Among brilliant people, every fifth person is left-handed. Who are right-handers and left-handers

All of humanity can be divided into many groups using different criteria: nation, religion, skin color, gender characteristics, tea or coffee lovers, and so on. Another significant difference that divided the whole human race into two camps - this is the dominant activity of the right or left hand. How is left-handed different from right-handed? Let's try to figure it out.

Famous lefties

Such outstanding personalities as Julius Caesar, A. Macedonian, W. Churchill, both Bushes, B. Obama, L. da Vinci, A. Einstein, N. Tesla, I. Newton, P. Picasso, and many film actors were left-handed.

A few facts about left-handed people from history

Simply put, some people are left-handed, others are right-handed. How a left-handed person differs from a right-handed person is obvious from the terms themselves. However, in addition to visual differences, there are also those that are not visible to the naked eye. For example, left-handers have a more developed brain, which is responsible for memory.

Indeed, many creative people are left-handed. In ancient times, much attention was paid to how a left-hander differs from a right-hander.

By the way, over the centuries, some peoples respected such people, while others, on the contrary, discredited them in every possible way. So, in Ancient Greece they were held in high esteem, since they were credited with nothing less than kinship with the gods, and it was believed that such people brought good luck. Similar beliefs prevailed in India and China.

Medieval Europe was not particularly tolerant, so here left-handers were suspected of conspiring with the devil, accused of all mortal sins and subjected to terrible torture. Those who survived developed amazing agility and adaptability, qualities that began to be inherited and made left-handers only stronger.

The fate of left-handers in the 20th century

At the beginning and middle of the 20th century, they abandoned such radical methods and from an early age the child was simply retrained, that is, they developed the habit of using the right hand more. Similar example is well described in the novel The Thorn Birds, where the main character, little Maggie, was subjected to similar practices.

There was a completely reasonable explanation for this. Almost all agricultural and military equipment was assembled under right-handers. Lefties would simply have a hard time adjusting later in life.

Later, psychologists proved that imposing skills contrary to their nature on left-handers has a negative impact on psychological and physical well-being. According to other authoritative researchers, in the process of suppressing their natural nature, they also lose their unique abilities.

Differences between left-handers and right-handers

The difference between left-handers and right-handers becomes clear from an early age. More than half of left-handers have a faster rate of development compared to their right-handed peers. The percentage of people with the makings of genius among left-handers is much higher.

It has long been proven that this quality is inherited, starting from the second generation and beyond. The same parents may have different children.

Left-handed and right-handed: differences

An interesting fact based on research: for every thousand right-handers, one left-hander is born. There are other interesting observations:

• Not everyone will openly admit it, but an anonymous survey found that nearly 68 percent of right-handed people among 1,000 people surveyed do not trust left-handers and have no desire to develop closer relationships with them.
• IN former times In some countries, left-handers preferred to enter into marriages with their own kind, so that their descendants would also have this feature. This was due to a fairytale theory that said that being left-handed means that a person has divine genes.
• Left-handers quickly master and adapt to themselves all the technical devices they need.

A few facts about lefties

There are several points about how a left-handed person differs from a right-handed person, what is the difference between them:

1. In left-handed people, the right is more developed. In right-handed people, the opposite is true. In the first case, it is creativity, emotionality, impressionability, sudden changes in mood, developed intuition; in the second - logical thinking, abilities in mathematics and other exact sciences. Both hemispheres control body movements, but do so crosswise.
2. Many athletes are left-handed. This applies to various martial arts, boxing, fencing, where they practice tactics that are convenient for them and problematic for their opponents.
3. Every fifth outstanding person is left-handed. A study was conducted: the “left” and “right” were asked to solve the same problem. Left-handers coped faster and almost always found more options solutions.
4. IN difficult circumstances right-handers act more quickly, but left-handers find original ways out of the situation.
5. Retrained left-handed people, when returning to their natural abilities, can also return their “divine gift”.
6. There are also back side. Many mentally ill people, famous serial killers, maniacs and rapists were left-handed or showed hidden “left-handedness”.

