A recent headline caught my attention. It read: “Are Left-Handed People Smarter than Right-Handed People? Here's What Researchers Say.” In the article, written by Ann W. Schmidt and published on www.FoxNews.com, was timed to reflect the celebration of “International Left Handers Day”, celebrated each year on August 13th.
In it, Schmidt raised the age-old question: “Are left-handed people smarter, or even more creative, than right-handed people?” Apparently, the answer to this burning question is hotly debated. It seems that left-handed people make up about 10% of the population. Scientists’ best guess is that being left-handed is influenced by genetics, environment, random chance, and/or a combination of these three factors.
Either way, history records a long list of famous left-handed people, including Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin and Ronald Reagan. And for this reason, it might be easy to assume that left-handed people are perhaps smarter than right handed people.
Not so fast. Now, certain studies appear to have found otherwise. For instance, a 2017 study and meta-analyses conducted by researchers at the University of Athens in Greece found what they assert was a "negligible" difference between the intelligence of left-handed and right-handed people.
In the study, researchers analyzed 36 studies measuring the IQ scores of more than 66,000 individuals. The meta-analyses actually found that right-handed people had slightly higher IQ scores than left-handed people. Moreover, the report said that when the largest study was excluded, the researchers found “no difference between the two groups”.
Add to this the fact that a 2019 survey found that despite the fact that left-handed people think they are more creative, they actually did not spend "significantly more time on artistic pursuits" than right-handed people. This particular survey questioned more than 20,000 participants. The researchers did acknowledge that creativity is not all that easy a quality to measure in individuals.
The article was of particular interest to me because, even though I myself am right-handed, my father was left-handed. My youngest son is ambidextrous, in that he writes right-handed, but plays golf and fields a baseball left-handed. And it now appears that more than one of my seven small grandsons is very likely proving to be left-handed.
Researchers have long asserted that right-handed people utilize more of the left side of their brain while left-handed people utilize more of the right.* Hence, the well-worn quip that only left-handed people are in their right minds!
Given all of this, I still do not know whether I am actually smarter or dumber than my father, my son, and/or several of my grandsons. I could easily claim as much; but they could just as equally claim otherwise.
So maybe what really matters is not so much whether or not each of us has a particular hemisphere of his or her mind that is dominant. Instead, maybe what really matters is that each and every one of us was created in the image of God and endowed by Him as our Creator with a unique set of individual characteristics.
If we were born right-handed, then God desired of us to be such. And if we were born left-handed, the He desired us to be such as well. The important thing is that we each recognize our respective God-given endowments, and put them to use for Him and His kingdom. Otherwise, irrespective of whether we are right-handed or left-handed, we will prove ourselves to be less intelligent than God intended as we fail to realize our God-given potential. And clearly, anyone who does such is not in his or her right mind!
So, here’s some handy advice: recognize exactly who you are in Christ Jesus! This involves acknowledging that God created you in His image, and in the process, endowed you with a uniquely chosen set of characteristics, skills, talents, and gifts. He did this solely for His purposes and for His glory. And you will best glorify Him when you put these to work for His purposes and His glory!
I assure you… Doing so makes you a very handy person in God’s eyes!
SOURCES:
NEWS ARTICLE:
https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/international-left-handers-day-smarter.
SEE ALSO:
https://www.healthline.com/health/are-left-handed-people-smarter#hand-preference;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Lefthanders_Day;
https://www.lefthandersday.com/; and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness.
*NOTE: According to an article titled “Difference between Left-Handed and Right-Handed People” posted online at https://theydiffer.com/difference-between-left-handed-and-right-handed-people/:
“It is said that since our brain’s hemispheres are crossed (the right side of the brain controls the left part of the body and the left side of the brain controls the right side), lefties are more prone to having the characteristics dictated by the right side of the brain. This means that they should be more creative, more intuitive, better at expressing their feelings, better at visualization and 3D perception. Also, the dominance of the right side of the brain and a prevalence of emotional intellect could make lefties more susceptible to a wider range of emotions, meaning that they live more intensely…
Right-handed people make up the majority or 90% of the entire human population. They are said to be left-brained, meaning that they will have higher abilities in mathematics, logical thinking and organizing, memorizing, computing and technical information processing, discovering patterns and applying them.”
