Consistent-handed individuals are more authoritarian

State Resident Handedness, Ideology, and Political Party Preference: U.S. Presidential Election Outcomes Over the Past 60 Years

Pearson correlation, partial correlation, and multiple regression strategies determined the degree to which estimates of the level of left-handedness in each of the 48 contiguous American states related to citizen political ideology and to Democratic-Republican presidential popular vote over the past 60 years. Higher state levels of left-handedness were associated significantly with liberal ideology in each of the presidential election years from 1964 to 2016. Comparable ideology data were not available for 2020. Higher state levels of left-handedness also were associated with a greater degree of Democratic candidate popular vote support in each of the presidential election years from 1964 to 2020 except for 1976. The mean size of these 28 significant Pearson correlations involving the two political criteria was .62 (SD = .12) with a range of .38-.80, indicating handedness alone could account for a mean of 40.1% (SD = 14.9) of the variance in the two political preference variables. Corresponding multiple regressions showed that when state-level Big Five personality, White population percent, urbanization, and income variables were given the opportunity to enter the equations, handedness still emerged with a significant regression coefficient in 26 of the 28 equations. The two exceptions occurred for 1968 with either political preference criterion. It is speculated that such relations are grounded in hypothesized but poorly understood genetic links between handedness, personality, and political beliefs and attitudes, and, that a foundational genetic predisposition to left-handedness in a population may have much greater impact on correlates than overt levels of left-handedness.

Righty-tighty, lefty-loosey: relation between societal tightness scores, left-handedness rates, and COVID-19 outcomes in US states

As the percentage of right-handers increases in a state, the tightness of that state's culture, as measured, also increases. The relations between handedness, tightness, and various COVID measures (cases per 100,000, vaccination rates, hospitalization rates, death rates, and mask wearing adherence) were examined. Left-handedness rates and tightness both marginally predicted COVID cases and significantly predicted vaccination rates (more right-handers and more tightness associated with higher COVID rates and lower vaccination rates), only left-handedness rates predicted mask wearing adherence (more left-handers associated with increased adherence), only tightness predicted death rates (more tightness associated with higher death rates), and neither handedness or tightness predicted hospitalizations. Results are discussed in terms of the connection between consistent right-handedness and decreased cognitive flexibility and its implication for sociopolitical outcomes, and implications for the framing of public health messaging are presented.

Handedness and the 2016 U.S. Primaries: consistent handedness predicts support for Donald Trump among republicans, but gender predicts support for Hillary Clinton among democrats

A growing number of studies demonstrate that consistent handers, people who use their dominant hand for all or most manual tasks, are less cognitively flexible than inconsistent handers, people who use their non-dominant hands at least some of the time. A recent hypothesis suggests that differences in handedness emerged evolutionarily because populations benefited from a balance between cognitively rigid and cognitively flexible people. One expectation is that cognitively rigid consistent handers would support more authoritarian policies or candidates. To test this idea, we looked at handedness, gender, and political affiliation as predictors of support for Donald Trump, a candidate whose supporters self-report being more authoritarian, in the 2016 primary. Our data show that in the Republican Primary, consistent handers report more support than inconsistent for Donald Trump. When authoritarianism was added as a covariate, the handedness effect disappeared. Further analyses showed that authoritarianism mediates the relationship between handedness and support for Donald Trump. In the Democratic Primary, there was a main effect of gender. Women reported more support than men for Hillary Clinton.

Why are consistently-handed individuals more authoritarian? The role of need for cognitive closure

Recent studies indicate that individuals with consistent hand preference are more authoritarian than individuals whose preference is relatively inconsistent. We explored the role of epistemic needs in the handedness-authoritarianism relationship. Based on findings that consistent individuals are less cognitively flexible than inconsistent individuals, we hypothesized that consistent-handers would report greater need for definite knowledge. To measure this, we administered the revised Need for Cognitive Closure scale to a sample of undergraduates (N = 235), along with measures of handedness consistency and authoritarian submission. Consistent individuals scored significantly higher on authoritarian submission and need for closure. Need for closure fully mediated the relationship between consistency and submission. Consistent individuals also expressed greater prejudice against authoritarian out-groups such as immigrants and liberals. This effect was partially mediated by authoritarian submission. We theorize that consistent-handers' cognitive inflexibility leads them to covet definite knowledge. These individuals turn to authoritarianism because it promises to stifle dissent and protect existing (conventional) knowledge.