Tests: how to identify left-handedness in a child

There are several ways to determine whether a newborn belongs to a particular group. If during the first weeks of life a baby, lying on his back, raises his left hand up, holding his right hand tightly to himself, he is left-handed. In the first three days after birth, the child predominantly tilts his head to the right - he is right-handed, to the left - he is left-handed.

For older children, it is enough to observe their daily actions: which hand holds a comb, cutlery, which hand reaches out to take something. The conclusion is very easy to draw.

Left-handed children

It is worth mentioning that there is a third type of people called ambidextrous. These are people who can use both their right and left hands equally. It is a very rare phenomenon, possessed by less than 1 percent of humanity.

What distinguishes a left-handed person from a right-handed person at a young age is stubbornness and well-developed fine motor skills. Don't be surprised if a left-handed child at the age of three draws better than you did in high school, sings more melodiously than a nightingale, and shows interest in playing musical instruments.

Gullibility, one might even say naivety, is how left-handed people differ from right-handed people. It happens that such children begin to talk later and have difficulty pronouncing certain sounds.

Psychologists say that in order to form a full and healthy development in left-handed children, it is necessary to create for them an environment of love and understanding. Do not point out the sloppiness that appears in them at first, and do not compare them with other children. A child should not feel like an outcast because of his innate characteristics. The task of parents is to instill self-respect in such children and help them master the things around them at their own rhythm.

The ability to persevere through difficulties is what distinguishes a left-hander from a right-hander. Perhaps this character trait was inherited from their ancestors, who were subjected to various kinds of discrimination.

Consequences of improper training for left-handed people

Of course, not everything is so simple and obvious. There is no need to immediately label people based on which hand they have. Almost all experts in the field of education and personal development unanimously declare the dangers of retraining left-handed people. Indeed, in the future this can lead to disruption of sleep and wakefulness, cause digestive disorders, frequent migraines, pain in the right hand and many other deviations from the norm.

How are left-handed people different from right-handed people? This list is big. But we should not forget that the ability to write with one hand or another is far from the most important quality of a person.

The difference between left-handers and right-handers is quite multifaceted, but in general their behavior can have a lot in common.

It's no secret that a left-handed person differs from a right-handed person not only in that he writes while holding a pen in the other hand. Let's try to find out about the features, characteristics and qualities of a left-handed person.

Today in the world, about 8-15% of people use their left hand as their dominant hand; they are called left-handed.

It is interesting that children choose their leading hand at the age of three, this is manifested in games, creative activities– for example, when drawing, painting, sculpting. It is believed that in children who are left-handed, the right hemisphere of the brain is predominant (dominant). His work is responsible for the perception of location and orientation in space, artistic perception, creative, including musical, abilities, intuition, imagination, emotions.

Psychologists often note that left-handers are artistically gifted people and have an excellent ear for music. In addition, left-handers tend to have difficulty pronouncing certain sounds and sometimes have delayed speech development. Speaking about other qualities of left-handers, psychologists note stubbornness, the ability to draw, sculpt, sing, and difficulties with reading and writing.

Left-handed children are often trusting, spontaneous, subject to other people's influence and mood. They are also characterized by capriciousness, tearfulness, persistence and tenacity in achieving what they want. The reasons for the difference between right-handers and left-handers is that the right and left hemispheres of the brain are responsible for different areas mental activity.

Experts also note the connection between temperament and left-handedness. Left-handed people are more emotional than right-handed people and have problems with self-control. Lefties can instantly become angry and lose their temper, but they have logical thinking, the ability to consistently process information, summarize it and analyze it. Left-handers are distinguished by excellent physical mobility, a desire for sports, impressionability and vulnerability, they also have a tendency to fantasize and have excellent memory.

In the past, most children who involuntarily preferred using their left hand were deliberately retrained. Many parents perceive the news that their child is left-handed negatively, but there is no need to be so categorical in your judgments. Today, all experts agree that in no case should a left-handed person be retrained. The process of retraining a left-handed person is a difficult test for his psyche, which will only cause stress and neuroticism in the child.

