Toronto: Ladies, stop judging a man by hiss hoes, check his fingers instead!
Men with short index fingers and long ring fingers are on an average nicer towards women and less quarrelsome, according to a new study.
Researchers at McGill University, Canada, said this phenomenon stems from the hormones these men have been exposed to in their mother's womb. Men's index fingers are generally shorter than their ring fingers. The difference is less pronounced in women.
Previous research has found that digit ratio - defined as the second digit length divided by the fourth digit length - is an indication of the amount of male hormones, chiefly testosterone, someone has been exposed to as a foetus: the smaller the ratio, the more male hormones.
This has an impact on how adult men behave, especially with women.
"It is fascinating to see that moderate variations of hormones before birth can actually influence adult behaviour in a selective way," said Simon Young, a McGill Emeritus Professor.
The study is the first to highlight how finger lengths affect behaviour differently depending on the sex of the person you are interacting with.
"When with women, men with smaller ratios were more likely to listen attentively, smile and laugh, compromise or compliment the other person," said Debbie Moskowitz, lead author and Professor of Psychology at McGill.
For women though, digit ratio variation did not seem to predict how they behaved, the researchers said.
The study was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
