Many right-handers ask a reasonable question why left-handers often use the phrase “I'm left-handed!” As an excuse for their hands ... awkwardness. What's wrong with left handedness?

Lefty, this is when:

• don't see the word you just wrote;
• you twist your hand so that you don’t rub the wet ink on the paper with the edge of your palm;
• You can not use ink pens because of point number 2;
• it is inconvenient for you to open the doors, because they are all designed for opening with the right hand;
• the opening of a tin can with the Soviet “right” opener-knife turns from an easy thing into a break of a thick civil tin “profitable” with considerable use of physical force;
• with purchased knives, by the way, there is the same misfortune, because if the knife has an asymmetrical sharpening under right-handers, it leads to the side;
• you have to either learn to take a rifle in your right hand or look like an idiot;
• standard sports / air pistols have a handle that is immediately cast in a right-handed position, at least in shooting galleries;
• almost all modern construction tools are designed for use on the right side;
• remember the right-hand traffic and the structure of the car;
• blood from the finger is often also taken on the left hand, since everyone uses it less often;
• you have to carefully choose a seat at the table so that no one is left;

And 1000 more small things and charms that only left-handers will understand and which will never be available for right-handers to understand. In general, left-handed people could feel right-handed Nokia Lumia owners in 2012-2013, because the questions for them were about the same and the same level.

The number of left-handers on our planet, depending on the region, varies from minimum values ​​(3 percent or less in the Russian Federation and in the post-Soviet space) to a third or more of the population (Australia and South Africa). But this figure never even approached a value of 50%. Why?

There is a lot of research on the topic of left-handedness, just like various tales. One of the most common myths that the right hemisphere of the brain, the dominance of which leads to left-handedness, is responsible for all sorts of creative traits and abilities of a person, while right-handedly completely logical mathematics.


An example of spherical stereotypes in a vacuum

In fact, no, more precisely, it is not proven. Perhaps left-handedness somehow contributes to the development of creative inclinations in people in the modern world of right-handers, however, this is more likely due to the fact that left-handers constantly have to “mirror” what is happening to understand the process (for example, how to repeat this or that movement on the left side ), and not because it was laid by nature.

The population of left-handers is small and makes up "on average in the hospital" from 8 to 10% (according to some data up to 15%) of the population (with the exception of some regions). According to scientists, many factors affect left-handedness, ranging from habitat to inheritance. The latter takes place, since if there is one left-handed person in the family, his descendants are also quite often left-handed, which “does not fit” into the statistical plug 8-15%. There is the concept of "family" of left-handedness. Researchers attribute this phenomenon to learning and the desire to imitate the parent. It is highly likely that if the father is left-handed, as well as an older brother or brothers, the younger will tend to imitate them, including in terms of using his left hand as the lead. Recorded fact

Socio-combat hypotheses of the origin of left-handers

In addition to the ongoing neurological and brain research, there are a number of quite logical views on the origin and preservation of the left-handed population.

At the beginning of the 2000s, scientists Charlotte Forry and Michael Reinold conducted a study to determine the pattern of increasing left-handed populations depending on the social environment. The researchers analyzed other works from the fields of neurobiology and anthropology and came to the conclusion that over the past 10,000 years the number of left-handers has not decreased and has always been in the region of 10% + \ - for the human population. At the same time, in the study of 1991, the heredity of the phenomenon of left-handedness was revealed. At the same time, in another work in 1997 it was claimed that left-handers, on average, have a shorter lifespan than right-handers and are more sensitive to neurological disorders.

However, at the same time, nature did not get rid of left-handers through natural selection (when it was still working), but preserved such a phenomenon as left-handed.

Forry and Reynold suggested that the survival rate of left-handed populations provided the fact that they are more successful fighters against the background of most right-handers. This opinion is indirectly confirmed by modern professional sports, specifically fencing and boxing. If in daily life out of ten people only one is left-handed, then in professional boxing, according to some estimates, the number of left-handers reaches 25 percent or more.


2003, Wladimir Klitschko against left-handed Corrie Sanders . That fight Sanders won by TKO, but a year later he lost to Vladimir's brother Vitaly

The same trend is observed in fencing. At the same time, the national team coaches of the last 50 years often deliberately prefer left-handers, since it is more difficult to “work” with them for their right-handed opponents due to lack of practice.

