爱华网There may be a reason Mitt Romney is a front-runner
in the Republican presidential nomination race that has nothing to do with his stance on immigration or Social Security, according to a study published on Tuesday。
It's his height。
Americans, whether they know it or not, prefer taller leaders, a preference that dates back to the dawn of the human race, said Texas Tech University political science professor Gregg R. Murray。
If Romney, who stands 6-feet 2-inches tall, becomes his party's nominee, he may have a secret advantage over the 6-feet 1-inch Barack Obama going into the 2012 election, just like Obama had over the 5-feet 8-inches John McCain in 2008, Murray said。
"In evolutionary times, when people traveled in small groups and people competed for resources, the argument was that, when the leader of the other group was a big guy, the feeling of the group was, 'Hey, maybe we don't want to compete with these people for resources,'" Murray told the reporters on Tuesday。
He said that even though this is an "irrational response" for 21st-century leadership selection, there is a "vestige of evolutionary history" involved in political decisions。
Recent presidents have been taller than the average American man (now 5-feet 9-inches)， according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush are both 6-feet 2-inches, and Ronald Reagan was 6-feet 1-inch. Still, George W. Bush (just under 6-feet) was shorter than his two opponents (Al Gore, 6-feet 1-inch, and John Kerry, 6-feet 4-inches)。
For the study, Murray asked nearly 500 students from both public and private universities, male and female, and from the United States and around the world, to draw their concept of a "typical citizen" and an "ideal national leader." Sixty-four percent drew the leader as taller than the citizen。
"Culture and environment alone cannot explain how a preference for taller leaders is a near-universal trait we see in different cultures today, as well as in societies ranging from ancient Mayans to pre-classical Greeks, and even animals," Murray said。
He said a preference for taller leaders reflects an "evolved psychological trait, independent of any cultural conditioning."
Although the preference for taller male leaders is present in both men and women, Murray said, the preference does not enter into subconscious decision-making when both candidates are women, or when a man and a woman are running against each other。
周二发布的一项研究指出，米特?罗姆尼在美国共和党总统候选人提名的角逐中领先也许有一个原因，而且这一原因与他在移民或社保问题上的立场毫无关系。
这个原因就是他的身高。
德州理工大学的政治学教授格雷格?R?穆雷说，不管美国人是否意识到了这一点，但美国人确实更喜欢高个子的领导人，这一喜好可以追溯到早期人类社会。
穆雷说，如果身高达6英尺2英寸的罗姆尼成为共和党的总统候选人，他也许在2012大选中对战6英尺1英寸的贝拉克?奥巴马时会有一个秘密优势，正如奥巴马2008年对战5英尺8英寸的约翰?麦凯恩的优势一样。
穆雷周二告诉记者说：“在人类进化时期，当人们以小队行进、抢夺资源时，如果另一队的领头人是一个大个子，这个队的人就会觉得，‘嘿，也许我们不该和这些人抢夺资源。’这就是人们喜欢高个子领导的理由。”
他说，尽管这在21世纪的领导人选拔中是一个“非理性的反应”，但这是有“进化史遗风”的政治决策。
近年来的美国总统都比普通的美国男性要高(目前美国男性平均身高5英尺9英寸)。根据美国疾病控制与预防中心的数据，比尔?克林顿和老布什的身高都是6英尺2英寸，罗纳德?里根的身高是6英尺1英寸。不过，小布什(不到6英尺)比他的两个竞争对手(6英尺1英寸的阿尔?戈尔和6英尺4英寸的约翰?克里)都要矮。
在研究中，穆雷调查了来自美国和其他国家的公立和私立大学的近500名男女学生，并让他们描绘出自己心目中的“典型公民”和“理想的国家领导人”形象。64%的人心目中的领导人比公民的个子要高。
穆雷说：“对高个子领导的喜好存在于当今的不同文化以及从古玛雅到前古典时期的希腊的不同社会甚至动物社会中。单从文化和环境无法解释这一喜好是如何成为一种近乎普遍的特性的。”
他说，对高个子领导的偏爱反映出一种“独立于任何文化熏陶的进化后的心理特征”。
穆雷说，尽管男性和女性都更喜欢高个男性领导人，但如果两个候选人都为女性，或当男性和女性之间对决时，这一喜好则不会影响潜意识的决策。
