Research from University College London (UCL) has confirmed there is a correlation
Men who own flashy cars really could be compensating for something, according to a new study out of University College London (UCL).
Last month, divisive social media personality and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate
tweeted climate activist Greta Thunberg bragging about his '33 cars' with 'enormous emissions'.
She responded by asking him to 'enlighten her' further by emailing 'smalld**kenergy@getalife.com' in a tweet that has since garnered almost four million likes.
https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1608056944501178368?s=20&t=ExLzH7fin8HRA4OfbDc6Uwpp
And it turns out Thunberg could be onto something.
According to research from UCL, there is a correlation between owning a flashy vehicle and believing one's genitals are smaller than average.
In the new study, published as a preprint in PsyArXiv, psychologists recruited 200 English-speaking men between the ages of 18 and 74 years to complete an online test.
Participants were first shown a statement for a period of seven seconds, before this screen was replaced by an image of a product.
They then had to move a slider to show how much they wanted to purchase the product, which could either be an everyday item or luxury good.
Finally, another statement would appear on screen, and participants had to say whether this was the same or different to the one shown on the first screen.
The participants were told these statements were facts, and that the test was to investigate 'how people remember facts at the same time as shopping for products’.
However, the statements weren't always factual.
One of the statements falsely relaid the average erect penis size of other men - some participants were told this was 7.1 inches (18 cm), while others were told it was 4 inches (10 cm).
The real average is actually 5.1 inches (13 cm), but those told that it was the lower value were made to feel 'relatively better' about themselves while completing the task.
However, those told it was the higher value were intentionally made to feel like their genitals were below average in size.
Participants were always shown an image of a sports car between being given their two statements regarding penis size, and had to indicate their desire to buy it.
When the team analysed the results, they saw that men over 30 who were made to feel like their penis size was below average were more likely to want buy the sports car.
Additionally, men who were made to feel like they had a larger penis tended to show a decreasing interest in luxury vehicles as they get older and, potentially, more mature.
This was the opposite for the other group, who remained appreciative of them regardless of their age, suggesting a link to their self-esteem.
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