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The tall and short of it:
Knapen, J.E.P.
2017
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Knapen, J. E. P. (2017). The tall and short of it: On the role of human height in social perception, interpersonal interactions, and individual differences.
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199 198 formidability . N ex t, w e had participan ts es tima te a fictional football pla yer on mul -tiple me asur emen ts of ph ysic al formidability , while manipula ting the pla yer ’s per -formance. Results of 3 s tudie s indic ate the e xis tence of a BBB: the associa tion be -tw een social sta tus and body siz e is so str ong , tha t individuals ev en es tima te ‘be tt er ’ perf ormer s as ‘big ger ’ when this is not necessarily use ful , and this associa tion is str ong er for ind ividuals who ar e mor e in ves ted in the team (c oalitional affilia tion). In Chap ter 3, w e aimed to replic ate and ex tend earlier r esear ch on heigh t per cep -tions of politic al leader s. Stud ies by Higham and Carmen t (1992) and Sor ok ow ski (2010) sug ges ted tha t support er s per ceiv e their leader s as taller than non-sup -port er s do , and winner s ar e per ceiv ed as taller aft er the elections, while loser s ar e per ceiv ed as short er aft er the elections (winner/loser e ffects). W e ex amined whe ther in-gr oup leader s’ formidability w as ov er es tima te d mor e than out -gr oup leader s’ formidability , and whe ther this sta tus-siz e associa tion w as driv en by pr es -tig e. Fu rtherm or e, w e ex amined possible gender diff er ences in making forma -dibility es tima tions. Participan ts w er e ask ed to ra te a randomly assigned Dut ch politician on ph ysic al formidability fea tur es be for e and aft er the elections. Results sug ges ted tha t es tima ted ph ysic al formidability of politic al leader s w as aff ect ed by motiv ated per cep tion, as pr es tig e w as positiv ely associa ted with es tima ted for -midability , and in-gr oup leader s w er e es tima ted mor e formidable than out -gr oup leader s. Ho w ev er , earlier find ings tha t men mak e lar ger es tima tions than w omen (bec ause of their own lar ger body siz e) w er e not support ed. Although w e did not replic ate a winner -e ffect (gr ea ter es tima tions of formidability aft er winning the elections), w e did find some evidence for a loser -e ffect (smaller es tima tions of formidability a
fter losing the elections).
Part II: In
terper
sonal beha
vior and heigh
t Chap ter s 4 and 5 focused on the eff ects of heigh t on actual be ha vior in me n. Chap ter 4 studied the e ffect of heigh t cue s on in terper sonal beha vior fr om an in tr a-se xual compe tition per spe ctiv e, and Chap ter 5 studie d the eff ect of heigh t cue s on in te rpe rsonal beha vior fr om an in te r-se xual compe tition per -spectiv e. In Chap ter 4, w e used a quasi-e xperime ntal appr oach to ex amine ac tu al be ha vio ra l e ffe cts o f ( re lati ve ) h eig ht in a co m pe titi ve co nte xt. W e a p-pli ed a n ev olu tio na ry p sy ch olo gic al pe rsp ec tive o n th e N ap ole on c om ple x the or y and w e expect ed tha t, giv en the cos ts associa ted wi th dir ect ph ysic al Summar y This dissert ation aimed to further our kno wledg e about the ps ychology of heigh t, or ho w heigh t ma y in fluence beha vior . Fr om an ev olutionar y social ps y-chology per spectiv e, w e hypothesiz ed tha t individuals pa y att en tion to heigh t cues in social in ter actions. These heigh t cues can be ex ternal, when per ceiving other in dividuals’ heigh t, or in ternal, when per ceiving one’ s own heigh t. Fur -thermor e, these heigh t cues ma y be used as input in ps ychologic al mechanisms in fluencing beha vior in diff er en t domains, for ex ample when compe ting ov er ma tes or resour ces, when forming and main taining coalitions, or when alloc atin g social sta tus. Thus, both in te rnal and ex ternal heigh t cues could in fluence per -cep tions of other individua ls, (in terper sonal) beha vior , and self -per cep tions. Our goals w er e to ins tig ate a mor e in tegr al ex amina tion of the ps ychology of heigh t by (1) complemen ting and ex tending social per cep tion re sear ch reg ar ding heigh t and pr es tig e; (2) de veloping a line of resear ch on the eff ects of heigh t on actual beha vior; and (3) cons tructing a measur e for individual diff er ences in self - and social appr aisals of heigh t. Acc or dingly , the dissert ation consis ts of thr ee parts: part on e consi sts of chap ter s tw o and thr ee, and deals with social per cep tion of heigh t; part tw o consis ts of chap ter s four and fiv e, and deals with the eff ects of heigh t on actual in terper son al beha vior; and part thr ee consis ts of chap ter six, which describes the de velop men t and valida tion of a sc ale measuring individual diff er ences in heigh t appr aisals.
