Researchers from Oxford University contend that the "short man syndrome" is not just a tall story, it may actually exist, The Irish Independent reported.
In a study using virtual reality technology to reduce the height of 60 volunteers, scientists found that people became paranoid, distrustful and cared of others when they feel smaller.
"Being tall is associated with greater career and relationship success," Daniel Freeman, researcher and professor at Oxford University, said in a statement. "Height is taken to convey authority, and we feel taller when we feel more powerful. It is little wonder then that men and women tend to over-report their height."
For the study, researchers reduced the height of volunteers travelling on a computer-simulated Tube train by 10 inches. They saw that making a person's virtual height lower than what it actually is can make them feel inferior and this caused them to be overly mistrustful.
"In this study we reduced people's height, which led to a striking consequence: people felt inferior and this caused them to feel overly mistrustful. This all happened in a virtual reality simulation, but we know that people behave in VR as they do in real life," Freeman said.
Participants in the study experienced the computer-simulated Tube train twice. Once at their normal height, and once at a height that had been virtually reduced by 10 inches, Reuters reported. More participants reported negative feelings such as feeling incompetent, unlikeable and inferior.
"It provides a key insight into paranoia, showing that people's excessive mistrust of others directly builds upon their own negative feelings about themselves," Freeman said. "The important treatment implication... is that if we help people to feel more self-confident then they will be less mistrustful."
The study was published on Wednesday in the journal Psychiatry Research.