Scientists relied on modern sports statistics, which, for the “spherical situation in a vacuum”, shows that in the case of a “fight to the death” in antiquity, left-handers had more chances to survive because of their uniqueness and inconvenience for the enemy: for 100 fights in 90 cases right-handed met with right-handed and only in 10 cases - with lefty. For left-handers, this statistic is the same, that is, the factor of "surprise" in the form of another leading hand played in their favor. The danger and inconvenience of left-handers are noted by fencing and boxing coaches. To meet with such an opponent, the athlete has to prepare additionally and constantly be on the alert, while the left-hander is ready in advance and knows all his strengths and weaknesses in a fight with right-handers.

At the same time, from a socially combat point of view, the advantage of a left-handed person is not so strong, because otherwise we, left-handers and right-handers, would have been approximately equal for a long time, at least among men. With the increase in the number of left-handers in antiquity, their level of "combat advantage" fell (more left-handers - more right-handers able to cope with them), which probably led to the achievement of a natural "balance" at around 10%.

In addition, the “combat” hypothesis has another weak point: if left-handedness is a sign that allowed a certain category of males to survive in a population, then why is there a sufficiently large number of left-handed females? Yes, this feature can be inherited, which has led to a stable presence of left-handed female individuals, although not as often as male individuals (left-handed men are almost twice as large as left-handed women), but the fact that both sexes puts this hypothesis under some doubt.

A small number of left-handers in antiquity is confirmed by the analysis of tools and weapons, through the analysis of wear and, for example, ax sheathing. Of course, these data have a certain error, because in an acceptable form, not too many tools were used, used ten to twenty thousand years ago.

In any case, from a sociological point of view of the development of the human population over the past 40,000 years, this hypothesis has the right to exist.

If the “combat” hypothesis is trying to explain the existence of left-handers, then a number of other scientists' assumptions shed light on why so few of them are.

One of the most powerful factors influencing a person and his development is the social environment. In many countries and regions, being left-handed was considered indecent or unacceptable for centuries.

One of the clearest examples of persecution of left-handers can be called regions where Islam is practiced. Here are some quran excerpts:

When one of you begins to eat, let him eat with his right hand, and if someone drinks, let him do it with his right hand, for Shaitan eats and drinks with his left hand (Hadith 14th).

The Messenger of Allah said: "Allah who fell in love for each other for the sake of Judgment Day will be on the green ground of chrysolite (precious stone) in the shadow of His Throne, on His right hand, whose hands are Right."

It is worth noting that over the centuries of civilization, the laws of Shari'a and the total ban on using (degrading) the left hand as the “hand of Shaitan” now depend solely on the interpretation of the Koran and the degree of moderation of Muslims. Thus, a hard reference to the inadmissibility of using when eating with the left hand and generally using the left hand is now more applicable to Wahhabis, who are referred to the second quoted quotation and materialize Allah. More moderate Muslims claim that many of the things described in the Qur'an had a logical basis for the time of its writing (for example, in terms of hygiene), and the verse about the mention of "two right hands" in Allah is a typical example of Arabic eloquence and this The statement should be carried to metaphors.

Be that as it may, for centuries Islam has eradicated left-handed people as a phenomenon, and in some countries even now the use of the left hand when eating, including from the side of the Gentiles, is considered offensive and unacceptable.

Similar problems have arisen in many cultures (Japan, India), where, just like in Islamic countries, one cannot eat food with the left hand. In some parts of India you can’t even touch the plate with your left hand. In China, on the contrary, the left-handed person is considered a success for the family, since the child is predicted of success and a high level of ability in the sciences, just because he is left-handed. In many Eastern countries, gestures or the transfer of objects with the help of his left hand can be regarded as an insult or neglect.

In early Christianity and the Middle Ages, left-handers also did not complain too much. As in Islam, Christians believed that the left hand was the hand of the Devil, since he was sitting on his left shoulder, inclining a person to sin.

All of these factors together could seriously reduce the natural population of left-handers.

There are cases when in the more enlightened last century children when writing were forced to retrain from the left hand to the right. In the USSR, this was done for the sake of "discipline" and "uniformity", in other countries - for cultural reasons or because of the peculiarities of writing.

Now the main criterion for left- or right-handedness is the use of a particular hand in writing. However, there is a significant part of the "left-handed", writing with his right hand, and doing everything else with his left.

Another interesting fact: in developed industrialized countries, the probability of an industrial accident involving left-handed people is higher. Due to the overwhelming number of right-handers, many machines and units are designed for ease of use with the right hand, without taking into account the existence of left-handers as such. It has been proven that in emergency cases a person unknowingly strives to use his leading hand. For example, this is why, when skydiving for left-handers, separate trainings are conducted to secure the “jerk” of the ring not with the left, but with the right hand, under which it is installed. In production, a situation may arise when the emergency stop button of the machine will be found “under the right hand” and the left-handed person simply will not be able to navigate.

