Height, Penalty and Decision Making
It's not a good idea to make such assumptions based on your height, as this is a personal issue, but you may enjoy this article as a hint about your own height and your awareness of such attitudes.
Male height is positively associated with social dominance and more hostile/competitive behavior, a condition called "Napoleon Complex" or "Small Man Syndrome", suggesting that smaller men are more aggressive and punitive to compensate for their lack of height and social dominance.
This study will assess the possible relationship between height and punitive behavior in a real-world setting.
The study.
Using a non-experimental correlational design, data from 61 male association soccer referees from four professional leagues in England were analyzed to investigate the relationship between their height and punitive behavior in the form of yellow cards, red cards, and penalties given throughout the season.
Results.
Overall, there was no effect of the height of the referee on fouls.
However, there was an effect of height on yellow card warnings, and the shorter the referee, the more yellow cards were issued. The same effect was seen for red cards and penalties, but this varied by league.
In the lower leagues, the relatively shorter referees were given more red cards and penalties, while in the higher leagues, the relatively taller referees were given more red cards and penalties.
McCarrick, D., Brewer, G., Lyons, M. et al. Referee height influences decision making in British football leagues. BMC Psychol 8, 4 (2020). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-020-0370-4
Summary
This study of soccer referees suggests that shorter men tend to be more strict in lower leagues, while taller men tend to be more strict in higher leagues.
The results also suggest that in a high-profile environment like the top league, where failure is not tolerated, the attitude toward judges may change depending on the height of the player.
The average height is 176cm, with -8cm in the lower leagues and +8cm in the higher leagues. If we think about Japanese people, we might see similar results in an environment where the average height is about -5cm.
