Joe Hatcher wrote:
> A student today in class asked me if it was true that a higher
> percentage of psychologists are left-handed than in the general population.
> She said she heard or read in the past week that over 30% of us are
> left-handed. I've never heard that or seen any data on this. Have you?
I looked in the book by Stanley Coren (1993) called, "The Left-hander
Syndrome: The Causes and Consequences of Left-handedness" (Vintage). I found
no mention of a correlation between being a psychologist and handedness. He
did report many other correlations--often ones involving some sort of
abnormality of behavior, thinking, or feeling. Of course, I know that there
have been many questions about some of the claims made by Coren regarding
left-handers (e.g., that left-handers die at younger ages); but I would expect
that, if the claim had ever been made that being a psychologist was associated
with left-handedness, it would have been mentioned in that book.
On the other hand, my search through the index could have missed the relevant
passage (perhaps it is mentioned under some other topic); or it could be a
finding that is more recent than 1993. But a Google search gave nothing on
this topic.
Thus, unless it is the case that psychologists as a group are more likely to
have one or more of the characteristics that are associated with handedness, I
am skeptical that such a correlation exists. (But I've been wrong before.)
Jeff
--
Jeffry P. Ricker, Ph.D. Office Phone: (480) 423-6213
9000 E. Chaparral Rd. FAX Number: (480) 423-6298
Psychology Department [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Scottsdale Community College
Scottsdale, AZ 85256-2626
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every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit."
Elbert Hubbard
Listowner: Psychologists Educating Students to Think Skeptically (PESTS)
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