Napoleon complex
{{Short description|Purported type of inferiority complex}}
{{distinguish|Napoleonist syndrome}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
Image:Evacuation of Malta.jpg by James Gillray depicting Napoleon as short]]
The Napoleon complex, also known as Napoleon syndrome and short-man syndrome, is a purported condition normally attributed to men of short stature, with overly aggressive or domineering social behavior. It implies that such behavior is to compensate for the subject's physical or social shortcomings.{{cite web | url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Napoleon%20complex | title=Definition of NAPOLEON COMPLEX }} Both commonly and in psychology, the Napoleon complex is regarded as a derogatory social stereotype.{{cite journal|last=Sandberg|first=David E.|author2=Linda D. Voss|date=September 2002|title=The psychosocial consequences of short stature: a review of the evidence|journal=Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism|volume=16|issue=3|pages=449–63|doi=10.1053/beem.2002.0211|pmid=12464228}} The Napoleon complex is named after Napoleon Bonaparte, the first emperor of the French, who was estimated to have been 5 feet 2 inches tall (in pre–metric system French measures), which equals around 1.67 metres, or just under 5 feet 6 inches in imperial measure.{{cite web | url=https://www.history.com/news/napoleon-complex-short | title=Was Napoleon Short? Origins of the 'Napoleon Complex' | date=25 July 2023 }}
Etymology
The Napoleon complex is named after French military officer and statesman Napoleon. Cultural depictions of Napoleon often depict him as compensating for his supposedly short height by seeking power and glory via aggressive military endeavors. This view was fostered in large part by British political cartoonists, who repeatedly depicted Napoleon as short to mock both him and his expansionist ambitions; he was so angered by these cartoons that Napoleon once unsuccessfully attempted to convince the British government to suppress them on his behalf.{{cite web
| url=https://nationalpost.com/news/world/greatest-cartooning-coup-of-all-time-the-brit-who-convinced-everyone-napoleon-was-short
| title=Greatest cartooning coup of all time: The Brit who convinced everyone Napoleon was short
| date=28 April 2016
| publisher=National Post
| access-date=30 September 2017}} He is estimated to have been 1.67 metres tall (5 feet 2 inches in pre–metric system French measures or just under 5 feet 6 inches in imperial measure). This was the period's average adult male height, depending on the source chosen.David A. Bell, Napoleon: A Concise Biography (Oxford University Press, 2015), p. 18.{{cite web
| url= https://ssrn.com/abstract=464061
| title= An Anthropometric History of Early-Modern France
| date=12 Dec 2003
| publisher=Faculty of Economics; CESifo
| access-date=5 November 2023}} Other historians assert that he was {{convert|5|ft|7|in|m|abbr=off}} because he was measured on Saint Helena 28 years after the French adopted the metric system.{{cite book|author=Owen Connelly|title=Blundering to Glory: Napoleon's Military Campaigns|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Pzu7_QhfU8C&pg=PA7|year=2006|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=7|isbn=9780742553187}}
Other names for the purported condition include Napoleonic complex, Napoleon syndrome and short man syndrome.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/3336044/Short-man-syndrome-is-not-just-a-tall-story.html|title=Short man syndrome is not just a tall story|last=Fleming|first=Nic|date=13 March 2008|newspaper=The Telegraph|access-date=17 May 2017}}{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1069-1816456,00.html|title=Heart of the Fifties generation beats once again|last=Morrison|first=Richard|date=10 October 2005|work=The Times|access-date=17 January 2008}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6501633.stm|title=Short men 'not more aggressive'|date=28 March 2007|work=BBC News|access-date=17 January 2008}}
Research
= Affirmative =
Abraham Buunk, a professor at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, found evidence of the Napoleon complex. Researchers at the university found that men who were {{convert|1.63|m|ftin}} were 50% more likely to show signs of jealousy than men who were {{convert|1.98|m|ftin}}.
