Advocates for this opinion point to reports from people who have experienced a trance state, a highly suggestive state of low consciousness between waking and sleeping.
For many years it was assumed that lateralisation was a uniquely human trait, but this notion rapidly fell apart as researchers started uncovering evidence of lateralisation in all sorts of animals.
At office meetings and in group discussions, they might speak up more often, express strong opinions and come up with more creative and practical ideas than their male colleagues.
He looks, for example, to England's historically smallish, nuclear families for an explanation of the country's early adoption of markets and the rule of law.