Ohio State researchers have found a correlation between aggression and asymmetry of paired body parts.
The study, in which 100 OSU students participated, measured the asymmetry of participants’ paired body parts, including finger length, ear height and width and ankle circumference, among others. The sum of the differences in these pairs was calculated into a single score for each participant, said Zeynep Benderlioglu, first author of the study and post doctoral researcher at OSU.
Participants in the study made two phone calls asking for charity donations. Participants thought they were calling actual individuals about donations but were really calling researchers in the study. In both phone calls the person contacted declined to donate. The phones were set up to measure the force the participants slammed down the phone, which gave researchers a measure for aggression. The aggression score was then compared to the symmetry score to determine the correlation between the two factors, Benderlioglu said.
“Our results showed that participants with highly asymmetrical characters showed more anger towards the charity targets,” said Randy Nelson, study supervisor and professor of social and behavioral sciences.
While asymmetry by itself does not indicate an increase in aggressive tendencies, both asymmetry and aggression are correlated with other factors, Benderlioglu said.
“The factors of smoking and alcohol abuse (during pregnancy) affect both asymmetry in the body and the development of the central nervous system (of the fetus) which involves aggression,” Benderlioglu said.
The study’s findings emphasize the importance of keeping healthy habits during pregnancy, Nelson said.
“Once people are aware of the consequences of harmful substance use and other sources of stressors, they should be able to use evidence such as in our study to persuade themselves to pursue healthy habits,” Nelson said. “People do not need to be measured for asymmetry to determine potential health problems.”
“It’s an interesting hypothesis,” said James Pretzer, director of Cleveland Center of Cognitive Therapy.
Pretzer agrees with OSU researchers that if poor health habits effect the fetus negatively it is important to keep appropriate health habits.
“It appears to be a well done study on important subject matter,” said Bobbie Celeste, director of professional affairs at Ohio Psychological Association. “If we can prevent fetal developmental problems, by eliminating maternal exposure to such stressors (as) alcohol, smoke and chemical pollutants, we will have helped the parents, the child and society at large.”
