From: Peter Passaro (ocsrazor@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Sat Nov 21 1998 - 23:48:19 MST
Mike wrote:
> >would want to hold an infant on the left to leave the right hand free to
hold a
> >rock, spear, or other weapon. I would venture to guess that the vast
majority
> >of people and apes will hold a baby on the non-dominant side to leave
the
> >dominant hand free, whether the individual is right or left handed.
Patrick wrote:
> If that were the case why would lefthanders show exactly the same bias??
This hypothesis originates with Dr. Bill Calvin who suggests that the
reason a mother would want to hold a baby on the left side is because that
is where the heart is most audible. Babies held on the left side tend to
be much quieter due to the heart sounds and he supposes that this would
make a right handed mother a more succesful hunter because the right hand
would be free when the baby is quiet. He admits this is pure speculation
though and that the essay was initially written as a parody of the right
handed male warrior hypothesis (the shield is carried on the left side to
protect the heart) that is almost certainly untrue. See his book "The
Throwing Madonna" http://weber.u.washington.edu/~wcalvin/bk2/bk2.htm for
further referrence.
Peter
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 14:49:49 MST