본문 바로가기

기타심리학

키로 질투심 정도를 알 수 있다

by Erica Scheer | December 14th, 2009

Ask women what they look for in a man and it should come as no surprise that, while some prefer blue eyes to brown or a smooth face to a bearded one, almost all are attracted to tall men.  Studies have shown that people associate male height with attractiveness, dominance, and reproductive success (Mueller & Mazur, 2001; Nettle 2002; Pawlowski, Dunbar, & Lipowicz, 2000). There is also evidence suggesting that male height may signal good genes since height has been correlated with a higher level of cognitive abilities (Case & Paxon, 2006; Judge & Cable, 2004; Loh, 1993).  To top it off, women desire even taller guys when they are most fertile and when they’re considering partners for a fling (Pawlowski & Jasienska, 2005).  Based on this knowledge, recent research has examined whether males’ heights are predictors for how jealous they are in relationships and how height affects how jealous women are, as well.

 

According to Buunk et al. (2008), height may affect male jealousy in a couple ways.  For one, given the association between height and attractiveness, partners of taller males may be less inclined to stray, reducing the need for mate-guarding and jealousy. Secondly, with the association between height and dominance, taller males may be more successful at deterring rivals, again reducing the need for mate-guarding and jealousy.  Predictably, it was determined that for men, the taller they were, the less jealous they were, with the tallest men being the least jealous (Buunk et al., 2008).

 

However, it is a different story for women. It seems that women of medium height appear to be physically healthiest and most attractive to men.  Across the board, men tend to prefer women who are shorter than they are, although “not too short.”  In addition, women of average height have the highest reproductive success (Nettle, 2002).  True to form, as heights either increased or decreased for women, jealousy levels went up, with the average-heighted women revealing the least amount of jealousy (an upside-down bell-curve).  However, according to the study, there was an interesting caveat here: while men showed no relationship between height and their perceptions of their partner’s sexual interest in others, for women, the shorter she was, the more she thought her partner was interested in other women.

 

Additionally, the study showed that there was a clear correlation between women’s perceptions of their partner’s interest in others and the women’s jealousy levels. Yet for men, there was apparently no additional jealousy reported by the men when they perceived their partners to be interested in other males (Buunk et al., 2008).  Hmmm.  It seems to me that, because these results were based on self-report, men may have downplayed some feelings of jealousy, possibly pulling a tough-guy act.

 

However, there may be drawbacks to dating a tall guy:  researchers also discovered that while taller men were indeed happier and less jealous, they were also more likely to monopolize their partner’s time, threaten perceived rivals, and generally be more possessive, perhaps because they felt they could get away with it and still seem attractive.  Shorter men, while reporting more jealousy, were more likely to try “increasing the love and care that they show their partner,” potentially in attempt to keep them…and keep them away from their taller, “hotter” male competition (Brewer & Riley, 2009).

 

출처: eHarmonyLabs

 

Further Reading:

Brewer, G., & Riley, C. (2009). Height, Relationship Satisfaction, Jealousy, and Mate Retention Evolutionary Psychology, 7 (3), 477-489

Buunk, A. P., Park, J. H., Zurriaga, R., Klavina, L., Massar, K. (2008). Height predicts jealousy differently for men and women. Evolution and Human Behavior, 29, 133-139.

Case, A., & Paxon C. (2006). Stature and status: Height, ability, and labor market outcomes. Nber Working Paper Series, No. 12466.

Judge TA, & Cable DM (2004). The effect of physical height on workplace success and income: preliminary test of a theoretical model. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 89 (3), 428-41 PMID: 15161403

Loh, E. S. (1993). The economic effects of physical appearance Social Science Quarterly, 74, 420-438

Mueller, U., & Mazur, A. (2001). Evidence of unconstrained directional selection for male tallness Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 50 (4), 302-311 DOI: 10.1007/s002650100370

Nettle, D. (2002). Women’s height, reproductive success and the evolution of sexual dimorphism in modern humans.  Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 269, 1919-1923.

Pawlowski B, Dunbar RI, & Lipowicz A (2000). Tall men have more reproductive success. Nature, 403 (6766) PMID: 10646589

Pawlowski B, & Jasienska G (2005). Women’s preferences for sexual dimorphism in height depend on menstrual cycle phase and expected duration of relationship. Biological Psychology, 70 (1), 38-43 PMID: 16038772