After retraining, children often suffer from neurotic disorders, including sleep disturbances, appetite problems, headaches, enuresis, and stuttering.

As recommendations for the behavior of adults with a left-handed child, advice is given not to focus on the fact that the child is different from other children because he is left-handed. In a situation where the baby feels that his peculiarity causes increased interest from others, his self-esteem may decrease and shyness and self-doubt may develop.

Interestingly, when choosing a profession, it is worth considering a person’s left-handedness. Left-handed people have proven themselves excellent in areas such as design, photography, painting, architecture, music, and sports. It has been noted that among left-handed people there are a lot of creative personalities who have achieved success; examples include: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Vladimir Mayakovsky, composers Bach, Beethoven, Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe. If a left-handed child appears in the family, you should not retrain him; rather, you should give him a chance to express himself creatively and develop the characteristics and skills that he is good at. Children need and need the support of their parents. Be healthy!

Who is a left-handed person?
This is a person whose right half of the brain is dominant.

Left-handed (left-handed)- a person who prefers to use his left hand. Among people, about 15% are left-handed, that is, every seventh person is left-handed.

Among the inhabitants of the Earth on all five continents of our planet, regardless of nationality and race, right-handed people predominate.

Non-right-handed people should be divided into two unequal parts.

1. Most are left-handed, people whose left hand is predominantly developed. If they were not retrained in childhood, they use this hand to eat, write, wind a watch, and hammer nails. Left hand They are stronger, faster, more reliable. But, the hand used for writing is not an accurate indicator of left- (right-) handedness. So, many left-handers write right hand, using the left hand to perform most other tasks.
2. The smallest part includes ambidextrous people- people with equally developed hands. Practically, these people have equally poorly developed hands. It is from their midst that people emerge who do not even know how to hammer a nail and whose dishes, when trying to wash them, break faster than they become clean. There are few such people, but, according to scientific research, their number is constantly growing.

Humanity has never been entirely right-handed. The existence of left-handers has been reliably known since biblical times. After the return of the Jews from Egypt and their conquest of Palestine, the sons of the tribe of Benjamin were particularly militant, and later, together with the tribe of Judah, formed the kingdom of Judah. In 1406 BC, 700 warriors were selected from an army of almost twenty thousand who knew how to throw stones from a sling with their left hand and accurately hit the target. Thus, even in those days, among Jews there were 3.7 percent of pronounced left-handers. If we take into account that the diagnosis of left-handedness was hardly made more accurately then than now, then we can assume that the ratio of left-handers to right-handers has not changed significantly since then.

Scientists of the last century were quite well aware of the unequal development of our hands, but they took it too literally. Indeed, the muscles of the right hand are more massive, which means they have greater strength. However, the coherence of muscle work depends entirely on the perfection of the command centers of the brain. It is not the right hand itself that is better developed, but the motor centers of the left hemisphere that command it. It is more correct to speak not about the leading hand, but about the leading hemisphere of the brain.
At the same time, we should not forget the peculiarity of the functional organization of our brain - cross-control of the muscular apparatus. Therefore, the work of the right muscles of the human body is controlled by the left hemisphere of the brain, and the work of the left muscles is controlled by the right hemisphere.

Thus, at right-handed The leading hemisphere is the left, and in left-handed people, without sufficiently compelling reasons for this, the right was still considered the leading one.

How the brain is developed ambidextrous, unknown for certain. It is assumed that the most developed centers from any pair of command points of the same name are randomly represented either in the right or in the left hemispheres of their brain.

People noticed their own asymmetry a long time ago. In several drawings of prehistoric man made about 30 thousand years ago, hunters hold a spear or club in their right hand. This means that already at that time most of our ancestors were right-handed. However, to this day we are completely unaware of the reasons for the predominance of the right hand over the left. Of course, there are many guesses on this score, but it is now obvious that most of them will have to be discarded.

