A tall order

As you may have gathered by now, I am a big proponent of getting the real story behind socially accepted 'truths.' Not surprisingly, this often does not agree with the public view of things, and I go to great lengths to make sure my own beliefs are founded upon things other than rumor and social proof.

Having said that, I have long believed that the decision making process that goes into choosing our leaders goes well beyond the public perception. Even with the acknowledgment and supposed defiance of the modern man to certain prejudices, everyone is subject to influences that we may not even be aware of. And in many ways, these influences are much more dangerous than the ones we can attempt to consciously ignore.

For example, everyone is aware of the long and well documented history of prejudice against African-Americans. Similarly, everyone is aware of the trials women have had to endure through the years. Because of this awareness, we have learned to respect these people equally or, at the very least, to compensate for our natural prejudice. But what are we to do in the face of a prejudice which we are unaware we possess? We like to think we are in control of our emotions, but often times we know little more or our bias than what society makes us aware of.

Perhaps the largest of these 'blind biases' is the height bias. Height bias is our unconscious tendency to favor taller people in positions of power. It stems from our genetic desire for security, which the larger, more intimidating of our ancestors were better equipped to provide. However, the true danger of this bias lies in it's social acceptability; not only are we blissfully unaware of this bias as a whole, but the few members of our society who pay attention to it do not accept it as a serious threat. In fact, about half of people polled believe that a person's height does not affect his ability to succeed in society.

But how much do we really know about this bias? Are we really equipped to claim it's effectiveness is so low? The answer, of course, is no. To find the true measure of this bias, one need only look at the leaders of our country. For example, the United States has held 54 presidential elections. The shorter candidate in these elections has one the popular vote only 11 times. Of the Fortune 500 CEOs, 97% are over 5'7" tall, and the average height is 3 inches above the national average. Countless times in popular media, shorter men are ridiculed for their height in ways that would seem discriminatory if based on race or sex.

Even Darwin shows us that this bias has existed long beyond it's necessity. For example, it is commonly believed that Napoleon was excessively short. However, the English translation of Napoleon's height puts him at approximately 5'6" tall, which actually made him slightly taller than the average Frenchman of his time. Since then, the average height of a male has gone up nearly 4 inches. This is solid proof that taller males are considerably more successful at mating than shorter ones.

So how do we prevent this from happening? It's tempting to consider professional training as the correct answer. However, height bias begins long before we hit the workforce. In fact, grade school bullying is much higher amongst shorter students, and it's easy to draw the connection to the lower self esteem measured in shorter adults. Perhaps this is a sign that the remedy to our prejudice begins with proper parenting. Parents need to explain to their children the effects of discrimination against ANYone, not just those groups with well documented struggles. Only then will we be able to live in a world where the little guy truly can come out on top.