A research sheds more light on everything we knew so far as, based on the findings of experts, the size of the male's penis can be correlated - both scientifically and psychologically - with a preference for sports cars .

In particular, according to the pre-publication of a research in "PsyArxiv" that was done just a few days ago, men who believe that the size of their penis is smaller than average have also considered sports cars as more desirable. Although it is important to remember that the study has not yet been evaluated by other scientists.

To find out if there is any truth to the aforementioned stereotype, a team led by Professor Daniel Richardson of the Department of Experimental Psychology at University College London (UCL) surveyed 200 English-speaking men aged between 18 and 74. Participants completed an online task, which – they were told – involved a test of memorizing facts, while they shopped for various products.

In each round of the experiment, participants were shown a statement on the screen for seven seconds, followed by a picture of a product – some luxury items and some normal items. So they were asked to indicate how much they would like to have the particular product. At the end, the researchers again showed the participants either the original statement or a statement with some subtle change and asked them whether it was true or false.

Here was the tricky part, as all of these questions included some statements about average penis size. The specific statements were always followed by the image of a sports car. The thing is, even though the participants were led to believe that these statements were true, sometimes they weren't.

In order to try to manipulate the participants' self-esteem, the researchers told some men that the average size of an erect penis was 18cm, while the others were told it was 10cm. The real average, of course, is somewhere in between. The idea was that men who were told by researchers that the average size was much larger than it actually was would believe – as a result – that their own penises were smaller, and the opposite would be true for those in whom the researchers said the average is lower than it actually is.

When they tallied the results, the research team found that men who were led to believe their penises were smaller than average were more likely to rate sports cars as highly desirable. There was also an effect of age, with this trend being much stronger in men over 30.

Since the research in question has not yet been scientifically evaluated, according to "IFL Science", it is probably too early to draw any firm conclusions. However, as its authors note, this particular study may offer tantalizing evidence that there might be some truth to the stereotype that associates small penises with sports cars.