In children under one and a half to two years of age, both hands are developed exactly the same. This circumstance gave rise to the idea that we create right-handedness in ourselves by raising our children accordingly. Even the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, the founder of the world's first academy, believed that due to the stupidity of mothers and nannies, who teach us to do everything with our right hand, we acquire this bad habit and from the harmoniously developed people we are born into, we turn into cripples. Even in our time, such ideas have their supporters.

It has been suggested that right-handedness is brought up from the first days of a child’s life and is at first carried out unconsciously by our parents. Right-handed mothers (of course, this equally applies to right-handed fathers and grandparents) most often hold their children on the left, freeing up their right hand. It was assumed that, while in this position, it would be more convenient for the child to use his right hand. Thus, a constant posture at an early age should lay the foundations for right-handedness in the child.

The theories listed above do not currently seem convincing, but there are no others yet. What is known for certain is that the preferential development of one of the hands is in no way a consequence of upbringing, but is inherited. It is more convenient to observe this pattern in left-handed people.

• In families where both parents are left-handed, 50 percent of children are also born left-handed;
• 16.7 percent of left-handed children appear in families where only one of the parents is left-handed;
• 6.3 in families of right-handed people.

It's amazing how little we humans know about ourselves. We still don’t know exactly how many are right-handed and how many are left-handed on earth. The corresponding calculations were carried out more than once, but their results rarely coincided with each other. Various scientists have estimated the number of left-handers from 1 to 30 percent.
Modern, more thorough studies cite figures ranging from 5 to 20 percent.

This discrepancy depends on the assessment methodology. It is important not only who the subject considers himself to be, how others evaluate him and which hand he predominantly uses in everyday life, but also the results of performing special tests.
With their help, it is possible to identify hidden left-handers who were retrained in childhood. Most scientists currently believe that although special training, especially when started at an early age, can turn a left-hander into a person who uses his right hand more often, retraining will not radically change the characteristics of the functional asymmetry of the brain.

To identify the leading hand, 5...10 special tests are used.

• If, when intertwining the fingers, the thumb of the right hand is on top, and in the “Napoleon pose” with the arms crossed on the chest, the right hand is on top, the subject is considered to be right-handed.
• In the clapping test, right-handers clap the palm of their right hand against the stationary palm of their left.
• When winding the watch, they hold it in their left hand, and turn the head of the winding mechanism with the fingers of their right hand.
• The subject is given two pencils and, blindfolded, is asked to draw two circles or squares. The drawing made with the dominant hand is much more perfect than the second drawing.

The value of these tests is the consistency of the results. The final conclusion is made based on their totality.

For left-handers, in diagnostic tests everything turns out the other way around: when the fingers are intertwined, the thumb of the left hand is at the top, and the left hand is in the “Napoleon pose”.

Nothing definite can be said about ambidextrous people. When performing tests to determine the dominant hand, these subjects give the most incredible variability. There are ambidextrous people who write and eat with their left hand, and wind their watches and gesture with their right.

A systematic study of motor asymmetry has revealed many surprising and still poorly understood details.
As already mentioned, in newborn children both hands are equal. If preferences in their use arise in the first years of life, they do not last long and can change many times. Only in the fifth year of life does the right hand of future right-handers gradually begin to take on all complex activities. The process of its improvement continues for a long time and ends in adulthood.
Scientists cannot yet say when.
It is assumed that in old age the opposite process occurs and the inequality of hands gradually smoothes out. It is difficult to say whether this sequence is a normal process of development of functions or whether age-related brain pathology is to blame for smoothing out motor asymmetry.

There is an idea that in girls and women the asymmetry of the hands is less clearly expressed, and among them there are 1.5...2 times less left-handers than among the stronger sex. The improvement of girls’ brain functions takes a considerable period of time and occurs slowly.

In boys, already at the age of six, many functions are performed separately by the right or left hemisphere of the brain, while in girls twice as old, the specialization of the brain is often just beginning. Typically, the development of the left hemisphere is seriously delayed compared to the right, and the improvement of the latter is especially slow, which determines the absence of pronounced asymmetry in girls in the first 6...10 years of their life.

