NationStates Jolt Archive

Only 50% of apes are right handed but about 90% of humans are. In the five million years since we split from our common ancestor with chimpanzees humans have become predominately right handed. Several reasons why have been suggested, but I have my own idea. Of all animals the ability to learn from others is the most advanced in humans. Humans learn a great deal by copying the actions of others. If you and the person you are learning from both share the same dominant hand, then copying and learning becomes a lot easier. My guess is that among a group of humans right-handed people became more common by pure chance. Once this occurred it created an environment in which being right handed was an advantage because it enabled people to learn faster and so more right-handed people survived and had right-handed children, until right handedness became the norm.

However, not everyone became right handed because when almost everyone else is right handed, then left handed people have some advantages. For example, most people would be used to fighting other right handed people and so a left handed opponent could have a lifesaving advantage, just as being left handed can be an advantage in many sports today.

As people rely less and less on learning physical skills to survive I think it's possible that left-handedness may become more common in the future.

Which hand is dominant isn't a learned behavior, even newborns have a preference for which hand to use.

Which hand is dominant isn't a learned behavior, even newborns have a preference for which hand to use.

Yep.

*and is left handed*

Which hand is dominant isn't a learned behavior, even newborns have a preference for which hand to use.

I don't think he is arguing that. I believe he is making the point that conditions might have evolved that made right-handedness superior socially and with regards to tools, and so it became a factor in wether you passed on your genes or not.

I'm right handed and I'm the oddball in the family for it. It's definently not because your parents are left or right handed, it's just coincidence.

Hammer, spear, ax. All work the same way in either hand.

I don't think he is arguing that. I believe he is making the point that conditions might have evolved that made right-handedness superior socially and with regards to tools, and so it became a factor in wether you passed on your genes or not.

I don't buy that. How often do you consciously notice that somebody is left handed? I've had friends that i've known for years and only recently came out with the realisation that "OMG you're left handed". I doubt that most other generations were any different...excluding the stupid religious business of training people to be right handed, which wasn't a global thing anyway and doesn't explain why Chinese (for example) rates of left handed people are still around the same as in the modern West and Middle East.

Hammer, spear, ax. All work the same way in either hand.

Yep.

I'm right handed and I'm the oddball in the family for it. It's definently not because your parents are left or right handed, it's just coincidence.

If both your parents are left handed there is a 26% chance you will be left handed which is twice the rate for people born nowadays, so there is a genetic component. But yes, it does involve chance.

I don't buy that. How often do you consciously notice that somebody is left handed? I've had friends that i've known for years and only recently came out with the realisation that "OMG you're left handed". I doubt that most other generations were any different....

I think you would notice pretty quickly if someone was left handed or not if they were teaching you to throw a spear or make a stone axe. I'm also sure that most people are aware of the handedness of people in their immediate family. But you wouldn't have to consciously note it, you would just have to have an advantage when copying someone with the same dominant hand.

...and doesn't explain why Chinese (for example) rates of left handed people are still around the same as in the modern West and Middle East

I presume that right handedness became established long before humans spread through Asia.

If both your parents are left handed there is a 26% chance you will be left handed which is twice the rate for people born nowadays, so there is a genetic component. But yes, it does involve chance.

Not sure if this information is useful, but left handedness may be correlated with birth injury. Also proportionally more left-handed people have bilateral auditory cortex compared to right-handed people (95% left-side auditory cortex).

I think you would notice pretty quickly if someone was left handed or not if they were teaching you to throw a spear or make a stone axe. I'm also sure that most people are aware of the handedness of people in their immediate family. But you wouldn't have to consciously note it, you would just have to have an advantage when copying someone with the same dominant hand.

Not really. Call me unobservant, perhaps, but it was quite a while before I noticed that my guitar teacher was also left-handed. And I honestly don't remember many people noticing when I was playing sports in my early youth. I certainly don't recall any significant differences between learning how to throw a ball in my left hand over the right, either...so I don't think the "faster learning" factor of right handed people really holds up. The only tools which prove cumbersome to use are products of the relatively modern age (can openers, scissors, etc)

That's less of an issue though, when compared to the assumption that left handed people are (or were) somehow less appealing socially and had a harder time "passing on my genes", as the other poster interpreted it.

I presume that right handedness became established long before humans spread through Asia.

