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Article Dans Une Revue Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Année : 2005

Handedness, homicide and negative frequency-dependent selection

Résumé

Humans exhibit hand preference for most manual activities in which they are specialized. Right- and left-handers have coexisted at least since the Upper Palaeolithic, and left-handers are in the minority in all human populations. The persistence of the polymorphism of handedness is a puzzle because this trait is substantially heritable and several fitness costs are associated with left-handedness. Some countervailing benefit is required to maintain the polymorphism. Left-handers may have a frequency-dependent advantage in fights—the advantage being greater when their frequency is lower. Sports data from Western societies are consistent with this prediction. Here, we show that the frequency of left-handers is strongly and positively correlated with the rate of homicides across traditional societies. It ranges from 3% in the most pacifistic societies, to 27% in the most violent and warlike. This finding is consistent with a frequency-dependent selection mechanism maintaining left-handedness in these societies.
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Dates et versions

halsde-00184678 , version 1 (31-10-2007)

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Charlotte Faurie, Michel Raymond. Handedness, homicide and negative frequency-dependent selection. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2005, 272, pp.25-28. ⟨10.1098/rspb.2004.2926⟩. ⟨halsde-00184678⟩
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