It is especially interesting that among twins, left-handers are found much more often than among those born separately, and both twins are rarely left-handed. Usually one of the twins always becomes right-handed. If the twins are of different sexes, the boy is more likely to be left-handed. Among Siamese twins, as a rule, one is right-handed and the other is left-handed.

What about the rest of the organs of our body?
Are they equally developed or, like the hands, do they have different abilities?

In everyday life we ​​don’t feel much difference. In the development of the legs, for example, asymmetry is less clearly expressed than in the development of the arms, and none of our lower limbs does not have such significant advantages as the right hand has.

It is not surprising that this issue is still not completely clear. Some researchers believe that right-handed people have a dominant left foot; later studies have shown that in people with a dominant right hand, the leading foot also becomes the right one.
In left-handers, a clear preference for any particular leg has not yet been discovered.

It is difficult to identify the leading leg. There are few special tests to answer this question. The nature of the asymmetry of the lower extremities is judged by the way we cross our legs while sitting and by the relative length of the step. It is believed that we usually throw our leading leg and its stride is longer.

Another sign associated with this property of the leading leg is deviation from a given direction when moving blindfolded. Since the leading leg takes a longer step, a person who wants to walk straight, but does not have the ability to control the direction of his movement with the help of vision, will deviate in the direction opposite to the leading leg.
In a systematic deviation from rectilinear motion contains an explanation why people who get lost in the forest or in high reeds and try to strictly adhere to the chosen direction, making a large circle, eventually return to the place from where they started moving.

Functional asymmetry cerebral hemispheres the brain is not limited to differences in the perfection of the muscular functions of the right and left halves of the body. It can also be detected in the functioning of the sense organs. In a person, it is possible to detect the leading eye and the leading ear, the leading half of the nose and tongue.

62 percent of people have the right eye as their dominant eye. If he becomes slightly blind and the person begins to use the other eye more often, the dominant eye does not lose leadership.

For most people, the left side of the tongue has more taste buds and is more sensitive to taste stimuli than the right side.

The left half of the nose is also leading in sensitivity to olfactory stimuli. It is assumed that all olfactory information is analyzed by the right hemisphere, and the left hemisphere is not at all interested in smells.

We easily recognize familiar objects by touch. Even an accidental touch can tell a lot about them.

In right-handed people, the left hand is dominant in tactile talent. Her testimony is more reliable. The left hand more accurately determines the temperature of an object, and the right hand has a better understanding of its weight. Asymmetry of tactile abilities already occurs in children. It was found even in six-year-old boys.

In right-handed people, the right hand is slightly longer than the left, and the nail bed of the thumb is longer and wider than on the left hand.
The nose of right-handers deviates to the right, and of left-handers - to the left, the curl of hair on the head of a right-hander is twisted clockwise, and on the top of the head of left-handers in the opposite direction. The direction of the curl seems like a complete trifle, but for some reason so many different superstitions are associated with this feature of our hair.

Thus, most of the functions of the human body are expressed asymmetrically, and this indisputably indicates that the functions of the brain, in turn, are also unevenly distributed between the hemispheres. In other words, man is an extremely lopsided creature.

Boris Sergeev. "Mind good.." chapters from the book

Lefties are unique people, no one has any doubt about this. They make up 10% of the world's population, but sometimes it seems that they are forgotten: let's remember all the “right-handed” gadgets, not everyone has conveniently equipped desktops, as well as cutlery that is designed for right-handed use.

What are the reasons for a person’s “left-handedness”?

Scientists do not give an exact answer to this question, but research indicates a close relationship between genetics and a person’s external environment. There is no exact data on the presence of “left-handed” genes in humans, but there is confirmation of the fact that left-handers usually have more “left-handed” relatives than right-handers. In addition, scientists have found differences in the structure of the cerebral hemispheres of left-handers and right-handers.

No matter what makes people use their left hand predominantly, tireless researchers have discovered a number of qualities that are unique to left-handed people.

