There has been lots of research into why some people prefer to use their left hand rather than their right and alongside some brain evidence showing differences between the two, some evidence also shows it comes down to a complex collaboration between the social environment and inherited genes.
A paper [2] has been published to say that whether you’re left-handed, right-handed or ambidextrous can be a hint as to how your brain processes emotions.
In the field, it’s been known for a while that left-handed people are more prone to negative emotions and the study shows that they have a greater imbalance in activity when processing emotions in the left and right sides of the brain.
A study published in Pediatrics in 2010 discussed how being left-handed is linked to an increased risk for dyslexia, ADHD, and some mood disorders.
Whilst research hasn’t yet been done to explain why this is the way it is, experts suggest it’s down to the brain’s structure and whether or not the individual has one dominant half of their brain.
Around 30% of left-handed people don’t have one dominant half of their brain and this is more likely to result in learning difficulties and brain disorders.
Left-handed people associate ‘left’ as being a good thing, since they use their left-hand dominantly for activities and since they can’t do as much with their right hand, they associate this as ‘bad.’
A recent study[3] carried out by Daniel Casasanto, a Stanford researcher, asked participants to draw a zebra in the box that represented good things and a panda in the box that represented bad things.
Left-handed people were more likely to put the panda in the right-hand box and the zebra in the left-hand box, showing their association with bad being things on the right.
The American Journal of Psychology published an article in which it was explained that left-handed people are more creative than right-handed people when it comes to certain creative tasks.
Divergent thinking, for example, is one area left-handed people excel in when compared to right-handed people. In addition, the Left-Hander’s club [4] carried out a survey that found that left-handed people were more likely to follow careers in the arts, music, sports, and information technology – proving that the dominant left-hand is the more creative.
Plenty of studies delve into this area and it’s fascinating to see how something as simple as the hand you write with can influence personality, emotion, and even career, and picking up little facts from each study is interesting too. Are you left-handed or right-handed?
References
View Comments
Hello Christina
The information in the artical are usefull for the left-handed people and I am one of them, I need to know more .
I want someone who is experienced in learning the minds .and I have alot of facts and information I want to share with you.
I live Damascuse Syria (the world black hole)
I am 33 years old
Thank you and i hope to read from you
Moe
have they studied what happens when a student who is naturally left handed is forced to learn to be right handed , i know they no longer allow this in our school systems , but what about those who had this happen before it was stopped. does this create learning disabilities or change the way a person would naturally do things ?
I am left handed when writing but if I am using a laptop or desktop I have to use my right hand to navigate the mouse because using my left feels weird...I also drive mainly with my right. I wonder why that is.....
I know someone who is left-handed but she’s emotionally mature at such a young age. She is also very athletic. In fact, she is a volleyball athlete in one of the finest universities here. And, she is highly creative. She has been getting a lot of art awards in school. I think we just have to really respect their reverence for left as a being good. That’s just the way it is. I think left-handed people are gifted in such unique ways.
I am left-handed myself yet I am not creative, my moods are no different from anyone else nor do I associate left or right with being good or bad. In short I m nothing special at all.
Also I am not hindered in my daily activities because of being left-handed. Can drive, use scissors and use the mouse using my right hand with absolutely no problems. Perhaps this idea that if one is left-handed that it must follow that you are totally incapacitated when it comes to doing things with the right hand is more in the head than reality.
Interesting article but I just have much reservation when it comes to this particular idea.