An Investigation Into Handedness and Choking Under Pressure in Sport

When athletes fail to perform at an expected level during an important moment, it is implied the athletes have experienced "choking" (sudden decline in performance) under pressure.". Researchers have reported that persistent left-hemispheric activation patterns occur when an athlete experiences considerable performance deteriorations under pressure. Researchers have also observed differences in brain activation patterns between left- and right-handed people on a variety of physical and cognitive tests, with the left-hemispheric activation more pronounced in right-handed participants.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether athletes' handedness may be linked to choking susceptibility (i.e., likelihood to experience performance decline under pressure).

METHOD

Twenty right-handed and 13 left-handed experienced Australian football players completed 15 shot attempts, in both a low-pressure and a high-pressure condition. Both groups displayed equal state anxiety increases due to the pressure manipulation, indicating similar increases in anxiety in both handedness groups.

RESULTS

Differences were indicated in performance between the left- and right-handed groups during the high-pressure condition, with the left-handed group maintaining, and the right-handed participants declining, performance.

CONCLUSION

Future electroencephalogram (EEG) research investigating this link may clarify the effect between handedness and choking.

Individual differences in apology acceptance and forgiveness: the influence of handedness

The purpose of the current study was to determine if the relationship between interhemispheric interaction and cognitive flexibility extends to explanations of forgiveness and apology acceptance. A growing body of research indicates that consistency of handedness may be reflective of an individual's degree of interhemispheric interaction and access to processes of the right hemisphere. As such, individual differences in processing that require interhemispheric interaction, such as belief updating, are associated with consistency of handedness. Participants completed the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI) and read descriptions of interpersonal transgressions, then rated their willingness to forgive before and after an apology was offered. There was a main effect such that the presence of apology increased forgiveness. However, inconsistent handedness was associated with greater forgiveness prior to apology compared to consistent handedness. A second study was conducted to determine if the individual differences in forgiveness were mediated by different dimensions of empathy (personal distress, perspective taking, empathic concern and fantasy). Participants completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the Forgiveness Scale and the EHI. Results revealed those with inconsistent handedness who scored lower on personal distress reported decreased negative thoughts about transgressors compared to those with consistent handedness.

Is self-report a valid measure of unimanual object-based task performance?

Hand preference is commonly measured via self-report using instruments known as handedness inventories. These instruments query which hand subjects use to perform unimanual object-based tasks and also the consistency of usage. Scores reveal which hand people report using most (i.e., which hand is preferred). Some people report highly consistent usage of their preferred hand while others report relatively inconsistent usage. These reports are often assumed to be accurate descriptions of people's actual behavior, but empirical evidence concerning their validity is surprisingly scant. In the present research, subjects completed a handedness inventory on which higher scores indicated more consistent usage of the preferred hand. After a brief filled interval, subjects performed tasks listed on the inventory, spontaneously choosing which hand to use for each task. Subjects who scored higher on the inventory used the preferred hand more often. Subjects were then timed while performing the tasks as fast as they could with each hand. Subjects were faster when using their preferred hand and the magnitude of the preferred hand advantage was positively correlated with self-reported consistency. These results support the validity of inventory scores by showing that they are related to spontaneous hand choice and manual fluency when performing inventory tasks.

Handedness predicts Conservative-Republican preference and eliminates relations of Big Five personality to political orientation using the 48 contiguous American states as analytical units

The two present nomothetic studies focused on the period from 1996 to 2012 to determine relations between handedness and political orientation using the 48 contiguous American states as analytical units. The estimated percentage of left-handers in each state operationally defined handedness. A composite measure of Conservative-Republican preference was created from CBS/New York Times/Gallup polls of state resident conservatism and the percent in each state voting Republican in each presidential election from 1996 to 2012. Study 1 showed that state levels of left-handedness correlated to an extremely high degree with Conservative-Republican preference (r = -.80). As well, with common demographic differences between states reflected in socioeconomic status, White population percent, and urban population percent controlled through multiple regression, handedness still accounted for an additional 37.2% of the variance in Conservative-Republican preference. Study 2 found that each of the Big Five personality variables correlated significantly with handedness and with Conservative-Republican preference, but in the opposite direction. Furthermore, Study 2 demonstrated quite surprisingly that all Big Five personality relations to Conservative-Republican preference were eliminated when handedness was controlled in multiple regression equations. For all regression equations, the global Moran's I test specifically developed for detecting residual spatial autocorrelation indicated no significant spatial autocorrelation.

