Small penis and sports car: a study makes the connection
Clichés die hard, especially when they seem to be supported by science. This is now the case for the received idea according to which men who drive sports cars have a small penis.
Indeed, a recent scientific study carried out by the Department of Experimental Psychology of the College University of London, England, suggests that men who have the impression of having a small penis are more attracted to sports cars.
“The link between driving a fast sports car and having a small penis is a widespread cultural trope discussed by scholars from Freudian analysts to evolutionary theorists,” reads the study available in preprint. on the PsyArXiv site since this Wednesday. For the first time, we show that it is based on psychological truth.”
This study is still at the pre-publication stage and has not been peer-reviewed, i.e. it has not been reviewed by specialists in the subject to verify that the methodology used and the results obtained are valid.
Low self-esteem
A total of 200 men aged 18 to 74 years old were recruited for this study. In order to arrive at these results, the researchers made them believe that they had a relatively small or large penis by giving them false information about the average size of the penis of other men.
After asking them about their interest in different consumer products, they concluded that sports cars were more desirable for participants who believed they had a smaller than average penis and therefore had low self-esteem. This result would be even more marked in men over the age of 29.
For the researchers involved in this study, these results raise interesting questions for future research.
“Does penis size only affect interest in sports cars or does it also have an impact on ;other popular items?» they wonder.
If according to them, penis size has a much stronger effect on male self-esteem than the other factors used in the framework in this experiment, the researchers wonder if the manipulation of other criteria – such as men's perception of their intelligence or wealth – would have a similar effect and if so, on which products.
