Pointing Out The Truth

Just a small point. You may be aware that there is some connection between relative finger lengths and the amount of testosterone you were exposed to in the womb. Testosterone is linked to aggressive behaviour and so you might think that you can predict how aggressive someone is by looking at their relative finger lengths. Dr Peter Hurd puts us right:

“…finger lengths explain about 5 percent of the variation in these personality measures, so research like this won’t allow you to draw conclusions about specific people. For example, you wouldn’t want to screen people for certain jobs based on their finger lengths.”

To employers: Please listen to the man, we don’t want another graphology situation.

Author: Dr Jeremy Dean

Psychologist, Jeremy Dean, PhD is the founder and author of PsyBlog. He holds a doctorate in psychology from University College London and two other advanced degrees in psychology. He has been writing about scientific research on PsyBlog since 2004.

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