Part I: Social per
201 200 Conclusion In this dissert ation, w e ha ve sho wn tha t heigh t is an import an t fact or in social per cep tion, in terper sonal beha vior , and self -per cep tion. Our results sug ges t tha t the associa tion be tw een pr es tig e and body siz e is str ong and bi-dir ectional, and tha t this associa tion is str ong er for individuals who ar e mor e in ves ted in the gr oup (when per ceiving in-gr oup ind ividuals). Furthermor e, w e conclude tha t dis tortions in ju dg ed formidability rela te d to social sta tus seem to be the result of motiv ated social per cep tion in or der to pr omot e gr oup functioning and leader ship. W e also found tha t in dy adic in tr a-se xual compe titions, rela tiv ely short er men respond to ph ysic al cues tha t the y ar e less compe titiv e, and as a result, sho w mor e beha vior al fle xibility to acquir e resour ces . Las tly , w e de veloped a sc ale for measuring self -per -cep tions and social cons tructions of heigh t. The HA Q coul d be an in ter es ting tool to ex amine underlying ps ychologic al mechanisms of heigh t rela ted beha vior . W e hope this disse rt ation will ins pir e other resear cher s to giv e mor e att en tion to an in tegr al appr oach t o heigh t-r ela ted beha vior . ag gre ssi on , r ela tiv ely sh or te r m ale s w ou ld b e m ore lik ely to sh ow in dir ec t ag -gr ession when compe ting ov er resour ces with taller males. W e used ec onomic games to mimic real-lif e compe titiv e in ter actions. All thr ee studies pr ovided support in line with the Napoleon comple x: short men used diff er en t beha vior al str ategies than t
all men did in or
der t o acquir e r esour ces. In Chap ter 5, w e aimed to ex amine actual compe titiv e beha vior be tw een males ov er a f em ale by m an ip ula tin g h eig ht of a m ale riv al. Pr evious rese ar ch has sho wn tha t me n ar e mor e pr one to risk -taking be ha vior whe n an attr activ e female is pr esen t, sug ges ting tha t men use risk taking as a self -pr esen ta tional str ategy to impr ess pot en tial ma tes (e. g., Fr ank enhuis, Dotsch, Karr emans, & Wigboldus, 2010; Rona y & Hippel, 2010). W e hypothesiz ed tha t when men compe te ov er w omen, not only the pr esence of an av ailable female, but also the ph ysic al formidability of an y male riv als aff ects their beha vior . W e used a Virtual Reality design to manipula te the heigh t of male compe tit or s, assigning male participan ts to either a short male riv al or a tall male riv al. Both participan ts and their virtual riv als had to cr oss an uns table looking bridg e ov er an ab yss (the speed of their cr ossing w as the dependen t mea -sur e of risk taking), while an attr activ e virtual female w as vie wing the participan ts’ beha vior . Our main hypothesis w as not support ed: risk taking beha vior did not diff er be tw een the short riv al and tall riv al conditions, nor did w e find an y eff ects of rela tionship st atus on beha vior in the VR en vir onmen t. Men in the tall riv al con -dition did value a da te with the w oman mor e than men in the short riv al condition did, sug ges ting tha t riv al heigh t had a positiv e eff ect on their per cep tion of the out come of the c ompe tition.
Part III: Individual diff