Yeah, probably.

Because God made Adam and Eve right-handed? :D

Not really. Call me unobservant, perhaps, but it was quite a while before I noticed that my guitar teacher was also left-handed. And I honestly don't remember many people noticing when I was playing sports in my early youth. I certainly don't recall any significant differences between learning how to throw a ball in my left hand over the right, either...so I don't think the "faster learning" factor of right handed people really holds up. The only tools which prove cumbersome to use are products of the relatively modern age (can openers, scissors, etc)

Hmmm... It may not be that you are unobservant, but perhaps you merely suffer from the same conditon that I suffer from. That is, the inability to tell left from right. I have a pretty bad case of this as anyone who has tried to give me directions can tell. If I think about it I can tell the difference, but if I'm not thinking about it and someone says, "It's on your right," then the chance that I'll look in the right direction is only 50-50. You might have a mild case of this.

It's unknown. Most animals have no preference over which side to use, but there's some issue with human brain development that makes most people use one of the sides more than the other, and for most that's the right side. But so far no one is sure why.

Because our brains are formatted that way...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4242419.stm

When I was young child I used to be left handed but after a few years of school I made a conscious decision to become right handed because almost no one else was left handed and non of my teachers were left handed. I also used to right backwards so that it could only be read in a mirror.

Hmmm... It may not be that you are unobservant, but perhaps you merely suffer from the same conditon that I suffer from. That is, the inability to tell left from right. I have a pretty bad case of this as anyone who has tried to give me directions can tell. If I think about it I can tell the difference, but if I'm not thinking about it and someone says, "It's on your right," then the chance that I'll look in the right direction is only 50-50. You might have a mild case of this.

No, that's not it, and i've never experienced anything quite like that. It simply wasn't a conscious observation that said "hey, he's left-handed too." until it came up in conversation. I don't think it would have made any difference to my learning ability had he been right handed, however, which was my original contention.

When I was young child I used to be left handed but after a few years of school I made a conscious decision to become right handed because almost no one else was left handed and non of my teachers were left handed. I also used to right backwards so that it could only be read in a mirror.

Why did you find that necessary?

I don't think it would have made any difference to my learning ability had he been right handed, however, which was my original contention.

If I was copying someone, I personally think it would be much easier to learn from someone with the same handedness as me. If I was being coached by a left handed person who was used to teaching right handed people, then I think it would be less important. I think handedness may have become established long before the development of symbolic language and so copying may have been very important.

But it would be interesting to see what other people think on this.

Why did you find that necessary?

I thought I was doing it wrong so I just copied eveyone else. In the It wasn't until the third grade that my teachers let me be creative. Also my kindergarten teachers had a hard time dealing with the fact that I knew more about some subjects than they did.

Preferred hand 'set in the womb' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3912943.stm)

The hand you prefer to use as a 10-week-old foetus is the hand you will favour for the rest of your life, research suggests.

A team from Belfast's Queen's University studied foetuses in the womb, and after birth.

Their findings challenge the widely held view that a child does not develop left or right-handedness until it is at least three years old.

Tells us why we are right or left handed at birth, but still doesn't tell us why we favour one or the other in the womb, unfortunately. Interesting though.

It's unknown. Most animals have no preference over which side to use, but there's some issue with human brain development that makes most people use one of the sides more than the other, and for most that's the right side. But so far no one is sure why.
I have heard that all Polar bears are left handed, not sure if this is true having never met one never mind many polar bears.

Because 90% of people are unfortunately imperfect.

Funny but way more than 10% of all the top ball sport players are left handed.
And the same applies to musicians and artists.

Funny but way more than 10% of all the top ball sport players are left handed.

In sports and fighting being left handed can be an advantage if most people are right handed.

And the same applies to musicians and artists.

One could argue that all great musicians and artists are those who rebel against conformity and being left handed in a right handed world started them down the path of rebellion, but it could have something to do with the way infomation is processed in their brains.

I'm right-handed, but I masturbate with my left.

I don't know if I'm in the top 10%, but I could be. :)

Some activities you learn to do one way or the other:

for example I am right handed, I write with my right hand and it feels natural like that. But I play pool and play the guitar left handed because my father who is left handed taught me do play those things, it now feels unnatural for me to hold a cue or a guitar right handed even though I am a right handed person.

odd huh?

