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HANDEDNESS AND CONFORMITY IN A SMALL ISOLATED COMMUNITY *
Author(s) -
Provins K.A.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1080/00207599008247868
Subject(s) - conformity , deference , psychology , social psychology , population , developmental psychology , demography , sociology
The inhabitants of Tristan da Cunha are a socially and geographically isolated community, highly inter‐related by blood or marriage with a large average family size. The handedness characteristics of a sample of 76 people out of the total Tristan population of 264 were assessed on eight criteria by personal interview. All subjects wrote with the right hand and only two could be classified as otherwise left‐handed (i.e. 2.6%). Seven out of eight of those interviewed who claimed a left‐handed parent were themselves right‐handed and had only right‐handed brothers or sisters. It is concluded that any genetic factor determining left‐handedness must be very weak and a preferred explanation of the findings is offered in terms of social pressures such as (i) deference to authority and (ii) group conformity.