title: Consistent-handed individuals are more authoritarian.
abstract: Individuals differ in the consistency with which they use one hand over the other to perform everyday activities. Some individuals are very consistent, habitually using a single hand to perform most tasks. Others are relatively inconsistent, and hence make greater use of both hands. More- versus less-consistent individuals have been shown to differ in numerous aspects of personality and cognition. In several respects consistent-handed individuals resemble authoritarian individuals. For example, both consistent-handedness and authoritarianism have been linked to cognitive inflexibility. Therefore we hypothesised that consistent-handedness is an external marker for authoritarianism. Confirming our hypothesis, we found that consistent-handers scored higher than inconsistent-handers on a measure of submission to authority, were more likely to identify with a conservative political party (Republican), and expressed less-positive attitudes towards out-groups. We propose that authoritarianism may be influenced by the degree of interaction between the left and right brain hemispheres, which has been found to differ between consistent- and inconsistent-handed individuals.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences , University of Louisville , KY , USA.
authors.forename: Keith B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Lyle
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Grillo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001318:Authoritarianism; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult