Tall Man: Ethical Construct

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The trend from albums to songs is stronger than it's been since Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player. Subscribe to Daily News Email. Newport Folk Newport Folk Audio is no longer available. There's No Leaving Now Audio for this story is unavailable. The Tallest Man On Earth: Tired Of Running Listen. Best Music Of The Year. The Best Music Of Recently, Puts [ 23 ] argued that, although inter-sexual selection i.

Thus, sexual dimorphism in stature may well be a consequence of past intra-sexual competition between males. Among humans, there is also some evidence to suggest that height is related to physical dominance [ 21 ] although observed relationships are often weak: However, physical strength and fighting ability may seem unlikely determinants of social status in modern Western societies, given that individuals are prohibited by law from using force against another individual [ 23 ]. Nevertheless, we suggest that height is associated with dominance in contemporary populations, resulting in taller individuals being more likely to win non-physical confrontations against shorter individuals, albeit in more subtle ways.

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How, then, could human height directly influence the probability of winning non-physical confrontations? First, even though the use of force is prohibited by law, the increased physical strength [ 24 ] and fighting ability [ 26 ] of taller individuals may be perceived as more threatening during a contest [ 24 ], even when that contest is non-physical. Taller people are also perceived as more competent, authoritative, intelligent, dominant, and having better leadership qualities [ 9 , 28 — 34 ].

Such height-dependent perceptions may then contribute to the increased dominance of taller individuals if shorter individuals act on their perceptions, and treat those who are taller as more competent, authoritative, and dominant than they are, and so yield to them in competitive situations.

Height may also affect how people perceive themselves, and so influence behaviour which as noted, in part reflects how other people treat them. For instance, taller individuals, particularly taller men, have higher levels of self-esteem than shorter individuals [ 9 ] and are more likely to see themselves as leader [ 35 ], which may result in taller individuals displaying more self-confidence in social interactions.

Increased self-esteem may itself be a consequence of experiencing more favourable contest outcomes earlier in life. It has also been shown that taller teenagers participate more in social activities, which in turn has been shown to have long-term effects on social status in later life [ 11 ].

Thus, the cumulative effects of the positive contest outcomes experienced by taller individuals throughout development are likely to contribute to increased self-esteem and hence increased dominance in adulthood. Despite the clear positive association between height and social status, and the well-established perceptual links between height, dominance, and status, there are only a handful of studies that consider how height influences behavioural outcomes in social encounters.

For instance, Huang and colleagues [ 39 ] showed that, during a negotiation task, individuals perceived to be taller were also more influential: Similarly, individuals assigned taller avatars in a virtual reality setting behaved more selfishly in economic games than those assigned shorter avatars [ 40 , 41 ].

Finally, the finding that taller referees displayed greater authority during football matches, was interpreted as reflecting the increased dominance or status of these taller individuals [ 42 ]. In this paper, we extend these findings and examine whether stature is positively related to interpersonal dominance in subtle non-physical contests, via a series of observational studies. In Study 1, we examined whether height influenced the probability of yielding to another individual when passing through a narrow passageway.

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Imagine a situation where two individuals from opposite directions simultaneously attempt to pass through a narrow passageway that only accommodates the passing of a single individual at a given time. Which individual is more likely to take precedence and which individual is more likely to give way? In Study 2, we investigated whether people gave way to confederates of varying height, who walked against the stream of pedestrian traffic in a busy shopping street. On busy shopping streets, people walk in a variety of directions at a variety of speeds heading toward a variety of destinations.

As a result, pedestrian traffic self-organises, and the overwhelming majority of people on the same side of the street will walk in the same direction. What happens when an individual violates this norm and walks against the flow of pedestrian traffic? More pertinently to our aims here, does the height of the person violating this norm influence how people react?

We therefore investigated whether pedestrians would be more likely to give way to, and less likely to bump into, a taller individual who walked against the flow of pedestrian traffic than they would to a shorter individual. What happens, however, when an unknown individual partly blocks your pathway? Do people choose to remain on their original path, thereby passing by such individuals in close proximity, or do they divert from their chosen path, thereby giving a wider berth to the blocking individual?

