A study funded by the US Air Force shows that a man of any size, as long as he holds a gun, is perceived to be stronger and taller. It shows a mechanism that is common even to chimpanzees whether to gauge whether they want would win or lose in a fight against an aggressor. Perhaps an auro of invicibility is seen in those who hold lethal weapons which evolved over the years since men began clubbing each other.

In a Huffington Post report, it is said to be in the subsconscious that makes you think that anyone who holds a gun is bigger and stronger, even though there's no basis for it. It is all about the danger which alarms the brain and whether it's going to be a fight or flight.

The study had test subjects to estimate the height of men based on photos they saw. The men in the photos hold various objects, including a gun. The test subjects judged the men holding guns to be 17% stronger and taller than those they they said to be the smallest and weakest.

One speculation is that this perception of men is reinforced by the pop culture, as men in action movies such as Rambo, show them to be with super human strength. Furthermore, men who bear a more lethal object are also perceived to be taller and stronger as another test involving photos of mej holding a painbrush, a squirt gun, or a knife and the men holding knives also were judged to be stronger and taller.

According to the researchers, the effect of pop culture cannot explain this and they suggest that it can be traced to a mental mechanism from a distant ancestor ("Neanderthal mental mechanism") that was modified over the years and still remains in us these days.

But don't just go out with your gun thinking you are stronger and taller as you will be perceived as such by other people when you are holding a gun. One manifestation of this are the myriads of photos of men holding guns, including airsoft guns who pose in a "macho" or even menacing way. There is something in a gun that gives a person some power, especially power over life.

The problem over some "power mentality" with guns is that sometimes it leads to unncessary situations where simple problems that can be resolved through negotiations are just settled with a gun, if you recall the duelling days. It also leads to unnecessary deaths and injuries. So better think twice before carrying that gun.

Read the report at the Huffington Post.