Lefty or Righty?

You’ve surely heard about students being left-brained or right-brained. And: you’ve probably heard that this belief is a myth.

The folks over at Ted Ed have made a helpful video explaining the genesis of this belief, and the ways that we know it’s not true.

An important note in this controversy: it is certainly true that some people are more creative than others. It’s also certainly true that some are more logical than others. After all–to summarize psychology in three words–people are different.

Also, the phrase “left-brained” may be useful shorthand for “rather more logical,” and “right-brained” for “more creative than most.”

After all, we can use the phrase “heart-broken” without believing that this lovelorn person’s heart is–you know–actually broken.

But, we should be quite clear that creativity and logical thought aren’t “happening” on different sides of the brain. In fact, we should also recognize that a sharp distinction between creativity and logical thought doesn’t even make much sense.

So: you might be left-handed or right-handed, but you aren’t left-brained or right-brained–except in a rather creative way of speaking.

(By the way, if you’d like to learn about AMAZING research into people who literally have only half a brain, click here.)