



And of course, Robert Cialdini wrote about height as well.  Let's listen to what he has to say:

"Studies investigating the way in which authority status affects perceptions of size have found the prestigious titles lead to height distortions.  In one experiment conducted on five classes of Australian college students, a man was introduced as a visitor from Cambridge University in England.  However, his status at Cambridge was represented differently in each of the classes.  To one class, he was presented as a student; to a second class, a demonstrator; to another, a lecturer; to yet another, a senior lecture; to a fifth, a professor.  After he left the room, the class was asked to estimate his height.  It was found that with each increase in status, the same man grew in perceived height by an average of a half-inch, so that as the "professor," he was seen as 2 1/2 inches taller than as the "student."  Another study found that after winning an election, politicians become taller in the eyes of the citizenry.  


    ...there are two lessons for us here.  One is specific to the association between size and status:  The connection of those two features can be profitably employed by individuals who are able to fake the first to gain the appearance of the second.  This possibility is precisely why con artists, even those of average or slightly above average height, commonly wear lifts in their shoes.  The other lesson is more general:  The outward signs of power and authority frequently may be counterfeited with the flimsiest of materials."


(an example of a 5cm "lift."  Insoles such as these can be frequently spotted in South Korea.  I wouldn't ridicule people who use these - they are the smart ones)

So we all know that people are likely to hire a white guy over a black dude regardless of their capabilities, though we all claim we don't.  We know that sales persons will likely be kinder and nicer to a better dressed person, though it doesn't mean that they're more likely to purchase an item.

The question is, will you choose a taller candidate over the shorter one in an election?  I bet most people have in the past without thinking about it.

"In the 21 presidential elections from 1904 to 1984, the taller candidate won 80 percent of the time. What's more, he says, in the whole history of the Republic, only two presidents--Harrison and James Madison (5'4")--were appreciably shorter than the average height in their day."

excerpt from: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/787/does-the-taller-candidate-always-win-the-election



(world's tallest man meets the world's shortest man)



(the world's shortest man trying on the tallest man's shoes)


I guess I'm trying to say two things.  First, let's try not to be so biased when we're making important decisions, such as presidential elections or car purchases. 
 
Second, there's nothing wrong with liking tall people.  But remember what I said about shopping?  People buy based on emotions and justify with their logic.  The same logic is still valid.  People often choose their mates based on unconscious signals such as height, and rationalize their decisions with logic - girls guys gays lesbians alike.

Am I saying that tall people are always bad and they make terrible mates and girls are stupid for liking tall guys?  No, I'm not.  Am I saying that you should act as if you're indifferent to tall people when you really do?  No I'm not.  What I'm saying is, be careful of the bias when it boils down to important decisions, such as marriage.  According to Blink, there's a sure way to determine whether your marriage will continue for over 15 years or not, and it has nothing to do with height or any of the obvious biases.  The method?  I will share another time.




(South Korean college student, who came out on one of the most popular TV shows in Korea 4 months ago and publicly stated, "SHORT MEN ARE LOSERS."  This obviously caused a social uproar.)


(who the fuck is this bitch?)


(short guys are what?  comrades, kill 'em all!)


Saying that short guys are losers is like saying "girls with cup size C and less are losers."  You have bad taste in ridiculing someone for things that they cannot change, such as race or body parts.