New study finds men lie about size of their penis by 21 per cent

A new study has found men over-estimate the size of their penis, exaggerating by 21 per cent. Photo / 123rf

Men lie about their height and the size of their penis, a new study has determined.

Research published in the Frontiers in Psychology journal revealed the average man will exaggerate the size of his penis by 21 per cent.

It also discovered men will add approximately 2cm to their height.

The Danish study, titled “Smaller prize, bigger size? Exploring the impact of money on men’s self-reported markers of masculinity”, surveyed more than 200 men who were to asked to self-report “bodily markers that signal physical dominance” – athleticism, height, weight and penis size.

The research team compared their responses to known population averages with data and discovered the men over-estimated their height, athleticism and penis size.

It also found the men underestimated their weight.

Participants, all aged between 18 and 35, were paid for their time, with the group split into two groups in order for the study to explore whether the amount of monetary rewards distributed to male participants would influence the obtained data quality.

One group was paid $5 while the second received $22 with researchers finding those paid more to take part in the study still exaggerated, but to a lesser extent to those paid less.

In the most “extreme” case, a participant in the $5 group claimed his penis size was larger that the world record of 34cm.

This man, and any others who blatantly fibbed in their answers, were removed from the study to avoid ruining the data.

In total, the results from 191 men surveyed were used.

Study author Jacob Dalgaard Christensen and his colleagues believe the behaviour may be driven by men’s desire to boost their self-esteem and that those receiving a higher monetary payment were more inclined to answer honestly.

Unsurprisingly, women have been left far from shocked, with some scoffing at the findings.

“Tell us something we do not already know,” one wrote on Facebook.

“They didn’t need to conduct a study to discover this,” another said.

While it was found men lie about the size of their penis by around a fifth, a different study recently determined the average penis length has increased over the past 30 years.

In February, research published in the World Journal of Men’s Health discovered the average penis size had grown 24 per cent over nearly three decades.

But while many may think the findings are good news, experts warn it’s actually a “concerning” discovery.

Researchers at Stanford University who conducted the study fear the phallic inflation is due to unhealthy habits, like bingeing junk food or being mostly sedentary. Pollution could even be to blame, they said.

“Any overall change in development is concerning, because our reproductive system is one of the most important pieces of human biology,” Dr Michael Eisenberg, the study’s author, told Stanford Medicine’s blog Scope.

“If we’re seeing this fast of a change, it means that something powerful is happening to our bodies.”