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2D:4D in men is related to aggressive dominance but not to sociable dominance
Leander van der Meij1, Mercedes Almela, Abraham P Buunk
1Laboratory of Social Neuroscience, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain. L.van.der.Meij@uv.es
Abstract:
It has been shown that a smaller ratio between the length of the second and fourth digit (2D:4D) is an indicator of the exposure to prenatal testosterone (T). This study measured the 2D:4D of men and assessed dominance as a personality trait to investigate indirectly if the exposure to prenatal T is related to a dominant personality later in life. Results showed that men had a more aggressive dominant personality when having a more masculine (lower) 2D:4D, while there was no relationship between sociable dominance and 2D:4D. Findings from this study indicate that it is important to distinguish different forms of dominance since other studies failed to find relationships between dominance and 2D:4D.
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