I'm right-handed, but I masturbate with my left.

I don't know if I'm in the top 10%, but I could be. :)
Means you can multi task and hold a drink in the other, an ability most lefties have no problems with (so I'm told).;)

I'm right-handed, but I masturbate with my left.



Really?

I usually switch hands half way through and gain a stroke.

Funny but way more than 10% of all the top ball sport players are left handed.
And the same applies to musicians and artists.And the populations of countries that go to war often.

And the populations of countries that go to war often.

I guess you are referring to the study that said left handedness was more common in violent societies, the theory being that left handedness gives you an advantage in a fight. This isn't quite the same as going to war. The Romans forced all their soliders to fight right handed, because otherwise that whole shield wall thing just wouldn't work.

I guess you are referring to the study that said left handedness was more common in violent societies, the theory being that left handedness gives you an advantage in a fight. This isn't quite the same as going to war. The Romans forced all their soliders to fight right handed, because otherwise that whole shield wall thing just wouldn't work.
And UK soldiers have to use the assault rifle right handed as if you use it left handed it will take you face off and spit spent rounds into the hole.

I remember in high school one of the teachers was obviously haveing a slow day and so went around my year surveying the top and bottom set in each subject and found that the top sets contained way more lefties than the bottoms. Don't know whether that holds up in real life though, anyone know of a proper survey comparing dominant hand with intelligence?

I guess you are referring to the study that said left handedness was more common in violent societies, the theory being that left handedness gives you an advantage in a fight. This isn't quite the same as going to war. The Romans forced all their soliders to fight right handed, because otherwise that whole shield wall thing just wouldn't work.
That would be your point, not mine ;)

And UK soldiers have to use the assault rifle right handed as if you use it left handed it will take you face off and spit spent rounds into the hole.

And that's a bad thing? :p

And UK soldiers have to use the assault rifle right handed as if you use it left handed it will take you face off and spit spent rounds into the hole.

They actually issue eye-patches to lefties to help with the whole dominant eye thing. You can see lefties wondering around ranges looking like pirates ;)

And that's a bad thing? :pNow now, stop that or I'll make you use a left handed fish knife to eat your dinner. Or a left handed can opener!

I remember in high school one of the teachers was obviously haveing a slow day and so went around my year surveying the top and bottom set in each subject and found that the top sets contained way more lefties than the bottoms. Don't know whether that holds up in real life though, anyone know of a proper survey comparing dominant hand with intelligence?

Aparently there are more left handed people in the top and the bottom.

Aparently there are more left handed people in the top and the bottom.

Top and bottom sets. Not sure whether you were going for innuendo or not but I'm disgusted nevertheless :p

I remember in high school one of the teachers was obviously haveing a slow day and so went around my year surveying the top and bottom set in each subject and found that the top sets contained way more lefties than the bottoms. Don't know whether that holds up in real life though, anyone know of a proper survey comparing dominant hand with intelligence?
Some of the best graduates from my high school were lefties.
Unfortunately I wasn't with them. I slacked off too much :P

Anyhow, I just think it's genetic. Somewhat linked with creativity.
Almost all lefties I know are naturally very creative. More than righties.
I think i'm the only lefty in my entire family (including blood relatives) who didn't have to make an effort (like serious effort) to do anything creative.

And neither did any of my other left-handed friends.

Perhaps, since the left-handed people were at a disadvantage, only the smartest of them were able to pass their genes to the future generation. Thus, left-handedness may have become asociated with increased intelligence. Or maybe I'm just raving. :)

This being said, I'm right-handed but I was told I used to grab things with my left hand when I was very young. The woman taking care of me convinced me to use my right. So now I'm right-handed and left-footed. :p Honest. At football, for example, I use my left foot to kick the ball.

If both your parents are left handed there is a 26% chance you will be left handed which is twice the rate for people born nowadays, so there is a genetic component. But yes, it does involve chance.

The problem is there is no "right" or "left" dominance gene, there is only a "dominance" gene, people who have this are automatically right handed, people who lack it can become right or left handed via socio-enviromental factors.

Who cares?

Who cares?
Yea, that works aswell. I don't really give a shit either way.
Don't think anyone else does either.

Yep.
Except if it works in the left hand, you are a witch.

