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Iride Pigmentation, Sex, and Type a Behavior

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Abstract

As a test of Worthy’s (1974) hypothesis that sex and iride pigmentation are variables which act to determine level of behavioral reactivity, we measured the level of Type A behavior of 421 dark-eyed and 253 light-eyed college students. While our results failed to confirm predictions made from Worthy’s hypothesis, we found an unanticipated Sex x Iride Pigmentation interaction, i.e., dark-eyed females scored significantly lower on the Jenkins Activity Survey (our measure of Type A behavior) than dark-eyed males, but light-eyed females scored higher than light-eyed males. The implications of these data for Worthy’s hypothesis were considered.

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Hicks, R.A., McNicholas, G.A. & Armogida, R.E. Iride Pigmentation, Sex, and Type a Behavior. Psychol Rec 31, 43–46 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03394718

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03394718

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