Psychology: Growing by Degree

• Share

A man's measure can be taken precisely in feet and inches, but he also has a far less exact psychological, or perceived, height. In the eye of the be holder, he may seem taller or shorter in direct proportion to his title or accomplishments. So says Australian Psychologist Paul R. Wilson in the Journal of Social Psychology.

To test the relationship between status and stature, Wilson introduced a stranger from Britain by a different academic rank to five groups of Sydney students. Later, after the visitor had left, he asked each group to estimate the man's height. As plain "Mr. England, a student from Cambridge," the stranger's height averaged out to be 5 ft. 9.8 in. As "Mr. England, demonstrator in psychology from Cambridge," he grew to 5 ft. 10.39 in. Up in rank to "Mr. England, lecturer in psychology from Cambridge," he reached 5 ft. 10.86 in. As the imposing "Dr. England, senior lecturer from Cambridge," he jumped to 5 ft. 11.57 in. Finally, after being ushered in as the august "Professor England from Cambridge," he shot up to 6 ft .32 in., or fully 2½ in. more than his "undergraduate" height.

Wilson's experiment suggests that extra inches are available to anyone who achieves increasing degrees of success, on campus or off. But apparently the success must be of considerable dimension. For even when he was Professor England, the visitor's estimated height still fell more than half an inch short of his actual height (6 ft. 1 in.).