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. |
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. (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
周二發(fā)布的一項研究指出,米特?羅姆尼在美國共和黨總統(tǒng)候選人提名的角逐中領(lǐng)先也許有一個原因,而且這一原因與他在移民或社保問題上的立場毫無關(guān)系。 這個原因就是他的身高。 德州理工大學(xué)的政治學(xué)教授格雷格?R?穆雷說,不管美國人是否意識到了這一點,但美國人確實更喜歡高個子的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人,這一喜好可以追溯到早期人類社會。 穆雷說,如果身高達(dá)6英尺2英寸的羅姆尼成為共和黨的總統(tǒng)候選人,他也許在2012大選中對戰(zhàn)6英尺1英寸的貝拉克?奧巴馬時會有一個秘密優(yōu)勢,正如奧巴馬2008年對戰(zhàn)5英尺8英寸的約翰?麥凱恩的優(yōu)勢一樣。 穆雷周二告訴記者說:“在人類進(jìn)化時期,當(dāng)人們以小隊行進(jìn)、搶奪資源時,如果另一隊的領(lǐng)頭人是一個大個子,這個隊的人就會覺得,‘嘿,也許我們不該和這些人搶奪資源?!@就是人們喜歡高個子領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的理由?!?/p> 他說,盡管這在21世紀(jì)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人選拔中是一個“非理性的反應(yīng)”,但這是有“進(jìn)化史遺風(fēng)”的政治決策。 近年來的美國總統(tǒng)都比普通的美國男性要高(目前美國男性平均身高5英尺9英寸)。根據(jù)美國疾病控制與預(yù)防中心的數(shù)據(jù),比爾?克林頓和老布什的身高都是6英尺2英寸,羅納德?里根的身高是6英尺1英寸。不過,小布什(不到6英尺)比他的兩個競爭對手(6英尺1英寸的阿爾?戈爾和6英尺4英寸的約翰?克里)都要矮。 在研究中,穆雷調(diào)查了來自美國和其他國家的公立和私立大學(xué)的近500名男女學(xué)生,并讓他們描繪出自己心目中的“典型公民”和“理想的國家領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人”形象。64%的人心目中的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人比公民的個子要高。 穆雷說:“對高個子領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的喜好存在于當(dāng)今的不同文化以及從古瑪雅到前古典時期的希臘的不同社會甚至動物社會中。單從文化和環(huán)境無法解釋這一喜好是如何成為一種近乎普遍的特性的?!?/p> 他說,對高個子領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的偏愛反映出一種“獨立于任何文化熏陶的進(jìn)化后的心理特征”。 穆雷說,盡管男性和女性都更喜歡高個男性領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人,但如果兩個候選人都為女性,或當(dāng)男性和女性之間對決時,這一喜好則不會影響潛意識的決策。 相關(guān)閱讀 研究:自私的人更容易當(dāng)領(lǐng)導(dǎo) (中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 陳丹妮 編輯:馮明惠) |
Vocabulary: front-runner: 領(lǐng)先者 vestige: 遺跡;殘余 conditioning: 訓(xùn)練;熏陶 |