We bring to the attention of all left-handers, as well as right-handers with “left-handed” and “equal-handed” habits (or with ambidexterity).

Review of facts and myths about lefties

1. Left-handed people are more prone to mental disorders

Lefties make up 10% of the population. However, according to research, this figure is higher in the group of people with mental disorders. Recent studies have shown that 20% of people prone to mental disorders prefer to use their left hand.

Researchers from Yale University (New Haven, Conn.) and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas examined 107 patients in outpatient psychiatric clinics. In the group with mild disorders, such as depression or bipolar affective disorder, 11% were left-handed. However, in the group with severe mental disorders, like schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, the percentage of left-handers reached 40%. Scientists believe that interhemispheric asymmetry is important in this case.

2. Health may depend on a more developed hand.

According to a study published in 2010 in the journal Pediatrics, left-handed people are more susceptible to dyslexia (the inability to learn to read and write), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and some other neurological disorders. Researchers cannot explain this phenomenon, but associate it with the interaction of neural connections in the human brain. The human brain consists of two hemispheres: left and right. Most people (both right-handed and left-handed) use the left hemisphere to master speech.

However, about 30% of left-handers either partially use the right hemisphere or do not have a dominant hemisphere at all. According to scientists, it is important that only one hemisphere is dominant, which is why left-handers can experience such mental disorders.

But lefties were luckier in other respects. According to a study published in the journal Laterality, left-handers are at lower risk of developing arthritis or ulcers.

3. Left-handers perceive speech differently

According to the study Medical center Georgetown University, left-handed people perceive rapidly changing sounds more easily than right-handed people.

Researchers have found that the left and right hemispheres respond differently to different sounds. The left hemisphere, which controls the right hand, is responsible for recognizing rapidly alternating sounds, like consonants, while the right hemisphere, which controls the left hand, is responsible for recognizing intonation modulations and slowly alternating sounds, like vowels.

According to researchers, when you wave a flag during a politician's speech, you will perceive his speech differently depending on which hand you hold the flag in.

This study may help valuable help in the treatment of stuttering or speech disorders.

4. And in the primitive age, left-handers were in the minority

“Right-handedness” is not a trend of our time: people used their right hand more confidently than their left more than 500 thousand years ago.

Researchers from the University of Kansas recently determined the “handedness” of an ancient man by his jaw (which sounds pretty strange, doesn’t it?). The study, published in the journal Laterality, found that when our great-great-great-great-grandfathers processed animal skins, they held one edge of the skin with their hand and the other with their teeth. By analyzing the wear of prehistoric jaws, scientists were able to determine which hand our ancestors used most actively. “One tooth is enough to determine whether a person is left-handed or right-handed,” researcher David Freier told LiveScience.

And what is the verdict?

"Prehistoric creatures like modern people, used predominantly the right hand.”

5. Lefties are more sophisticated and artistic

Left-handed people have proudly claimed for years that they are more creative than right-handed people. But is this true? Does being left-handed really mean being more creative and proactive?

According to a study published in the American Journal of Psychology, left-handers do have at least one advantage in terms of creativity: they are better at divergent thinking, a way of thinking in which different solutions are generated simultaneously in the brain.

To determine how much more successful left-handers are in creativity compared to right-handers, representatives of the Left-Handers Club conducted a survey of more than 2,000 left-handers, right-handers and people with equal proficiency in both hands. The study confirmed that left-handers are indeed more successful in terms of construction. careers in art, music, sports and information technology.

6. Vote for lefties!

It turns out that it doesn’t matter whether our politicians are “right” or “left”: unexpectedly, the highest percentage of US presidents are on the “left” side - not in terms of politics, of course.

The list of left-handed presidents is quite impressive. Let's take as an example the last four of the seven US commanders in chief - these are Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Gerald Ford (and let's remember in addition James Garfield and Harry Truman). There were rumors that Ronald Reagan was born left-handed, but at school strict teachers retrained him to be right-handed. Is it conceivable that right-handed presidents are simply pretending to be left-handed?

