Gun Makes Men Look Taller And Stronger, Air Force Study Shows

[onehandle]

Source: Huffington Post

With gun in hand, a man of any size appears bigger, an altered notion that probably occurs at a subconscious level, a new study suggests.

The research, funded by the U.S. Air Force, reveals a seemingly simple mechanism that was even in the brains of Neanderthals, and possibly common even to chimpanzees, to measure whether they would win or lose a fight with an aggressor.

"There's nothing about the knowledge that gunpowder makes lead bullets fly through the air at damage-causing speeds that should make you think that a gun-bearer is bigger or stronger, yet you do," lead study author Daniel Fessler, an associate professor of anthropology at UCLA, said in a statement. "Danger really does loom large — in our minds."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/13/gun-men-weapon-taller-holding-bigger_n_1423190.html

---

Explains a Lot.

[Cirque du So-What]

1. 'Bigger' as in 'taller'

or in another sense?

[Major Nikon]

13. The bigger the gun...

[sakabatou]

19. Just like "The longer the car..."

[LongTomH]

51. The shorter the......?

[razorman]

25. But, a gun actually DOES make me taller and stronger.

[baldguy]

38. Sorry about your penis.

[fightthegoodfightnow]

2. Supports My Theory About Guns

Thet're all about the insecurity of men.

[Union Scribe]

18. And women shooters? nt

[fightthegoodfightnow]

29. What about them?

They exist......but hardly in the same numbers....

Ask yourself if having a gun is for security, why are there not more women gun owners?

Maybe most women are secure that they have no need to be 'taller and stronger.'

[NutmegYankee]

32. Please explain.

The study indicated that a person with a weapon is perceived as larger, a function of our brains warning us of danger that developed long before firearms existed. Why do you think guns are all about insecurity? And when answering, how is it that rural American culture makes them more insecure?

[Fumesucker]

39. Who was the most worried about "terrorism" after 9/11?

Not people in big cities, even NYC, it was the suburban and rural folks who went absolutely nuts over terrorists and terrorism.

I remember during the anthrax mailing terrorism reading a news story of a bakery in a small town, someone found white powder on the floor and the building was evacuated, hazmat team and cops were called, they were terrified it was anthrax

White powder in a bakery, who ever imagined you could find such a thing there?

[NutmegYankee]

42. I can't say that was my experience.

We (co-workers/neighbors/me) generally felt safe, figuring that terrorists would attack cities.

[Fumesucker]

44. Which areas are the most paranoid about Muslim terrorists?

Those that vote Republican or those that vote Democratic?

With some exceptions, like through Alabama for instance the red areas are rural and the blue more urban.

[NutmegYankee]

45. There sure is a lot of purple on that map

Ironically, if you look at Massachusetts and Vermont, there are bright blue rural areas.

But you didn't prove your correlation. Rural does not equal republican. Also note that many Democrats own firearms.

[Fumesucker]

46. That's why it's called Purple America..

I even mentioned in the post you replied to that the correlation isn't perfect, the blue band through Alabama for instance is largely comprised of black voters who vote Democratic for the most part.

Obama spoke of the political gap between rural and urban in his last campaign and got hammered for accidentally telling the truth.

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2008/04/obama_they_clin.html

[NutmegYankee]

48. The culture here is gun friendly -

Even in Connecticut, which has well known wealthy suburbs to the west, but an often unknown poor rural east. The 2nd Congressional District in the east is a very tight district, having voted Democratic by less than 200 votes in 2006. Many people here own firearms and are members of sportsman clubs. Hunting is big in the region and many people practice shooting rifles and shotguns at the clubs. We are surrounded by turkeys and deer, the food from which has helped feed several local families through the winter. Many including myself own handguns and shoot in competitions, such as knocking down bowling pins or 25 yard target shoots. It's a fun sport to rural folks, a chance to meet others in friendly competition,and we won't give it up. The President was right that we cling to guns - It is something we enjoy that cannot be taken from us, unlike economic security, which has been a horror story.

My frustration is that more urban centered DUers see the need to attack the rural voters and make insinuations that they are "insecure" or are lacking in "size of certain appendages". The crime rate is so low here that many people don't lock their doors at night. We do not live in fear that terrorists will attack us in the night.

[Fumesucker]

49. I'm not exactly urban..

I'm on a piece of property you would think is rural farmhouse if you just stood in the yard in the summer when the trees are in leaf but we are surrounded by upper middle class McMansion type suburbs.

Some asshole was shooting here at 11:30 pm Friday Night, I'm pretty sure it was from the McMansion area because I know all the rural types on our little patch and none of them would have been that irresponsible.

Here's my post where I mention it..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002561760#post12

[NutmegYankee]

50. The urban comment wasn't directed at you.

The original post that started this thread bears the DC flag, and i have been in similar discussions where I was called a republican or stupid because I chose a rural area to live.

[fightthegoodfightnow]

55. Nah

....perhaps you are right......it's about their brains.

[NutmegYankee]

56. How so?

[petronius]

3. Wouldn't it depend on whether the gun was held

horizontally or vertically?

[Grassy Knoll]

4. Warning: Object in photo appears to look bigger....

[petronius]

6. Hah! The oompa-loompas will never get Violet to the juicing room...

(Not till the ammo runs out, anyway.)

[siligut]

37. So bad and so funny!

[Namvet67]

20. Too funny with that video!!!!!!!!!.....he has a BMI of 23 when he puts the gun down....hahahaha

[Kolesar]

23. If big boy didn't have diabetes, he wouldn't have erectile dysfunction

On the plus side, he can backstop the recoil from an elephant gun with all that chunk.