In this study, we tested whether the height of the passing pedestrian, would significantly influence the path chosen. We hypothesized that taller pedestrians would be less likely to yield and divert from their path. Thus, in all three studies, we hypothesized that height would be positively related to dominance, such that taller individuals would be less likely to yield than those who were shorter. All the research reported in this document was approved by the psychology ethics committee of the University of Groningen, which decided that no informed consent was needed.

All studies had an observational nature, with observations conducted in public areas where any person could reasonably expect to be observed, and data gathered were evidently anonymous. All studies were performed in a mid-size city in the north of the Netherlands. The average height for men and women aged in their early 20s in this region is approximately All observers were aware of the aims for each study.

All analyses were performed using R [ 45 ], version 3. We observed pedestrians entering and leaving a supermarket. To do so, pedestrians had to walk through a narrow passage on a sidewalk Fig. The passage was too narrow for two individuals to pass through simultaneously.

Thus, when two individuals approaching from opposite directions attempted to pass, one individual was required to give way Fig. In the first part of our experiment, we made use of narrowness of passageway resulting from temporary scaffolding because of construction work.

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After the scaffolding was removed, we used bicycles to create a similarly narrow passage. All observations were performed by pairs of observers comprised of a total of six different observers. The observers stood on the opposite side of the street, outside of the direct line of sight of the pedestrians. For each pair, the observers agreed on both the height and age of each individual, and on which individual took precedence and which individual gave way. Individual height was estimated using chalk lines marked on the wall next to the passageway.

The lines were marked in ten cm increments from to cm. Groups and individuals pushing either bicycles or buggies were not included in the observations.

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In total, we observed 92 pairs of individuals trying to pass through the passageway at exactly the same time on six different observation days during Heights were estimated to be equal in 4 of these 50 pairs, and these were excluded from the analyses, leaving 46 pairs 28 male pairs and 18 female pairs. The perceived ages of these individuals were between 16 and A paired samples t -test was used to test whether those who took precedence were taller than those who yielded and gave way.

To test for differences in the effect of height depending on the sex of the pair, we used a General Linear Model, with the difference in height between the individuals as a dependent variable and sex as a fixed factor. This analysis is equivalent to a paired samples t -test when no fixed factors are included in the GLM and only an intercept is fitted. Because age is related to height and differences in age between the individuals in the pair may influence who yields, we also controlled for the difference in perceived age in the GLM.

Additionally, we reran the analyses only including couples in which the perceived age differences did not exceed 15 years. Including the pair of observing experimenters as a random effect did not influence the results, nor did the method by which the passageway was narrowed scaffolding versus bicycles; results not reported. Confederates of varying height walked up and down a crowded shopping street.

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They were instructed to walk in a straight line, against the flow of pedestrian traffic i. One observer of which there were six in total; the same individuals also acted as confederates observed the sex of each pedestrian encountered, whether the pedestrian gave way to the confederate i. We defined a collision as any physical contact between a pedestrian and the confederate. When it was evident that the pedestrian was not going to step aside for the confederate and a collision was imminent, the confederate would then step aside and avoid contact as best as possible.

When a collision occurred, the confederate would apologize to the pedestrian. The behaviour of the confederates with respect to collisions was not easily standardized, and individual differences in behavioural dispositions may have affected the rate of collisions. Heights and ages of the pedestrians were not recorded, as this was too difficult to assess accurately by the experimenter, who also had to maneuver through the busy shopping street, and avoid colliding with pedestrians. All confederates were dressed in a similar fashion jeans and dark jacket.

Eight female confederates with heights of: Pedestrian couples were not included. Observations were made on eleven different days at peak hours for pedestrian traffic; 14—17 and 19—21 on Thursday evenings. Logistic mixed models were used to analyse the data, using the lme4 package [ 46 ]. The binomial dependent variables were a whether the pedestrian gave way to the confederate i. As independent factors, we included confederate height and sex, and the sex of the pedestrian.

Confederate identity was included as a random factor because observations within a confederate cannot be assumed to be independent. Including the identity of the observer as a random factor did not change our results results not reported. We determined the pseudo- R 2 for the full model i. Furthermore, we determined the R 2 of the effect of height for each sex i.