The growing number of left-handed presidents is probably just a coincidence. However, a recent study by Dutch scientists suggests that left-handed politicians have a clear advantage in televised debates. Guess why? Usually simple people associate gesturing with the right hand as “correct gestures”, “gestures of kindness”. Since the television broadcast works as a mirror image, gestures with the left hand are displayed in the eyes of the viewer as movements in positive side(towards the good).

7. Lefties win at sports

Golf legend Phil Mickelson, tennis star Rafael Nadal, boxing champion Oscar de la Goya - you have no idea how many of our sports favorites are left-handed!

If you believe the data in Rik Smits’ book “The Diverse World of Left-Handed People,” left-handed people really do have an advantage in combat sports. But only under the condition of one-on-one competition. For right-handers, the “left-handedness” of an opponent often turns out to be a surprise for which they are not prepared: for the most part, this applies to tennis, boxing and baseball.

8. Left-handers are more likely to get scared

According to the British Society of Psychology, left-handed people are more susceptible to fear than right-handed people.

In the study, participants watched an 8-minute episode from the movie “The Silence of the Lambs.” After viewing, left-handers showed more signs of post-traumatic stress disorder than right-handers and made more errors in describing what they saw.

“It turns out that left-handers, after experiencing stress (even if the stressful situation was in a movie), behave the same way as people after post-traumatic stress disorder,” said the head of the researchers, Caroline Choudgerry. She believes that the reasons lie in brain activity. “Obviously, that the two hemispheres of the brain react differently to stress, and the right hemisphere reacts more to the fear factor. However, more research is required before saying anything definitively,” she adds.

9. Lefties get angrier

If you have disagreements with your right-handed partner (he may be right about many things), the likely cause may be your left-handedness. According to a rapid study in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, left-handed people are more likely to experience negative emotions Moreover, they tend to worry longer and delay reconciliation.

10. Lefties are easier to discourage

Lefties are much more prone to self-deprecation. Researchers from the University of Abertay in Scotland examined 46 left-handers and 66 right-handers for signs of impulsivity and self-control. It turned out that left-handers react more painfully to statements like “I am afraid of making a mistake” and “I am affected by criticism or ridicule.” The combination of responses from left-handers has led researchers to believe that left-handers are more vulnerable, shy and lacking in self-confidence compared to right-handers.

"Left-handers tend to be hesitant, thoughtful, while right-handers are more decisive and reckless in their decisions and actions," researcher Lynn Wright told BBC News.

11. Left-handed people are more likely to put it behind their collar.

Next time you're stuck at a bar with a tipsy friend, pay attention to which hand he's holding on to his whiskey glass: it'll probably be his left hand.

It has long been believed that left-handers are more prone to alcoholism. There were no reliable facts or convincing evidence on this matter. And only recently, a study conducted in 12 countries with the participation of 25 thousand people, clarified the situation a little. Left-handers do not make up the majority of alcoholics - but they do drink more and more often than right-handers.

According to Kevin Denny, a researcher who conducted a study of left-handed alcoholism, the results of which were published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, main goal The research was aimed at debunking the myth of widespread alcoholism among left-handed people. “There is no evidence to suggest that left-handed people are necessarily more likely to drink excessively,” he says in a press release. “And there is no reason to assert that excessive cravings for drinking are caused by disharmony in the functioning of the brain hemispheres or stressful situations due to the social status of left-handers as a social minority."

12. Lefties have their own day

Left-handers all over the world celebrate this day, which light hand The Left-Handed Club became an official holiday in the UK in 1992 to raise awareness of the lifestyle and problems of left-handed people.

According to a statement on the initiative group’s website, “this holiday is a day when left-handers are proud of their “left-handedness” and try to convey to other fellow citizens all its advantages and disadvantages.”

How can right-handed people celebrate this day? Create a left-handed zone: if you are in a business where a narrow line for left-handers is possible, do it, develop it, even if it’s a small thing like office desks for left-handed employees or left-handed cutlery.