Lauren was contacted by the Daily Mail last week for her opinion on some new research that has surfaced, suggesting that we lefties are angrier than the average right hander.
The new study, let by Ruth Propper a psychology professor at Merrimack College in Massachusetts USA found that among left-handers, the two hemispheres of the brain communicate more with each other so have more interaction with the parts which produce negative emotion.
The study, published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease suggests that this makes us more moody. The article sites grumpy Bob Geldof and hot-tempered tennis legend John McEnroe as prime examples of angry lefties.
Lauren commented that in her experience, left-handers are on the contrary very easy going, especially considering all the frustrations we deal with on a daily basis, using equipment badly designed for us. "Perhaps if lefties in general were a more militant bunch, we would have lobbied more vociferously for left-handed equality many years ago" .
She also took issue with the simplistic supposition that the connection between the two halves increased the feelings of negative emotions. Surely such enhanced connections would also serve to transmit positive emotions just as easily? Perhaps it would be fairer to surmise that left-handers are simply altogether more emotional!
Click here to see the report on this story in the Daily Mail
Comments 32
1. the brain communicates with both sides through electricity and chemical reactions. Negative reaction happens when there is a "short circuit? in this communication. In this "study" I have failed to find any supporting evidence to the statement: the two hemispheres of the brain communicate more with each other so have more interaction with the parts which produce negative emotion....... - See more at: http://blog.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/left-handers-angry-and-emotional#sthash.1V3OjDLp.dpuf
I searched several sites and links only to find that all this is actually saying is the increased communication increases interaction but not just with the parts that produce negative emotion because that contridicts the finding. How??? If BOTH communicate with each other no one side is being left out, so in their theory it would really mean lefties are more advanced mentally over righties that that makes much more sense. I as you lefties already know am left handed and i have known for a long time that my mind works a lot different than most anyone i know. I am not capable of saying i dont know and forgeting about it, while everyone else moves on in the conversation my mind works through the question exploring every aspect until it finds an answer that is acceptable enuf to accept for the moment. All the while another part of my mind is following the current conversation pulling bits of info needing to verify at a later date. Most people I know have no comprehension nor the ability to understand what an active mind produces but if i were to humor the study I will give it only that as a left hander the mass amount of processing, knowledge and overtime our minds endure tend to put us in a less tolerant personality not because we are angry or negative but because we simply dont have the time or patience to deal with ignorance day in and day out with 99% of the population. Even simple then that... if anything lefties should be acknowledged for how tolerant and very under control that we actually are. If I allowed myself to be angry or emotional as their study suggests with the way my mind communicates i would be a mass murderer because being surrounded by ignorance day in and day out, knowing i will never see mankind get a clue, watching the extinction of mankind progress due to their ignorance would be a valid trigger dont you think? No lefties are the ONLY reason mankind has evolved and because every living thing on this earth was specifically designed for procreation not for superior intelligence the lefties can only help you simpletons so much after all we are human and deserve to have some quality of life too. Living in a right handed world is enough suffering we sure as hell wont attempt to educate you when you cant even function in a left handed world. Now here is my question .... does anyone reading this still follow me or am I that alone in this sad world?
i love being a lefty because im cool like that:)
PS
notice my words were all in caps ;-) follow me on twitter @_october_own
Yes as you can see I'M REALLY ANGRY !!!
I've managed to live my life turning every screw the wrong way, locking/unlocking every door the wrong way, use every computer the wrong way, use every tool of instrument the wrong way, writing (and reading) the wrong way, use spiral bound books and maps the wrong way, use all the electrical appliances in the home the wrong way; etc, etc, etc ...
And yet I've never behaved like John McEnroe, I've never tried to kill anyone or threaten anyone or gone off my rocker because I'm wired to explode due to my pesky Right-hemisphere. I'm just the same as most other left-handed people... I manage all the tasks laid out above and too many more to mention in my usual way... I mean that being left-handed in a right handed world makes you more resourceful.
Could it be that John McEnroe is just a grumpy, bad-tempered person and not a product of his left-handedness ?
maybe what makes me laugh makes you angry....if this is going to be a serious research...some qualitative items should be described in detail to be interpreted in the best way...a scientist way---
I am also replying to this aticle on emotions. I find myself very emotional and prone mainly to anger and frustration at myself.
Developed the ability to read, write every which way, even mirror writing, was forced to write hand straight by school and parents no curve wrist. My writing tends to be untidy but readable. Can't peel a potatoe lefthanded even with double blade peelers. Gave up on golf because could not determine which side to swing from even with lefthanded golf clubs, nothing felt right. Has anyone else found that the case with golf or is it just me.
My two sons are aswell sothats 3:1 in my house.Maybe more emotional(who knows) ,definately frustrating and harder.I am also a scorpio so my poor husband has no chance.
It's great there are more products around,i do most things left but cut right handed only because when I grew up there were no left handed scissors. I am a hairdresser and look very odd cutting in the mirror, being left caused many problems when i trained as most were right and couldn't train me left so i had to doit the right handed way.
Actually, I think anything that lumps huge groups of human beings into simplistic categories is bunk. It's no different from statements like "Women are . . . " or "Asians are . . ." Human beings are far more complicated than that.
Having spent my whole life adapting to a right handed world, which as we all know is EXTREMELY frustrating, so do we lose our tempers - NO.
I wonder how many on the research team its self were left handers?
I happen to live with a volcano tempered impatient husband, if inclined myself that way we would never have survived.
I have by necessity very patient, methodical, logical, a great problem solver. My friends comment on my emotional empathy, I am the real agony aunt. Patience personified.
I also terrify my husband and family at times, simply because things I do look wrong or dangerous to them.
Does any else have this problem living with right handers?
I concur with Mr. Chell; far too much tax money is spent on frivolous and poorly-designed research. This particular study reads as if it was designed by someone in the midst of a child custody battle, to prove the left-handed spouse would be a danger to the child(ren). It's biased to the core and unworthy of publishing, not to mention the initial funding.
The increased communication between brain hemispheres would more logically lead to better emotional control due to better integration of reason and emotion. As emotions arise, the lefty's reasoning centers can examine their validity, their source and appropriateness to the situation. A person with less cross-hemispheric communication would be more likely to express their emotions without first submitting them to analysis.
So there.
It would, I believe, have been wiser for the researchers to refer to up to date understanding of emotion and all its implications, both positive and negative, before looking for differences in this area between lefties and righties.
Lefties are more right-brained, as I understand it, and the right side of the brain is associated with emotion and spatial awareness. Hopefully in the future more meaningful and extensive research will be undertaken to cover all the possible implications of left handedness, both positive and negative.
The surprisingly high number of left handed leaders may be in possession of a more acute emotional awareness which inspires them towards this type of work - who knows!
Left handed sportsmen and women may have a more readily accessible spatial awareness naturally and, as for the famous tantrums, like it or not McEnroe used them not only to get rid of negative emotional energy but also for the tactical purpose of putting off his opponent. Emotional intelligence in action? He was on that court to win!
I can even read upside down and backwards.
Me too! I can write upside down also. My children find it amazing, and always comment about it. I never thought of it as a "lefty" trait until hearing another lefty can do it.
On a side note, I am a left-handed drummer and play with my drum kit set up for a lefty, and have found learning challenging. It can be hard to watch a right-handed person and switch it. Or when my instructor teaches me, he has a hard time doing the same. Are there any lefties out there that play drums with a left-handed set-up? If so, any videos or instruction that you can suggest?
Re lefty discrimination, am I right in thinking that there are no left-handed versions of cameras (although I'm right-eyed, so not a problem for me) or microwaves?
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