The study was set in a passageway for pedestrians between a market and the main shopping street of the city. The passageway was narrow approximately 2 m wide and contained a small pole in the middle of the passage near the shopping street Fig. Thus, people coming from the market and entering the shopping street mostly walk on one side of the passage and pole , whereas people going to the market from the shopping street usually walk on the other side of the passage and pole; Fig.

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Taking advantage of this set-up, we positioned a confederate in a way that partially blocked the passage for those pedestrians walking from the market towards the shopping street. More specifically, the confederate was asked to lean against the wall in the vicinity of the pole, thus leaving only around one meter of space between the confederate and the pole through which pedestrians could pass. We examined whether pedestrians would maintain their original path, and so pass the confederate at sufficiently close proximity to invade their personal space Fig.

This set-up thus provided a clear and unambiguous measure of path deviation by allowing us to record simply on which side of the pole a given pedestrian chose to walk in order to pass through the passage. Observations were conducted on ten different days between April 24 th and June 5 th ; between In each observation session, the blocking confederate was instructed to lean against the wall, with his or her right arm resting against the wall, so that they were facing towards the shopping street and away from the pedestrian. Four female confederates with heights of , , , and cm and three male confederates with heights of , , and cm participated in the study.

As the main focus of the study was the height of the pedestrians, rather than that of the confederates as was the case in Study 2 , we used fewer confederates, and their individual heights did not cover the entire height range. It is possible, however, that confederate height may influence the behavior of the pedestrians, and therefore we included it in our analyses.

Two observers simultaneously recorded the behavior of the pedestrians coming from the market and walking through the passage, approaching the confederate from behind. One researcher recorded the height, sex and perceived age of each pedestrian, whereas the other researcher recorded whether or not pedestrians maintained their path i. The observers were positioned behind a corner, out of the line of sight of the pedestrians.

To our knowledge, pedestrians were completely unaware of the presence of the observers while walking through the passageway. Individuals walking in groups or with a bicycle or a buggy were not recorded. We also did not record the behaviour of pedestrians when other pedestrians were walking through the passageway, as this resulted in further blocking of the pathway in addition to our confederates, and the basis of pedestrian movement decisions with respect to the confederate became ambiguous.

In total, 1, pedestrians were observed passing by our confederates. Due to local conditions of this experimental-set up, we could not make use of chalk markings on the wall to estimate pedestrian height. Instead, observers estimated height without any reference points. Although this method is less accurate than the one in our first study, we do not consider this to be a major problem, for two reasons. First, all our research assistants were trained during our first study to make accurate height estimations. The perceived ages of the pedestrians were between 11 and We used logistic mixed models to analyse the data, with the chosen path of the pedestrian i.

We included height and sex of the pedestrian, and the sex of the confederate, as fixed effects, and we included confederate identity as a random effect because observations within a confederate may not be independent. Including observer identity as a random effect did not change our results results not reported. We standardized the estimated height of pedestrians within each sex in order to better compare the effect of height between the sexes: Men who took precedence were estimated to be Similarly, women who took precedence were estimated to Combining male and female pairs revealed that individuals who took precedence were significantly taller 4.

Priority of access in relation to difference in height cm individual who took precedence—individual who gave way for female and male pairs. The diameter of the open circles indicates sample size. In other words, the strength of the effect of height was similar for men and women and was not driven by the effect of age. In total, we observed 1, pedestrians in the shopping street. Controlling for height, we found that pedestrians were more likely to give way to female than to male confederates Table 1. Height was positively related to the likelihood of giving way by the pedestrian in both sexes Fig.

Examining the amount of variation explained only by height, we found that 7. In conclusion, pedestrians were more likely to yield and give way to taller compared to shorter individuals, and this was equally true for men and women, although the effect was slightly stronger for men. The effect of confederate height on the likelihood that a pedestrian gave way top panels; A, B or collided with bottom panels; C, D a female confederate left panels; A, C or male confederate right panels; B, D. Non-independence due to confederate ID was modelled as a random intercept.