Except if it works in the left hand, you are a witch.

What if you're ambidextrous?

...Hmm...*answers own question* I guess they'd leave you alone. I wouldn't want to fuck with someone with two axes.

The hand of Satan only touches every tenth newborn

Yea, that works aswell. I don't really give a shit either way.
Don't think anyone else does either.

Well we got four pages out of a topic no one cares about then. Imagine what would happen if there was a topic people were actually interested in? :)

The hand of Satan only touches every tenth newborn
The left hand of Satan.

Hammer, spear, ax. All work the same way in either hand.
The thing is:

Right handers are trained to fight right handers
Left handers are trained to fight right handers
BUT right handers aren't trained to fight left handers.

So a right hander against a left is at a disadvantage. Same as in Boxing today.

Interestingly enough, just a couple days after this thread pops up, I end up getting badgered by a rightie, a co-worker Michael (a legal alien originating from the West-African republic of Ghana) walks by me when I'm eating my lunch (a sandwich) and raises the issue of me eating with my left hand.... From there it degenerated to the point that my mere existance as a southpaw was an oppression against his culture...

(Why is it now-a-days that the first people to scream oppression, are the ones who are attempting to oppress others?)

Interestingly enough, just a couple days after this thread pops up, I end up getting badgered by a rightie, a co-worker Michael (a legal alien originating from the West-African republic of Ghana) walks by me when I'm eating my lunch (a sandwich) and raises the issue of me eating with my left hand.... From there it degenerated to the point that my mere existance as a southpaw was an oppression against his culture...

Tell him that there is no way that your eating with your left hand can hurt him. Tell him that there are real problems in this world including war, poverty and pollution, but your eating with your left hand isn't one of them. Tell him that the only way that your eating with your left hand can hurt him is through magic and your not a magician.

(Why is it now-a-days that the first people to scream oppression, are the ones who are attempting to oppress others?)

Nowadays? Nowadays? Sixty years ago the Nazis were saying they were being oppressed by the jews. 2,000 years ago the Romans no doubt were saying similar things about the Carthaginians. There is nothing new about intolerance. (However, tolerance is a pretty new idea which has only become widespread relatively recently.)

A disproportionate percentage of the best of the most influential people in world history where left handed.

Tell him that there is no way that your eating with your left hand can hurt him. Tell him that there are real problems in this world including war, poverty and pollution, but your eating with your left hand isn't one of them. Tell him that the only way that your eating with your left hand can hurt him is through magic and your not a magician.

No kidding, more specifically I told him that this was America, not Ghana, and that there is no cultural stigma left here with performing such tasks with my left hand. Left-handedness is accepted within our culture and there is absolutely no reason for me to adapt to a culture >4000 nmi away from my place of residence.



A disproportionate percentage of the best of the most influential people in world history where left handed.

Alexander the Great, Napoleon, da Vinci and the list can go on and on.

My grandparents had to deal with being struck, tied and maimed for being lefties... Thankfully the west has evolved past such primitive operations...

No kidding, more specifically I told him that this was America, not Ghana, and that there is no cultural stigma left here with performing such tasks with my left hand. Left-handedness is accepted within our culture and there is absolutely no reason for me to adapt to a culture >4000 nmi away from my place of residence.



Alexander the Great, Napoleon, da Vinci and the list can go on and on.

My grandparents had to deal with being struck, tied and maimed for being lefties... Thankfully the west has evolved past such primitive operations...
Yep my grandather was a leftie also and his father tried to 'beat the left out of him', my great Grandfather was an Irish-Maori i guess back in the 1910's 1920's it wasn't the thing to be.

I meant were left handed not where left handed.:(

As I understand it there have been some theories that claim hand dominance may come from the fact that a right-hander would shield his left side of the body while exposing his right side during a battle. A lefty exposes his left - the side that also exposes his heart.

Righties are less likely to receive lethal wounds to their chest than a lefty is in this circumstance.

I'm not sure this is the greatest explanation, but after thousands of years of warfare, it may just make sense.

As I understand it there have been some theories that claim hand dominance may come from the fact that a right-hander would shield his left side of the body while exposing his right side during a battle. A lefty exposes his left - the side that also exposes his heart.

Righties are less likely to receive lethal wounds to their chest than a lefty is in this circumstance.

