Is a lack of cerebral hemisphere dominance a risk factor for social “conflictedness”?: Mixed-handedness in shyness and sociability

Recent evidence suggests that a combination of shyness and sociability is associated with distinct behavioral and psychophysiological correlates at rest and in response to social stress and may be a risk factor for developmental psychopathology in children and illicit substance use in adolescents and young adults. Using the Cheek and Buss (1981) measurement model on the relative independence of shyness and sociability as a theoretical platform, we examined whether shyness and sociability were distinguishable on a measure of cerebral hemisphere dominance (i.e., a continuous measure of handedness) in young adults. We found a significant interaction between shyness and sociability on handedness. Undergraduates classified as high shy/high social had a higher degree of mixed-handedness compared with other combinations of shyness and sociability. Findings are discussed in terms of how mixed-handedness may reflect a lack of cerebral lateralization of some psychological processes important to the regulation of social behavior.