The association between inconsistent handedness and psychopathy does not extend to the domain of moral reasoning

ABSTRACT

A recent study [Shobe, E., & Desimone, K. (2016). Inconsistent handers show higher psychopathy than consistent handers. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 21(2), 143–160. doi:10.1080/1357650X.2015.1089879] found an association between inconsistent handedness (the use of one's non-dominant hand for some tasks) and psychopathy. Because this provides evidence for an association between an individual difference and a trait that is perceived negatively, the present study set out to (1) attempt to replicate the finding and (2) determine whether inconsistent handedness and psychopathy predict similar patterns of moral reasoning. An Mturk sample of 344 adults took the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, the Short Dark Triad Questionnaire, and the Moral Foundations Questionnaire. The finding of a modest association between handedness and psychopathy was replicated. However, handedness and psychopathy predicted totally different response patterns on the Moral Foundations Questionnaire, with psychopathy predicting less concern for others and fairness and inconsistent handedness predicting less respect for authority and less in group loyalty.

KEYWORDS:

• Handedness
• psychopathy
• moral foundations
• lateralization

Acknowledgement

The research was done using institutional funds from the University of Arkansas’s Faculty Research Grant.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

The research was done using institutional funds from the University of Arkansas’s Faculty Research Grant.