Posted on 11/04/2009 10:57:21 AM PST by JoeProBono
Research at the universities of Liverpool and Oxford into the finger length of primate species has revealed that cooperative behavior is linked to exposure to hormone levels in the womb.
The hormones, called androgens, are important in the development of masculine characteristics such as aggression and strength. It is also thought that prenatal androgens affect finger length during development in the womb.
High levels of androgens, such as testosterone, increase the length of the fourth finger in comparison to the second finger. Scientists used finger ratios as an indicator of the levels of exposure to the hormone and compared this data with social behaviour in primate groups.
The team found that Old World monkeys, such as baboons and rhesus macaques, have a longer fourth finger in comparison to the second finger, which suggests that they have been exposed to high levels of prenatal androgens.
These species tend to be highly competitive and promiscuous, which suggests that exposure to a lot of androgens before birth could be linked to the expression of this behaviour.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
And when we vote in 2010, we’ll show the left a lot of middle finger length. :-)
Well, with regards to social behaviour - not sure I want to hang around with a guy who’s pinky finger is longer than his middle finger!
What is the significance?
Ok, so is the fourth finger my index finger or ring finger. I guess it depends on who is looking at it.
I think it is British counting with index as second, middle as third, ring as fourth and pinky as twenty second.
Isn’t there something about lesbos and their 2nd and 4th finger length?
Do you all remember Arsenio Hall? Jeez, that guy had the longest fingers on the planet.
I gotcher finger right here.
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homesexual men, actually. on average, their 2nd and 4th digits are near identical in length. expressed another way, the closer in size the 2nd and 4th digit, the more likely the male is to be homosexual.
homosexuals know how to organize, so this makes sense.
whenever you see the word “suggest” in a research report, as in “which suggests that exposure to a lot of androgens before birth could be linked to the expression of this behaviour” then you KNOW the science is weak.
They are drawing conclusions (or forming hypotheses and expressing them as ‘facts’) based on correlation, not causation.
For example, in old Irish fishing villages there is a nearly one to one correlation between seagull population and human conception/pregnancies. Meaning that whenever the local seagull population went up markedly and sharply, human pregnancies increased. “Scientists” studying the matter same the data suggest that exposure to dense seagull populations could affect human fertility.
The truth is that in old Irish fishing villages, the local seagull populations followed the fishing vessels into port in order to eat the discards from the returning ships. When the young men docked and returned home (along with the flocks of seagulls) human nature *CAUSED* an uptick in pregnancies.
Correlation vs. causation.
Indeed finger length may be an indication of exposure to various levels of androgens, but the causal relationship to sexual behaviour or ‘orientation’ cannot be demonstrated easily from this research.
That you're Irish. No, really.
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Thanks JoeProBono. No ping, I think this is actually a duplicate. (!) |
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The Coup De Toe? < /Costanza >
That is just not right.....
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