The association between inconsistent handedness and psychopathy does not extend to the domain of moral reasoning

A recent study [Shobe, E., & Desimone, K. (2016). Inconsistent handers show higher psychopathy than consistent handers. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 21(2), 143-160. doi:10.1080/1357650X.2015.1089879] found an association between inconsistent handedness (the use of one's non-dominant hand for some tasks) and psychopathy. Because this provides evidence for an association between an individual difference and a trait that is perceived negatively, the present study set out to (1) attempt to replicate the finding and (2) determine whether inconsistent handedness and psychopathy predict similar patterns of moral reasoning. An Mturk sample of 344 adults took the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, the Short Dark Triad Questionnaire, and the Moral Foundations Questionnaire. The finding of a modest association between handedness and psychopathy was replicated. However, handedness and psychopathy predicted totally different response patterns on the Moral Foundations Questionnaire, with psychopathy predicting less concern for others and fairness and inconsistent handedness predicting less respect for authority and less in group loyalty.

Effects of handedness consistency and saccade execution on eyewitness memory in cued- and free-recall procedures

Identifying characteristics that distinguish between people with relatively good versus poor episodic memory is an important goal of eyewitness-memory research, as is identifying activities that can improve people's ability to retrieve episodic memories. Consistency of hand preference is a trait associated with the quality of people's episodic memory and repetitive saccade execution is an activity known to improve people's ability to retrieve episodic memories. These factors were examined in relation to cued and free recall of a staged criminal event. Individuals with inconsistent hand preference (versus consistent) remembered more on a cued-recall test and also freely recalled a larger amount of victim information. Repetitive saccade execution did not increase cued recall but did increase free recall of victim information. Theoretical implications are discussed, as is potential practical significance, with an emphasis on the size of the observed effects.

Handedness and the neurocognitive foundations of public attitudes about international laws and norms

Whether Geneva Conventions (GC) rights should apply to terrorists is a contentious question that has received little attention in public opinion research. Both personality and contextual factors may be important. We queried participants' support for applying the GC to alleged terrorists, but first we measured participants' authoritarianism and presented them with a scenario concerning an alleged terrorist. We manipulated whether (1) the scenario contained examples of GC rights and (2) the alleged terrorist's religious affiliation was Muslim or non-Muslim. Support for applying the GC to alleged terrorists was high and unaffected by providing examples of GC provisions, but it was negatively related to authoritarianism. Support was reduced by priming with a Muslim terrorist, but only among participants exhibiting a behavioral marker for limited interhemispheric interaction - consistent-handedness. Consistent-handers in our sample expressed greater authoritarianism, suggesting that limited interhemispheric interaction promotes greater authoritarianism, which decreases support for applying the GC to alleged terrorists.

Handedness and social anxiety: Using Bryden's research as a catalyst to explore the influence of familial sinistrality and degree of handedness

Phil Bryden's work has impacted on many areas of laterality, including degree and measurement of hand preference, as well as influences of familial sinistrality (FS). For example, Bryden[(1977). Measuring handedness with questionnaires. Neuropsychologia, 15, 617-624] is a well-cited and influential paper that remains relevant to this day. Inspired by this we extended our analysis of the relationship between handedness and anxiety in a number of ways. We used familial handedness and strength of handedness to examine their potential influences on anxiety, and extended our research by exploring their relationship to social anxiety, using the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN). Inconsistent left-handers (ILH) were found to be more socially anxious. In all categories of SPIN except avoidance, ILH were significantly more anxious than consistent right- and left-handers. There were FS differences between ILH with a first degree left-handed relative (FS+) compared to ILH with no first degree left-handed relative (FS-) on all categories of anxiety scores. Within FS+ participants, ILH had significantly higher anxiety scores, compared with consistent handers across all categories. This suggests that ILH's social anxiety may be influenced by a close left-handed relative. Inspired by examining Bryden's work for this special issue, we will continue to add both strength of preference and familial handedness to our work.

