Unveiling the Secrets of Tall, Dark, and Handsome Men
Idris Elba, Damson Idris, Michael B. Jordan and Lance Gross. What do you think they all have in common?
Before you respond, read this disclaimer.
Disclaimer
1. This is in no way an article about relationships. I genuinely do not care to that extent.
Meet Wizarab, Joro, or Diary of a Naija Girl for your relationship battles.
I aim to uncover the hidden tendencies behind certain decisions we make and rid us of unconscious associations.
2. This is in no way to make anyone feel insecure or belittle anyone after all God created us in his image and we must bask in it. If you feel offended, unfeel it.
3. As much as I like these men, remember that Luka Sabbat exists.
Remember that humans are weird creatures that sometimes do not know what they want.
Now, back to my question.
Apart from the fact they are seemingly worth looking at, what they all have in common is my heart.
We know these men deserve their flowers but what exactly about their appearance is so attractive?
Our unconscious associations.
Plugs in a quick weird story.
When I was in primary 6, my teacher called me aside to tell me he was sorry they couldn’t follow up with the ritual of giving the head girl position to the best in class that year because I was short.
He said he had to give it to someone tall and more typically, would assume the position better.
I promise I was not even that short.
The only thing that still surprises me while recalling this story is the level of the teacher’s awareness.
You may have heard it countless times but mental associations are stronger than you think.
Let us establish a fact.
There are two levels of attitude—conscious and unconscious.
The conscious level explores what we choose to believe.
The unconscious level is the second level—the one that reveals our immediate automatic associations.
The same way we have powerful associations with certain words is the same way we have powerful associations with someone’s appearance.
This lets us make conclusions and sometimes these conclusions can be incorrect.
This is what Malcolm Gladwell calls the Warren Harding Error.
Many years ago, Warren Harden was chosen as the presidential candidate because he looked like a presidential candidate.
He had features that commanded attention.
He was tall, striking, and handsome which tugged at the mental association of virility.
Unfortunately, many historians have ranked Warren as one of the worst presidents in American history.
Time magazine even went ahead to describe him as one of the forgettable presidents in history.
I am going to assume you are probably aware of these associations.
But how aware are you?
One of the ways to measure the strength of your mental associations for instance would be to take the Implicit association test.
The IAT can reveal your unconscious connections.
For example, you are easily going to think of a man when you hear the name John.
Pretty strong association. Very expected too.
Well, if you see the word ‘entrepreneur’ and you have to put it in a category between male and female, there is a high chance that you will choose male. Again.
This is because most of us have stronger associations between masculinity and career-oriented concepts than we do for females.
IAT measures the speed to evaluate the strength of your mental associations.
This reveals that you may say something and have a different attitude unconsciously.
For instance, you may claim not to treat tall people differently but there is evidence to show that height—mostly in men—triggers positive unconscious associations.
After Malcolm polled half of the companies on Fortune 500, the results showed that almost all the CEOs were tall.
Now, everyone in a company can’t be tall yet few of the short people in a company ever make it to the executive level.
It gets worse.
It is almost arguable that being short may be a handicap to corporate success as being a woman or an African American.
Due to the new-found knowledge about our unconscious associations, we already know that this prejudice may not be deliberate.
However, it shows how we easily confer leadership abilities to people who have an imposing physical stature.
Why?
In our heads, we have an idea of what a leader ought to look like and this association becomes so strong that we may become blind to other considerations and then we have no idea that it affects our decisions.
Statistically, taller men also make more money.
You see, height is positively rewarded in the labour market because there is a positive association between height and cognitive ability.
Therefore, it is no longer surprising to know that some studies show that an increase of four inches—is associated with an increase in earnings of 9.2 percent.
This means that the next time you see someone mediocre in a leadership position in a company, there is a high chance that the selection was irrational.
This unconscious association is also responsible for the reason we are unconsciously driven to confer leadership on the person who talks the most in a meeting, exuding all the extroverted tendencies because the unconscious association suggests leadership.
Great leaders are often stereotyped as outgoing and assertive so the higher you look up the hierarchy, the more extroverts you find.
But are they more effective leaders? Not really.
The best leaders are the ones who listen best. (Introverts have shown to be more receptive to inputs from below which makes them good listeners by the way).
Tall dark handsome men are definitely who they think they are but knowing your selection decision may be warped sometimes is enough to make you stop and re-think.
Yes, even when their charm is undeniably wafting through your nostrils to cross the blood-brain barrier that makes you fall helplessly. Oh well.
Well, the good news is that this bias can be changed by changing your existing associations.
You can change your experience by becoming familiar and comfortable with the new associations. Like female entrepreneurs, short CEOs, etc.
Rapid cognition is a thing.
Maybe it is the same reason Warden could get away with supposedly being a terrible president just because he was brimming with virility and undebatable testosterone.
You can change the narrative.
Maybe, just maybe, you can control your impressions too. Who knows?
Beautiful read my idolo🤗
Hey even Saul was the tallest man in Israel when he was chosen to be king
So there might be something there😂