I'm not sure this is the greatest explanation, but after thousands of years of warfare, it may just make sense.

I do not understand how in the days before modern medicine, someone was suppose to be able to survive being stabbed in the chest even if it did miss their hear. Sure, you'll survive a bit longer if you're stabbed through a lung than heart heart, but you're not likely to be doing a lot of reproducing in that time, which is what evolution cares about. So no, I don't think it's a very good explanation. Especially since your heart is pretty much in the center of your chest and just leans to the left.

As I understand it there have been some theories that claim hand dominance may come from the fact that a right-hander would shield his left side of the body while exposing his right side during a battle. A lefty exposes his left - the side that also exposes his heart.

Righties are less likely to receive lethal wounds to their chest than a lefty is in this circumstance.

I'm not sure this is the greatest explanation, but after thousands of years of warfare, it may just make sense.

The heard is in the center of the chest, offset only a couple millimeters to the left......

The most logical explanation I have heard to date is that you have two genetic streams, one consists of a genetic dominance of the left-cerebral hemisphere (right-hand dominate) which developed along the lines with the development of language in humans (the language centers are normally int he left-cerebral hemisphere)... The second group is a "chance" group, which lacks genetically pre-determined "dominance", who can "swing" either way depending on early development... Eventually becomming left or right dominate... Unlike the prior set their brains are non-compartmentalized, the language center can be pretty much on one, the other or both sides of the brain... Best estimates say likely 75% of the population is dominate, 25% have the chance gene, and therefore there is a distribution of the chancers as "right" and "left" handed individuals.

However in the US and UK, research has been showing a heavy increase in the Left-handed population of both countries since being left-handed is no longer an anathema upon a person in these cultures (while it still remains low in primitive cultures)... 10% in the US, and up to 13% in the UK.

So, why are lefties better at the arts than righties?

A disproportionate percentage of the best of the most influential people in world history where left handed.

And all polar bears are left-pawed.

...

OMG! It's a global polar bear conspiracy! :p

So, why are lefties better at the arts than righties?

It is possible that there is some difference in the way some left handed people's brains process information that might give them an advantage. Or perhaps because that in the past left handed people suffered so much discrimination in education, work and in life in general many left handed people have become attracted to the freedom of the arts. Having been rejected by the right handed world, perhaps they seek solace in worlds of their own creation.

2,000 years ago the Romans no doubt were saying similar things about the Carthaginians.
Hannibal with the Carthaginians handily defeated Roman armies on 3 seperate occasions. He couldn't take Rome because he didn't have siege engines. Then in the second Punic War, the Romans defeated Carthage, razed it, and salted the fields.

human brains are wired to NOT consciously notice body language, so handedness would likely not ring any alarm bells.

If you are fortunate enough to be a gifted ambidexterous person such as myself, where do we fit in? I guess anywhere we want........:cool:

Hmm, mildly irrelevent but still fun because it involves facists:

My neighbor was born in Germany like 40 years ago (I don't know how old he is). Although it was well past the Nazis and Hitler's whole thing about wiping out the "impure," he was actually forced to use his right hand even though he's naturally left-handed. His father would punish him every time he caught him using his left hand for something.

When I was in high school, most of the people around me were right-handed (including myself). At Bennington College, huge numbers of my classmates were left-handed. Now, at Wittenberg University, it's back to most of the people being right-handed. What's with that D:?

I read a book once called "The Left-Hander's Handbook." I don't have it with me to quote from now, but I'll say what I can remember.
The tools made in prehistoric times were ambidextrous.
The Latin word for "left" was "sinister," while the Latin word for "right" was dexter.
Some famous/infamous left-handers (that I can remember):
Paul McCartney
Jimi Hendrix
Joan of Arc
Leonardo daVinci
Jack the Ripper
The Boston Strangler
A disproportionate percentage of astronauts in the Apollo program

This is not mentioned in the book, but the Phantom of the Opera is left-handed in one version (it never states his handed-ness in the original novel, but it does in a book based on it. In other versions he appears to be ambidextrous)

Here's one quote from the book:
"Left-handers are wired into the artistic half of the brain, which makes them imaginative, creative, surprising, ambiguous, exasperating, stubborn, emotional, witty, obsessive, infuriating, delightful, original, but never, never dull."

P.S. I'm left-handed