Factor analysis of the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory: Inconsistent handedness yields a two-factor solution

While neuropsychology has long focused on direction (left versus right) of handedness, a growing body of evidence indicates that degree (inconsistent versus consistent) of handedness is at least as important. A promising feature of this new emphasis on degree of handedness is its greater concordance with extant genetic models of handedness, which posit a continuum from inconsistent-handedness to consistent right-handedness, not a continuum from left- to right-handedness. Specifically, departures away from consistent-right-handedness are thought to reflect the action of a neutral genetic factor that leaves handedness up to random environmental influences. To test whether handedness in inconsistent-handers reflects the presence of multiple factors (compared to the presence of a single factor only in consistent-right-handers), factor analyses of handedness inventory scores were conducted on data from 987 right-handers, divided into consistent- versus inconsistent-handers. Consistent with predictions, analyses of inconsistent- versus consistent-handers yielded two versus one factor solutions, respectively. Results are discussed in terms of their potential implications for genetic models of handedness and for researchers interested in consistency of handedness as a neuropsychological variable.

Differences between left- and right-handers in approach/avoidance motivation: influence of consistency of handedness measures

Hand preference is often viewed as a troublesome variable in psychological research, with left-handers routinely excluded from studies. Contrary to this, a body of evidence has shown hand preference to be a useful variable when examining human behavior. A recent review argues that the most effective way of using handedness as a variable, is a comparison between individuals who use their dominant hand for virtually all manual activities (consistent handers) versus those who use their other hand for at least one activity (inconsistent handers). The authors contend that researchers should only focus on degree of handedness rather than direction of preference (left versus right). However, we argue that the field suffers from a number of methodological and empirical issues. These include a lack of consensus in choice of cut-off point to divide consistent and inconsistent categories and importantly a paucity of data from left-handers. Consequentially, researchers predominantly compare inconsistent versus consistent right-handers, largely linked to memory, cognition and language. Other research on response style and personality measures shows robust direction of handedness effects. The present study examines both strength and direction of handedness on self-reported behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and behavioral activation system (BAS) scores, using evidence from a large (N = 689) dataset including more than 200 left-handers. There were degree of handedness effects on BIS and BAS-Fun Seeking, but effects are largely driven by differences between consistent left-handers and other groups. Choice of cut-off point substantively influenced results, and suggests that unless a suitable sample of left-handers is included, researchers clarify that their degree of handedness effects are applicable only to right-handers. We concur that strength of hand preference is an important variable but caution that differences related to consistency may not be identical in right and left-handers.

Memory for hand-use depends on consistency of handedness

Individuals who do not consistently use the same hand to perform unimanual tasks (inconsistent-handed) outperform consistent right- and left-handed individuals on tests of episodic memory. We explored whether the inconsistent-hander (ICH) memory advantage extends to memory for unimanual hand use itself. Are ICHs better able to remember which hand they used to perform actions? Opposing predictions are possible, stemming from the finding that some regions of the corpus callosum are larger in ICHs, especially those that connect motor areas. One hypothesis is that greater callosally mediated interhemispheric interaction produces ICHs’ superior retrieval of episodic memories, and this may extend to episodic memories for hand use. Alternatively, we also hypothesized that greater interhemispheric interaction could produce more bilateral activation in motor areas during the performance and retrieval of unimanual actions. This could interfere with ICHs’ ability to remember which hand they used. To test these competing predictions in the current study, consistent- and inconsistent-handers performed unimanual actions, half of which required manipulating objects and half of which did not. Each action was performed four times in one of five conditions that differed in the ratio of left to right hand use: always left (4:0), usually left (3:1), equal (2:2), usually right (1:3), or always right (0:4). We compared consistent- and inconsistent-handers on recall of the left:right ratio for each action. ICHs remembered how they performed actions better than consistent-handers, regardless of ratio. These findings provide another example of superior episodic retrieval in ICHs. We discuss how greater interaction might benefit memory for hand use.