The effects of children’s height on teachers’ attributions of competence

In two experiments, the effects of children’s height on teachers’ attributions regarding the children were examined. Female teachers (N = 123 in Experiment 1;N= 178 in Experiment 2) of elementary school children rated photographs of children varying in relative height on a variety of social and cognitive abilities. The teachers also assigned punishment to the children for hypothetical transgressions. In the first experiment involving male stimuli, teachers rated the tall boys as less competent but older than the average sized and small boys. When the effects of teachers’ perceptions of the children’s ages were covaried, the pattern of results was virtually unchanged. Teachers did not assign differential punishments to boys of varying heights. In Experiment 2 involving female stimuli, there were no effects of height on teachers’ attributions of competency or assignment of punishment.