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
