Michelangelo -- sculptor of the famed David -- is cited a creative genius left-hander. Anibal Trejo/Shutterstock.com
Dispelling the Myth of the Left-Handed Genius
The right brain/creative and left brain/rational distinctions are really not so simple.
Ask left-handed people about their lot and they’ll probably tell you how special they are. They will list all of the famous and brilliant people who are left-hand dominant including every post-Cold War president (except George W. Bush), Joan of Arc and Michelangelo to name just a few.
Up until recently, in America and still in some Asian countries, lefties were vilified. They’ve been accused of being sociopaths and forced to use their right hand.
More recently, we’ve come to celebrate lefties as iconoclasts. The new narrative stresses that lefties’ brains work differently, which makes them more creative. When exposed to language, lefties are more likely to engage both sides of their brain, rather than just the left side. It has also been said that using your left hand engages the right side of the brain, which is associated with creativity. A recent blog post in the New Yorker points to several studies demonstrating how much smarter and more creative lefties are.
(Image via Anibal Trejo/Shutterstock.com)