Do smaller men act more aggressively to make up for their lack of height? The idea, known as the Napoleon Complex or short-man syndrome, is widely believed but has little supporting evidence. Now a new study has lent the premise some weight, finding that smaller men did sometimes respond more aggressively when playing a money-sharing game.
When shorter men act out, it is sometimes blamed on them trying to compensate for their height. They may have good reason to be defensive 鈥� taller men are more likely to win elections, and have better-paying careers.
But the belief could be down to one of our many cognitive biases. Perhaps we are more likely to notice when smaller people start arguments, and forget when taller people do so. Or shorter men may get into more fights because they are picked on more.
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While working at Vrije University in the Netherlands, and her team put the idea to the test by getting 42 men to take part in a simple money-sharing task called the Dictator Game, often used in psychology research. Participants were introduced to their opponent and had about ten seconds to size each other up. Then they went into separate cubicles, where they were given a small sum of money 鈥� eighteen chips representing ten cent coins.
Each person had to decide how much to keep and how much to leave for their partner, in a one-off task. The team found that shorter men kept more of the spoils for themselves 鈥� which could be seen as a relatively aggressive act.
For instance, the shortest men in the study 鈥� at heights of around 170 cm (5 feet, 7 inches) 鈥� kept an average of 14 chips for themselves, but the tallest man at nearly 200 cm (6 feet, 6 inches) kept 9.
鈥淚t鈥檚 probably smart for short men to be like this because they have less opportunities to get resources,鈥� says Knapen.
Avoiding punishment
But in a second, two-stage task, shorter men weren鈥檛 significantly greedier than their taller counterparts. In this game, the second person gets a chance to punish low amounts with rejection 鈥� in which case, neither person gets any money.
Nor were they more aggressive in a third game, in which a person could choose how much chilli sauce to spike their opponent鈥檚 drink with.
Knapen says this suggests small men are only more aggressive if there are no repercussions. 鈥淭hey are flexible in their behaviour.鈥�
But at the University of Central Lancashire, UK, says the findings don鈥檛 support the idea of short-man syndrome. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e supposed to be publicly advertising their aggressiveness to compensate for their lack of stature. To me this doesn鈥檛 suggest the Napoleon Complex exactly, it suggests something else.鈥�
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