Does size really matter?
Posted on: Thursday, August 18, 2016 Category: Uncategorized (58)2 min read
On average, people who are 6ft earn US$166,000 more during a 30 -year career than those who are 5’5″. Judge and Cable (2004) found that every inch above the average height is worth US$789 more per year, regardless of age, gender, and weight. Furthermore, this effect was found to be prominent in sales and management positions, where customer perceptions have a major impact on success.
Judge (2004) argues that if a customer believes a tall person is more commanding, they may be more likely to follow the salesperson’s wishes. Tall people may have greater self-esteem and social confidence, leading to others viewing taller people as being more leader-like and authoritative.
This isn’t all that new. Reasearch through the decades has established the fact that height is an attractive trait. Keyes (1980) established the idea of “gaze behaviour”, a primitive way of establishing social hierarchies based on whether we are looking up or down on another person that we encounter. Through this, less social power and negative character traits are ascribed to those we look down on.
Thorndike (1920) argued that people provide automatic attribution of positive personality characteristics to those that are taller, which is called the “halo effect”. And from early childhood, height importance is instilled in youth, with the constant reminders of “how much we have grown” and to eat our vegetables and drink milk to “grow up big and strong” (Martiel & Biller, 1984).
So what do you do if you weren’t born 6 foot?
- Heels help – that’s what they were invented for!
- Wear horizontal (yes horizontal!) stripes, they elongate and lengthen.
- Ties, scarves and long necklaces create a deep ‘V’ and elongate the body.
- Wear dark colours like navy and black with white in the middle to create visual length.
- Big hair! Margaret Thatcher used to tease her hair into a coiff to add the extra inches!
- Walk tall – it is amazing the impact you will have.
