We always thought men and women saw things differently. Now it's been proved. For it seems that while women want their perfect man to be eight inches taller than them, men are most satisfied when they are closer to their ideal partner, and look for someone who is only three inches shorter.

Researchers quizzed 700 men and women about their ideal partner height, as well as what would be the minimum and maximum acceptable. A second part of the study asked 50,000 men and women how satisfied they were with their own height. The most satisfying height for a man is 6ft 3in; for a woman, it's 5ft 9in.

"Both men and women prefer to be in a couple where the man was taller than the woman, but not too tall, and the preference was most pronounced in women who, unlike men, considered partner heights unacceptable if they resulted in her being taller," says evolutionary psychologist Gert Stulp, from the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands, who led the study. "We show for the first time, that men and women differ strongly with respect to the partner height difference they found most satisfactory."

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Just why people feel so strongly is not clear. Dr Viren Swami, a social psychologist at the University of Westminster, says: "There are two main theories. The biological theory is that taller men may have higher status or reproductive success. The second social theory is that it reflects a cultural idea, where tall men are viewed as masculine and tall women violate cultural norms."

Where the man is eight inches taller (Women's ideal)

Kanye West: 5ft 10in, Kim Kardashian: 5ft 2in

Where the woman is taller (Which no one prefers)

Rod Stewart: 5ft 10in, Penny Lancaster: 6ft 1in

Where the man is three inches taller (Men's ideal)

Brad Pitt: 5ft 11in, Angelina Jolie: 5ft 8in