Todd D Nelson
Mon, 24 Sep 2001 11:05:06 -0700
Colleagues, the evidence against the myth that left-handed people die earlier is compelling. Check it out for yourself in this excellent article by Lauren Harris (in Psychological Bulletin): AN: 1994-00697-001 DT: Journal-Article TI: Do left-handers die sooner than right-handers? Commentary on Coren and Halpern's (1991) "Left-handedness: A marker for decreased survival fitness." AU: Harris,-Lauren-J SO: Psychological-Bulletin. 1993 Sep; Vol 114(2): 203-234. PB: US: American Psychological Assn. IS: 0033-2909 PY: 1993 AB: Cross-sectional life span studies of handedness typically show decreasing percentages of left-handers in older age groups. S. Coren and D. F. Halpern (see record 1991-11914-001) argued that this age trend reflects the shorter life span of left-handers than right-handers. They presented 2 studies providing what they regard to be direct evidence that left-handers, on average, die sooner than right-handers. They also proposed a variety of reasons for what they called left-handers' "decreased survival fitness." The author discusses Coren and Halpern's reasons for rejecting a more conventional explanation of the life span data, the 2 studies that they offered in support of their argument, their analysis of other evidence they invoked to account for left-handers' putative decreased survival fitness, and new studies in which the longevity explanation was tested by more direct means than have been used thus far. The author concludes that the case for the "decreased survival fitness" hypothesis cannot be sustained. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved)(unassigned) Todd D. Nelson, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Psychology California State University-Stanislaus Turlock, California 95382 Office: (209) 667-3442 FAX: (209) 664-7067 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: Http://www.csustan.edu/psych/todd/index.html