Comments on: Sad News For the Vertically Challenged: Tall Men Are Happier And Richer, Study Says http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/09/09/sad-news-for-the-vertically-challenged-tall-men-are-happier-and-richer-study-says/ Quirky, funny, and surprising science news from the edge of the known universe. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:51:57 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Ethnicity, sexual orientation, hair length, body odour, penis size, disabilities and fried potatoes consumed http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/09/09/sad-news-for-the-vertically-challenged-tall-men-are-happier-and-richer-study-says/comment-page-1/#comment-25851 Ethnicity, sexual orientation, hair length, body odour, penis size, disabilities and fried potatoes consumed Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:37:50 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/09/09/sad-news-for-the-vertically-challenged-tall-men-are-happier-and-richer-study-says/#comment-25851 Get over yourself CarlZzzzzz! Who would be so stupid as to think that every single tall person is happier than all the short people, in the world? And, even if that crazily naive person existed, I would imagine they would have to be very, very stupid, and on average, extremely masochistic, to want to read your pompous long-winded rant. Get over yourself CarlZzzzzz!

Who would be so stupid as to think that every single tall person is happier than all the short people, in the world?

And, even if that crazily naive person existed, I would imagine they would have to be very, very stupid, and on average, extremely masochistic, to want to read your pompous long-winded rant.

]]> By: CarlZ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/09/09/sad-news-for-the-vertically-challenged-tall-men-are-happier-and-richer-study-says/comment-page-1/#comment-25848 CarlZ Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:44:13 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/09/09/sad-news-for-the-vertically-challenged-tall-men-are-happier-and-richer-study-says/#comment-25848 Why do even science blogs fail so badly at reporting this kind of survey? Why do the words "on average" not appear anywhere in this report, nor any mention of how significant the difference is? Is height a bigger predictor of happiness than, say, being married, healthy, or religious? Is it a bigger predictor of intelligence than parental intelligence or income? Without such sublety, the whole report is palpable nonsense. The lunacy is compounded by, in other reports, speculation that "lower income" is somehow an outcome of short stature being attributable to malnutrition in childhood that in turn impacts intelligence and growth -- as opposed to, you know, having short parents... Unless they've actually controlled for expected height based on genetic factors, this is the kind of ludicrous leap that rightly gets the soft sciences ridiculed by real scientists who actually respect causation over speculation. As to why shorter people might be less happy: many studies have proven that attractive people get treated better by others in every measurable way (not to mention being richer as a result of being more likely to get promoted), and height is an obvious element of attractiveness. So... well, duh. Taller people get treated better by life than shorter people, and shorter people are not oblivious to this. Congratulations, Prof. Deaton! Nobel Prize in the offing for you, I think! Come on, Discover: this is the kind of tabloidish reporting I expect from the daily press. From you I expect better. Why do even science blogs fail so badly at reporting this kind of survey? Why do the words “on average” not appear anywhere in this report, nor any mention of how significant the difference is? Is height a bigger predictor of happiness than, say, being married, healthy, or religious? Is it a bigger predictor of intelligence than parental intelligence or income? Without such sublety, the whole report is palpable nonsense.

The lunacy is compounded by, in other reports, speculation that “lower income” is somehow an outcome of short stature being attributable to malnutrition in childhood that in turn impacts intelligence and growth — as opposed to, you know, having short parents… Unless they’ve actually controlled for expected height based on genetic factors, this is the kind of ludicrous leap that rightly gets the soft sciences ridiculed by real scientists who actually respect causation over speculation.

As to why shorter people might be less happy: many studies have proven that attractive people get treated better by others in every measurable way (not to mention being richer as a result of being more likely to get promoted), and height is an obvious element of attractiveness. So… well, duh. Taller people get treated better by life than shorter people, and shorter people are not oblivious to this. Congratulations, Prof. Deaton! Nobel Prize in the offing for you, I think!

Come on, Discover: this is the kind of tabloidish reporting I expect from the daily press. From you I expect better.

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