Goodness of the side of the dominant hand: A registered direct replication of Casasanto (2009)

Abstract

People associate emotional valence with the side of their dominant and non-dominant hands. Specifically, positive (negative) valence is linked with the side of dominant (non-dominant) hand known as the horizontal-valence metaphor. A previous study demonstrated that participants placed a good (bad) object on the side of their dominant (non-dominant) hand (Casasanto, 2009, J. Exp. Psychol.: Gen, 138, 351–367). This phenomenon indicates that the horizontal-valence metaphor influences our behavior. However, subsequent studies reported that the effect of the horizontal-valence metaphor was not found in the other tasks. These studies raise the following question: Is the effect of the horizontal-valence metaphor robust? In the present registered report, we conducted a direct replication of Experiment 1 from Casasanto’s study (2009). We could not replicate the results of right-handers in the previous study. Moreover, most of the effect sizes in present research were small even though their results were statistically significant. Our findings throw doubt on the robustness of the horizontal-valence metaphor. #Pre-registration of the study can be found at https://psyarxiv.com/rfvp2

To each their own: a review of individual differences and metaphorical perspectives on time

“…For instance, gender may play a role in influencing people’s perceptions of power metaphors, with one study finding that male participants were faster to identify powerful groups when they were labeled as male and presented at the top of a computer screen ( Winter et al, 2020 ; see also Charteris-Black, 2012 ; Pérez-Sobrino et al, 2021 ). Handedness may also play a role in metaphoric reasoning: right-handers have been found to make more favorable judgments about objects that are presented on their right-hand side, while left-handers have been found to display more favorable judgments about those presented on their left-hand side ( Casasanto, 2009a ; see also Casasanto and Jasmin, 2010 ; Casasanto and Henetz, 2012 ; but see Sasaki et al, 2019 for contrasting findings in Japanese). Other research has found that metaphorical mappings of morality in space are more prominent among those practicing religion than among atheists ( Li and Cao, 2017 ), suggesting that religious beliefs may likewise play a role in metaphor interpretation.…”