PERSONALITY-DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LEFT-HANDERS AND RIGHT-HANDERS - AN OVERLOOKED MINORITY-GROUP

Left-handers form a minority group of about 10% of the world's populat ion. They are often subjected to both overt and covert prejudice by so me segments of society, and are occasionally actively discriminated ag ainst. Such experiences might be expected to cause some personality di fferences between left- and right-handers. A sample of 930 consistent left- and right-handers was tested with the Interpersonal Adjective Sc ales. Left-handers were found to score higher on measures of dominance and lower on measures of nurturance, a pattern that has been reported in studies of other minority groups. Left-handers were found to rate themselves as higher on the arrogant/calculating dimension (claiming ' 'cocky,'' ''crafty,'' ''cunning,'' ''boastful,'' ''wily,'' ''calculati ng,'' ''tricky,'' and ''sly'' as accurate self descriptors) and were a lso higher on the cold hearted dimension (agreeing that ''ruthless,'' ''ironhearted,'' ''hardhearted,'' ''uncharitable,'' cold-hearted,'' '' cruel,'' and ''unsympathetic'' as self descriptors). Some possible exp lanations, based upon environmental and social factors which affect al l minorities, and some factors that affect left-handers specifically, are considered. (C) 1994 Academic Press. Inc