[Hoyt]

33. LMAO

[TheCowsCameHome]

24. Not only taller, but wider, too........

[Sancho]

47. DUzy fo sho!!

[bluedigger]

5. Well, that's pretty misleading.

When people look at otherwise similar images of other people holding various items, they classify them according to relative threat, and then conflate that with the size of the person subconciously. Sounds like a normal survival skill that predates our tool using capability to me.

[xchrom]

7. ...

[Rozlee]

8. Guess that only goes for men.

I'm five foot nothing and when I was in the Army, holding an M-16 or an M-4 that was bigger than me didn't make me look like Xena the Warrior Princess. More like GI Smurfette.

[Atypical Liberal]

9. Probably true for a person holding any kind of weapon.

I bet stone-age men thought the same thing of men holding rocks. Or spears. Or swords.

A man with a weapon has always seemed larger than life.

[Tom Ripley]

10. Bingo!

[ManiacJoe]

12. The study confirmed that too.

Holding a knife hand the same effect as holding a gun, according to the study.

[onehandle]

26. And yet the 'knife lobby' isn't sweeping hundreds of conservatives into office...

...as a side effect of obsessions to make one look 'bigger.'

[LAGC]

36. Maybe we should quit giving the "gun lobby" more ammo. (n/t)

[Threedifferentones]

54. You mean the anti-knife lobby isn't pissing off millions of people period?

Ya, we know...

[PavePusher]

57. Hopefully people like you will not make it neccesary for them to try to do so.

But if you press the issue...

http://www.kniferights.org/

They are ready and waiting and already active. Good luck.

[fightthegoodfightnow]

30. Larger than Life?

LOL

No romancing a gun there!

[Hoyt]

34. And that's what gun marketers bank on -- they know many gun carriers want to be "larger" than life.

[Fastcars]

11. I have noticed

That dogs will cower when you point a gun (always a toy in my personal experience) at them.

[EFerrari]

15. Dogs will cower when you point a finger at them if you do it with enough intention. n/t

[tavalon]

59. Beat me to it!

My dog is always sure he's in trouble, unless he's counter surfing, then he's Mr. Oblivious. LOL

[Poll_Blind]

14. Fuck guns, ya ever see a guy holding a two-handed claymore?

The dude goes on forever....

PB

[petronius]

17. Different kind of sword, but you made me go back and reread the first few chapters

of Snow Crash.

When they gave him the job, they gave him a gun. The Deliverator never deals in cash, but someone might come after him anyway–might want his car, or his cargo. The gun is a tiny, aero-styled, lightweight, the kind of a gun a fashion designer would carry; it fires teensy darts that fly at five times the velocity of an SR-71 spy plane, and when you get done using it, you have to plug it in to the cigarette lighter, because it runs on electricity.

The Deliverator never pulled that gun in anger, or in fear. He pulled it once in Gila Highlands. Some punks in Gila Highlands, a fancy Burbclave, wanted themselves a delivery, and they didn't want to pay for it. Thought they would impress the Deliverator with a baseball bat. The Deliverator took out his gun, centered its laser doo-hickey on that poised Louisville Slugger, fired it. The recoil was immense, as though the weapon had blown up in his hand. The middle third of the baseball bat turned into a column of burning sawdust accelerating in all directions like a bursting star. Punk ended up holding this bat handle with milky smoke pouring out the end. Stupid look on his face. Didn't get nothing but trouble from the Deliverator.

Since then the Deliverator has kept the gun in the glove compartment and relied, instead, on a matched set of samurai swords, which have always been his weapon of choice anyhow. The punks in Gila Highlands weren't afraid of the gun, so the Deliverator was forced to use it. But swords need no demonstration.

Kind of like your dude with a claymore...

[enough]

28. A little Neal Stephenson in the morning -- better than coffee! (nt)

[JDPriestly]

16. I wonder whether that applies to women also.

[boomerbust]

21. Interesting

It also adds 2-3 inches to a mans weiner.

[Becka2515]

31. Are you talking

From personal experience?

[DCBob]

22. It also makes one feel stronger and bigger.

Its an andrenaline rush to hold and shoot a gun. I guess that one of the reasons many enjoy owning them.

[sofa king]

27. That goes for the guns they're holding, too.

I've seen rifles designed to shoot through tanks and naval guns that can level a house from twenty miles away, but the biggest gun I ever saw was a Raven .25.

Because it was pointed at my head, of course.

[Fumesucker]

40. Yep, a 22 barrel looks the size of the Holland Tunnel if it's pointed at you.. n/t

[sofa king]

41. Oh yeah.

I'd have been ticked if I had to two-putt into that barrel from where I was standing.

Another time, this drunk girl grabbed an un-checked .357, pointed it at me, and pulled the trigger four times before putting it to her head and pulling it twice. I can still see the glimmer of the cylinder turning, and hear the click-ping! click-ping! of the action.

Ever seen Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound, at the end with the four-foot long gun prop? That's what that looked like.

[Vidar]

35. That's why I always carry around a sub sandwich. One phallic symobol's as good as another.

[onehandle]

43. I've found that the ladies really love a big, big sandwich on a man. nt

[rusty fender]

52. But two guns have the opposite effect, i.e.,

Yosemite Sam.

[Honeycombe8]

53. No one has asked the obvious yet? Does a gun make a WOMAN looker taller & stronger? nt

[rocktivity]

58. Candidate for this year's "You Call This NEWS?" Award

The "To Figure This Out, You Had To Do A Freaking STUDY?" category.

Are they sure they're not confusing with "bigger" with "scarier?"


rocktivity