While Shorts Kings are once again in vogue thanks to the likes of Tom Holland and – as always – Danny DeVito championing our cause, a study from Poland’s University of Wroclaw has offered a grain of salt with claims that there’s scientific truth behind “Short Man Syndrome” (otherwise known as the “Napoleon Complex”).
Researchers surveyed 367 men and women using the “dirty dozen” Dark Triad questionnaire, wherein participants are asked to express how strongly they agree with phrases such as: “I tend to manipulate others to get my way.” Based on their responses, each person is assigned a score indicating how strongly they demonstrate narcissism, psychopathy, as well as Machiavellianism.
What they determined was that both men and women who were shorter than they’d like to be scored higher for all the Dark Triad traits like; with men being considerably more prevalent in the narcissism department compared to women.
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“Shorter people with traits such as psychopathy can use them to demand respect, impose costs on others, and impress romantic partners,” noted lead author Monika A. Kozlowska, University of Wroclaw.
“Appearing more powerful may, in turn make other people perceive them as taller than they really are.”
“Our study provided the first examination of the relationship between height, height attitudes, and the Dark Triad traits. Generally, our hypotheses were supported: all three traits were associated with the wish to be taller and shorter stature.”
You can read the study about Short Man Syndrome in question – officially titled ‘The Napoleon Complex, Revisited: Those High On The Dark Triad Traits Are Dissatisfied With Their Height And Are Short’ – published in Elsevier’s journal Personality & Individual Differences here.
