Finger length indicates how nice a man is to women
Maybe you should take a good look at your partner’s fingers before putting a ring on one.
Maybe you should take a good look at your partner’s fingers before putting a ring on one.
Men with short index fingers and long ring fingers are on average nicer towards women, and this unexpected phenomenon stems from the hormones these men have been exposed to in their mother’s womb, according to a new study by researchers at McGill University.
The findings might help explain why these men tend to have more children.
The study, showing a link between a biological event in fetal life and adult behaviour, was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
Men’s index fingers are generally shorter than their ring fingers. The difference is less pronounced in women.
"The longer a man's ring finger compared to his index finger, the more male hormones (chief among them testosterone) he was exposed to in the womb," the study says, "When with women, men with smaller ratios were more likely to listen attentively, smile and laugh, compromise or compliment the other person."
“It is fascinating to see that moderate variations of hormones before birth can actually influence adult behaviour in a selective way,” says Simon Young, a McGill Emeritus Professor in Psychiatry and coauthor of the study.
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