Kids left handed

The concept of the modern world created by right-handers for right-handers creates a number of inconveniences for left-handers, especially for children.

To unequivocally declare that a child is left-handed, because he is holding a spoon in his left hand or trying to write with his left hand does not mean that he is left-handed. At a tender age, coordination of movements and habits are not yet formed, and something can turn out equally bad with both hands. And that's fine.

Neurologists have long tried to develop tests to determine the leading hand. Previously, the “leading” hand was determined solely by the hand with which the person writes, but this is not quite true, since we should not forget about the habit. Here are a number of simple actions that supposedly allow you to determine the leading hand (and eye) in a person:

• "Invisible gun." Fold your fingers “gun” and aim. An open eye will lead. If it is the left eye, then the person is rather left-handed.
• Crossed arms on chest. The leading hand is on top, the palm is under the elbow. If the position of the hands is changed, then the person will be uncomfortable.
• Applause. With a leading hand a person slaps from above, “passive” holds under blow from below.
• Leading the foot man pushes when jumping.
• Interlacing fingers The thumb of the leading hand will be on top, closing the thumb of the "passive".

Unfortunately, even the totality of these tests does not provide a guaranteed correct result, and with age, the readings can be blurred even more. On the author, who is an absolute lefty from birth, many of these tests do not work in the 25th year of life. For example, often left-handers learn to shoot and aim with their right hand / eye. Coordination of hands increases with age (since nobody cancels the right-handed world around), so the “crossed arms” test no longer works.

This publication has repeatedly mentioned that our world is a world of right-handers. Thus, from an early age, a child has to adapt to the reality around him. In a situation with a left-handed child, parents have several tasks. The first is to ensure the survival of the child and the attainment of at least sixteen years of age.left-handed support, because in his life almost everything happens "mirror". The second is not to try to retrain and be vigilant.

Here are some examples of conflicting and simply dangerous situations that right-handers cannot realize:

• the left-handed child will hardly cope with the twisting of the screw, because he will need to make the movement outwards with a brush (which is harder), and not inside, as a right-handed person.
• A left-handed child (teenager) should not be given a grinder (he simply cannot take it correctly in his left hand). If you have enough power, carefully observe the direction of rotation of the disk and in which direction it is turned. This may save your son (or daughter) eyes.
• Places that are convenient for, for example, hammering in a nail or tightening a nut for right-handers, are absolutely unbearable for left-handers. For example, you can stand in a corner so that the wall is on the left. Imagine a hammer in your right hand, and a nail in your left. Conveniently? Yes. Now change your hands and turn yourself mentally into a left-handed person. You just can not comfortably swipe, not something to get where you want. The same with tightening the valve-nuts.
• You always need to make sure that your left-hander is sitting on the left edge of the table, otherwise he will hit his neighbor’s right hand with his left hand. It also works for school desks. With age, left-handers begin to unconsciously choose their positions when nothing constrains their movements, sometimes at a very early age, but first they need help.

The only thing worth insisting is holding the mouse with your right hand. In the future, the left-handed person will not only be happy to learn to keep the mouse “like everyone else”, but also save a lot of time, effort, nerves and money on this habit. Good martial arts training (many tricks in the same judo are demonstrated and forgotten under the right hand), basketball, hockey, and indeed any sport where both hands are required. Football, here, unfortunately, will not work.

We still know too little about the brain and its own origin to give an unequivocal answer as to why left-handers exist. Many primates do not have a pronounced leading hand, that is, one can definitely say that left-handed or right-handedness is some kind of evolutionary mechanism, mutation or consequence of the development of the brain. It is also known for certain that when the brain is damaged, one of the hemispheres adapts to the resulting damage and is retrained "to the other side." The same works with the loss of a limb, when a left-handed person who has lost his leading hand, eventually learns to right-handed. By the way, in the opposite direction, this process proceeds, for some reason, more slowly. Perhaps the cause is evolutionary mechanisms or simply the fact that left-handers have to use their right hand more often than right-handers - their left.

But, regardless of the precariousness of the hypotheses of the origin and the preservation of the left-handed population, the fact remains: the left-handers have long existed and are not going to disappear.

The mentioned works:
doi: 10.1037 / 0894-4105.11.4.552
doi: 10.1098 / rspb.2004.2926