Posted on 03/06/2005 9:28:26 AM PST by sully777
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - How long a man's second finger is relative to his fourth finger appears to predict whether he is prone to be physically aggressive toward others, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
But it's not finger length that causes aggression, study author Allison A. Bailey warned in an interview.
She explained that the important factor is the male hormone testosterone. Fetuses are exposed to various levels of this hormone in the womb, and research shows that men who were exposed to higher levels tend to have shorter second fingers, relative to their fourth fingers. "More testosterone, relatively longer ring finger," co-author Dr. Peter L. Hurd told Reuters Health.
Men with shorter second fingers were probably exposed to more testosterone in the womb, and this may cause them to be more prone to physical aggression later in life, Bailey explained. "More testosterone in the womb predicts more physical aggression in men," she told Reuters Health.
Alternatively, both testosterone exposure and finger length may be influenced by a "deeper third variable," Hurd noted. Regardless, the study shows that "events in the womb can have subtle effects on children's personality," Hurd added.
This is not the first study to link the ratio between a man's second and fourth fingers to his personality, Bailey noted. Previous reports have found that men with smaller ratios - meaning, their second finger is much smaller than their fourth - tend to do better in sports, and are perceived as more dominant and masculine by women.
However, other research has shown that men with smaller second-to-fourth finger ratios are at higher risk of autism and immune deficiency.
To investigate how finger ratios match up with physical aggression, Bailey and Hurd measured the finger ratios in 298 psychology students, and asked them to complete a questionnaire measuring aggression.
The questionnaire measured four types of aggression, Bailey noted: physical ("if someone hits me, I hit back"), anger ("I flare up quickly"), hostility ("I am often eaten up by jealousy"), and verbal ("I tell my friends when I disagree with them").
The researchers found that shorter second-to-fourth finger ratios predicted proneness to physical aggression, but not other types of aggression, and only in men, not in women.
In general, men had smaller finger ratios than women, the authors report in the journal Biological Psychology.
Bailey cautioned that these findings only link a shorter finger ratio to a tendency toward physical aggression, and do not show that men with shorter ratios are actually more aggressive. "Somebody might never have acted on anything," she said.
Moreover, behavior is influenced by many other factors, Bailey added. Finger ratios are "just one piece of the puzzle," she said.
SOURCE: Biological Psychology, March 2005.
Finger #1 is the thumb.
It's on your finger.
made you look!
Not too long ago, the length of this digit was supposed to indicate a prediliction toward homosexuality... too short: gay... long: you like girls. Now it's aggression... busy finger.
What is the meaning if the piano player likes to "choke up" on the white piano keys (i.e. press them well in between the black keys, close to the backboard). I do this, and I never noticed it was distinctive until someone commented to me about it. Due to leverage, the keys require more force to press back there, but that's what I like.
It's a conspiricy I tell ya! Frisk the bladder and the spleen, their hidden sumthin, I can smell it!
The Jerk----one of the greatest movie comedies EVER!
---don't remember the thing about the oil cans, though,
my favorite line in the movie is when the tough motorcycle daredevil "Patty Bernstein" tells Navin she will try to guess his weight, so she clutches his butt with both hands, and feels around, and at length, he laughs and says "WOW! You're really trying to be accurate!"
SO why do the Brits put two fingers in the shape of a V (fingernails pointing towards you) and gesture upward intensely?
The Jerk----one of the greatest movie comedies EVER!
---don't remember the thing about the oil cans, though,
my favorite line in the movie is when the tough motorcycle daredevil "Patty Bernstein" tells Navin she will try to guess his weight, so she clutches his butt with both hands, and feels around, and at length, he laughs and says "WOW! You're really trying to be accurate!"
And the whole discussion on finger length ratio can be rendered moot with one careless rip on the table saw.
I should of edited the language. Sorry
Its late and I am tired
Too much testosterone! This is the sign of a dangerous piano player. Never in all my days would I have suspected such. We had better measure your fore and ring fingers. If the finger test checks out, the women shrinks had better get you on estrogen therapy.
Interesting.
For me though, it would not work. I have really, really small hands for a guy because when I was younger my bone age got screwed up for some reason and caused me to be shorter since my bones did not have as much room to grow as normal, and it impacted my hands as well.
OH YES!!! That was M. Emmett Walsh as the gunman, looking down on the station from his car, which was parked halfway up a hill, I think. Prior to finding him, I remember him looking through the newly issued phone book,(the same new phone book Navin got so excited about, finding his own name in it, and thinking that made him famous) opening a page at random, sticking his finger down on the name "Navin Johnson.... sounds like the typical loser!!!! BTW, the owner of the gas station, I'm sure you remember, was Jackie Mason. That movie is a favorite of my wife's and mine, and we having been using and quoting lines from it on a monthly basis for the last twentyfive years.
And of course they don't report it when the opposite is true. Funny thing about science, if a study is valid, it's replicable. Facts are stubborn sometimes.
Digit length ratios predict reactive aggression in women, but not in men.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.