height

Tom Cruise is a lucky man. Surely, he's never needed to resort to the Internet for a date, but his sizable bank account would redeem what he lacked in height if he had to.

Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University and author of The Upside of Irrationality, used online dating statistics to determine short men need to earn more to compete with taller men in the dating world. In fact, a man who is 5'9" needs to make between $35,000 and $40,000 more per year than a man who is one inch taller to get as many responses on dating sites. Too bad short men earn less!

Quantifying inches may be a hard sell, but study after study paints an unromantic picture for shorter men. Nearly half of us said we would not date a guy who's shorter; however, women may face the harshest judgments. A high body mass index is our empty inbox, and not money, education, or a brilliant list of five things that can't be lived without seem to counteract that.

I ended a six-week stint with a guy I met online once by drinking a bit too much one night and saying "I don't think you're really six feet." So I really didn't need hard data to know men lie about their height, but it's nice to know I'm not crazy.

OK Cupid compared the average height of men in the US to the average height of men on the dating site, and found men who use OK Cupid are either two inches taller than the average men or are lying.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the shortest men are not the most likely to lie. It's men who are just shy of the psychologically important six-feet mark who add a few inches.

Tall security need not apply to protect French president Nicolas Sarkozy. An unidentified police source told the Le Parisien that "there's no point recruiting supermen" as "large-sized" candidates would not likely be hired.

This isn't the first time we've heard about the 5'5" president's short-man complex. He's been spotted adding height with heeled shoes, accused of putting short factory workers (only) on stage for a televised speech, and standing on boxes hidden behind podiums while speaking.

Can you blame him? Psychologists Leslie Martel and Henry Biller found that short men don't measure up in the eyes of men and women. Both sexes perceive them to be less capable, confident, successful, masculine, outgoing, secure, positive, and mature than taller men. And scientists have evidence that they're more jealous.

The Napoleon complex — named for the French emperor who was two inches taller than Sarkozy — says short men are angry, but that myth's been debunked. Taller men have proven to be more aggressive and quicker to lose their tempers.

But as long taller men earn more money, get more responses to dating ads, and are more likely to marry and have kids, I'd say short men actually do have the same-sized end of the stick. Maybe they should be angry?

Listen up! According to a new survey that included over 400,000 participants, taller people are more likely to experience joy and happiness and judge their lives more favorably than people of average or below-average heights. Psychologists think that because people of above-average stature are statistically more likely to have higher levels of income and education that they also have a more positive outlook on life.

These height advantages might explain why French president Nicolas Sarkozy (5 foot 5 inches) apparently wishes he was a little bit taller. Last weekend, the leader was accused of going to lengths to hide his shortness. Rumor has it that when the French president's on stage, he only allows people of the same size to stand next to him. And Sarkozy infamously wears shoes with heals higher than his wife's.

Has your stature had a big impact on your quality of life, or do you think height is just a number?