Confederate height was negatively related to the likelihood of a collision Table 1 ; Fig. That is, pedestrians were more likely to collide with shorter confederates than with taller confederates. Examining height only, we again found that it was more predictive in men: We also found a marginally significant interaction between the sex of the confederate and the sex of the pedestrian, such that male pedestrians were less likely to collide with female confederates Table 1.

There was no difference in rate of collision between the sexes when a male confederate was walking against the stream of people. In summary, shorter confederates were more likely to collide with pedestrians than were taller individuals. In addition, male pedestrians were less likely to collide with female confederates than they were with male confederates. Preliminary analysis indicated that people of both sexes behaved differently depending on whether there was a same-sex or opposite sex confederate.

Rather than including the sex of the confederate in our analyses, we instead included a binary variable that specified whether the confederate was of the same sex as the pedestrian.

Further Details

We found a significant interaction between height of the pedestrian and confederate sex on the likelihood of passing by the confederate without deviating from their path Table 2. The positive and negative slopes for pedestrian height depending on whether the confederate was of the same sex did not differ statistically in magnitude as evidenced by the overlapping standard errors of both estimates. Thus, the effect of pedestrian height on the likelihood of path deviation did not differ for male and female pedestrians.

In general, men were significantly more likely to deviate from their path than women Table 2. Therefore, to better assess the effect of the relative height of the pedestrian compared to the confederate, we also ran models in which we included the difference in height between the pedestrian and the confederate for those encounters where the pedestrian was blocked by a same-sex confederate, in which we included the sex of the pedestrian in order to assess whether there was any difference in response in male versus female dyads.

Including a categorical variable that coded whether the pedestrian was taller or of equal height versus shorter than the confederate produced similar results 0. Overall then, for both male and female pedestrians, height was related to the likelihood of path deviation, but the effect of height was dependent on the sex of the confederate blocking the pathway. Taller pedestrians were less likely to maintain their path when the confederate was of the opposite sex compared to shorter pedestrian.

No effect of height was observed when the confederate was of the same sex. Our results show that height is related to interpersonal dominance in a variety of social settings, which we assessed in a series of observational studies.

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In our first study, we showed that taller individuals were more likely to take precedence when entering a narrow passage wide enough for only a single individual to pass. This effect was independent of both sex and perceived age. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first evidence that height differences affect the outcome of a brief dyadic interaction in a naturalistic setting. Given the nature of the observational set-up, we were, however, unable to assess whether this effect was because taller individuals actively take precedence, shorter individuals are more likely to give way, or both.

In a follow-up study, therefore, we investigated how pedestrians reacted towards confederates of varying height, as they walked along a busy shopping street. Pedestrians were more likely to yield to taller than to shorter confederates by giving way and stepping aside. This was equally true for both male and female confederates. In addition, when examining a more confrontational measure of dominance—actual physical contact—we found that taller confederates were less likely to collide with pedestrians than shorter ones.

In our third study, we assessed yet another behavioural measure of dominance: We hypothesized that when pedestrians were confronted by an individual of the same sex partially blocking their pathway, taller individuals would be less likely to yield and so more likely to pass by within closer proximity than shorter individuals. Although our findings were suggestive of this, the effect was not significant for confrontations between same sex individuals.

Moreover, we found exactly the opposite pattern to that predicted when we looked at cases where an opposite-sex individual was blocking the pathway: The finding that pedestrians react differently to confederates depending on their sex also apparent in Study 2 is not surprising. It seems entirely reasonable to expect that, in same-sex interactions, competition will be more pronounced, whereas gender norms and mate choice concerns are more likely to dominate in opposite-sex interactions. As an example of such a norm, we observed in Study 2 that male pedestrians were less likely to collide with female than male confederates.

Similarly, previous studies have shown that interpersonal attraction are related to proximity between two individuals [ 49 , 50 ], such that those attracted to one another are in closer proximity. One potential explanation for why height should be related to individual behaviour in opposite-sex encounters relates to the absolute increase in physical size of taller men and women, not only in the vertical dimension, but also in the horizontal dimension due to allometry. Taller and, all else being equal, wider individuals see e.