In it, Schmidt raised the age-old question: “Are left-handed people smarter, or even more creative, than right-handed people?” Apparently, the answer to this burning question is hotly debated. It seems that left-handed people make up about 10% of the population. Scientists’ best guess is that being left-handed is influenced by genetics, environment, random chance, and/or a combination of these three factors.
Either way, history records a long list of famous left-handed people, including Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin and Ronald Reagan. And for this reason, it might be easy to assume that left-handed people are perhaps smarter than right handed people.
Not so fast. Now, certain studies appear to have found otherwise. For instance, a 2017 study and meta-analyses conducted by researchers at the University of Athens in Greece found what they assert was a "negligible" difference between the intelligence of left-handed and right-handed people.
In the study, researchers analyzed 36 studies measuring the IQ scores of more than 66,000 individuals. The meta-analyses actually found that right-handed people had slightly higher IQ scores than left-handed people. Moreover, the report said that when the largest study was excluded, the researchers found “no difference between the two groups”.
Add to this the fact that a 2019 survey found that despite the fact that left-handed people think they are more creative, they actually did not spend "significantly more time on artistic pursuits" than right-handed people. This particular survey questioned more than 20,000 participants. The researchers did acknowledge that creativity is not all that easy a quality to measure in individuals.
The article was of particular interest to me because, even though I myself am right-handed, my father was left-handed. My youngest son is ambidextrous, in that he writes right-handed, but plays golf and fields a baseball left-handed. And it now appears that more than one of my seven small grandsons is very likely proving to be left-handed.
Researchers have long asserted that right-handed people utilize more of the left side of their brain while left-handed people utilize more of the right.* Hence, the well-worn quip that only left-handed people are in their right minds!
Given all of this, I still do not know whether I am actually smarter or dumber than my father, my son, and/or several of my grandsons. I could easily claim as much; but they could just as equally claim otherwise.
So maybe what really matters is not so much whether or not each of us has a particular hemisphere of his or her mind that is dominant. Instead, maybe what really matters is that each and every one of us was created in the image of God and endowed by Him as our Creator with a unique set of individual characteristics.
If we were born right-handed, then God desired of us to be such. And if we were born left-handed, the He desired us to be such as well. The important thing is that we each recognize our respective God-given endowments, and put them to use for Him and His kingdom. Otherwise, irrespective of whether we are right-handed or left-handed, we will prove ourselves to be less intelligent than God intended as we fail to realize our God-given potential. And clearly, anyone who does such is not in his or her right mind!
So, here’s some handy advice: recognize exactly who you are in Christ Jesus! This involves acknowledging that God created you in His image, and in the process, endowed you with a uniquely chosen set of characteristics, skills, talents, and gifts. He did this solely for His purposes and for His glory. And you will best glorify Him when you put these to work for His purposes and His glory!
I assure you… Doing so makes you a very handy person in God’s eyes!
SOURCES:
NEWS ARTICLE:
https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/international-left-handers-day-smarter.
SEE ALSO:
https://www.healthline.com/health/are-left-handed-people-smarter#hand-preference;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Lefthanders_Day;
https://www.lefthandersday.com/; and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness.
*NOTE: According to an article titled “Difference between Left-Handed and Right-Handed People” posted online at https://theydiffer.com/difference-between-left-handed-and-right-handed-people/:
“It is said that since our brain’s hemispheres are crossed (the right side of the brain controls the left part of the body and the left side of the brain controls the right side), lefties are more prone to having the characteristics dictated by the right side of the brain. This means that they should be more creative, more intuitive, better at expressing their feelings, better at visualization and 3D perception. Also, the dominance of the right side of the brain and a prevalence of emotional intellect could make lefties more susceptible to a wider range of emotions, meaning that they live more intensely…
Right-handed people make up the majority or 90% of the entire human population. They are said to be left-brained, meaning that they will have higher abilities in mathematics, logical thinking and organizing, memorizing, computing and technical information processing, discovering patterns and applying them.”