In 2018, evolutionary psychologist Mark van Vugt and his team at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam found evidence for the Napoleon complex in human males. Men of short stature behaved more (indirectly) aggressively in interactions with taller men. Their evolutionary psychology hypothesis argues that in competitive situations when males, human or nonhuman, receive cues that they are physically outcompeted, the Napoleon complex psychology kicks in: physically weaker males should adopt alternative behavioral strategies to level the playing field, including showing indirect aggression and coalition building.Knapen, J. E., Blaker, N. M., Van Vugt, M. (2018). The Napoleon Complex: When Shorter Men Take More. Psychological science, 0956797618772822. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618772822
= Negative =
In 2007, a study by the University of Central Lancashire concluded that the Napoleon complex is a myth. The study discovered that short men were less likely to lose their temper than men of average height. The experiment involved subjects dueling each other with sticks, with one subject deliberately rapping the other's knuckles. Heart monitors revealed that the taller men were more likely to lose their tempers and hit back. University of Central Lancashire lecturer Mike Eslea commented that "when people see a short man being aggressive, they are likely to think it is due to his size, simply because that attribute is obvious and grabs their attention".
The Wessex Growth Study is a community-based longitudinal study conducted in the UK that monitored the psychological development of children from school entry to adulthood. The study was controlled for potential effects of gender and socioeconomic status, and found that "no significant differences in personality functioning or aspects of daily living were found which could be attributable to height";{{cite journal | last = Ulph | first = F. |author2=Betts, P |author3=Mulligan, J |author4=Stratford, R. J. |date=January 2004 | title = Personality functioning: the influence of stature | journal = Archives of Disease in Childhood | volume = 89 | issue = 1 | pages = 17–21 | doi = 10.1136/adc.2002.010694 | pmid = 14709494 | pmc = 1755926 }} this functioning included generalizations associated with the Napoleon complex, such as risk-taking behaviours.{{cite journal | last = Lipman | first = Terri H. |author2=Linda D. Voss |date=May–June 2005 | title = Personality Functioning: The Influence of Stature | journal = MCN: The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing | volume = 30 | issue = 3 | pages = 218 | doi = 10.1097/00005721-200505000-00019 }}
In popular culture
Singer-songwriter Mariah Carey referenced the Napoleon complex in her 2009 song "Obsessed", accusing someone of being "all fired up with [their] Napoleon complex". The song is believed by some to be a response to rapper Eminem, who had made disparaging remarks about Carey in multiple previous songs.{{Cite magazine |last=Kreps |first=Daniel |date=2009-06-16 |title=Mariah Carey Fires Back at Eminem in New Single "Obsessed" |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/mariah-carey-fires-back-at-eminem-in-new-single-obsessed-68649/ |access-date=2022-06-09 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Blakemore, Erin. "Was Napoleon even short? Inside the history of discrimination against short men: He was a French dictator—the original short king. Napoleon's supposedly short stature made him the mockery of Europe and inspired a stigma that persists today." National Geographic Nov 22, 2023 [https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/napoleon-complex-height-discrimination-men-history online]
- Hopper, Tristin. "Why people think Napoleon was really short (even though he wasn't): A short-tempered, child-sized Napoleon soon became the accepted standard for caricatures of the Frenchman" National Post (July 13, 2023) [https://nationalpost.com/news/world/napoleon-height online]
- Just, Winfried, and Molly R. Morris. "The Napoleon complex—Why smaller males pick fights" Evolutionary ecology, Vol. 17, No. 5–6 (Sept. 2003), pp. 509–522.
- McIlvenna, Una. "Was Napoleon Short? Origins of the ‘Napoleon Complex’: A prominent cartoonist's mocking depiction of the French emperor managed to stick through the centuries" History Nov 13, 2019 [https://www.history.com/news/napoleon-complex-short online]
- van Ginneken, J. "Height & Posture" in The Profile of Political Leaders ( Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2016) pp 19–37. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29476-6_2
{{Napoleon}}