Are left-handed people really more creative?

I am left handed and also one of the most un-creative people on this planet. I do math and and logic. I notice that a lot of actors are lefties but I assume that is only because I notice them. I would bet that they are about at the national average.

I haven’t seen any (legitimate) studies that validates the claim.

Well, as far as I know, if one’s left-handed that means that his right brain hemisphere is dominant. Maybe there’s also a center for creativity in that hemisphere and is thus more active and developed.

I’m left handed and use my creativity to make a living. And now that I think about it, many of my friends who are either artists or musicians are left handed. Not all of them, but certainly more are than not.

I’m not saying I 100% agree with the claim, but there is certainly a noticable trend.

server error, double post

I’m a leftie and definitely a creative personality.

Since having had a l/h b//f, I watch often for lefties in movies, theatre, and TV. There seem to be a disproportionate number as Spargett noted.

Which side of the brain or which hand signifies the getting-lost gene or inability-to-read maps? All the women in my family are topologically handicapped (and righties.)

I’m right-handed, male, creative (media arts), and can read maps and follow directions very well. Am I the exception then?

FYI the last three presidents before dubya were all lefties…Clinton, George H. W., and Reagan…hmm.

I’m Left Handed. I’m pretty creative, but I don’t know any other Left handers so i can;t report on any trend

I imagine that as with most of these issues, there is a statistically significant correlation between handedness and creativity, but that it is small compared to the variation between individuals regardless of handedness.

i’m right handed and i’ve got 5 bucks folded into a model of the parthanon that says i’m more creative than you.

As a left-hander, I can say unequivocally that your statement is completely true.

I even hold secret meetings with my other sinistres where we denounce the righties (like poor, hapless ben) . We call them “kill righty” meetings. Sometimes we even get one, tie him upside-down, and coat his hand with pencil lead while forcing him to try and cut construction paper using left-handed scissors.

Yes, there is some basis for this claim. That’s because the two hemispheres of our brain carry out different functions. The left-hand side – the dominant half for right handers – is the verbal, analytical side and the right-hand side – the dominant half for left handers – is the spatial visual side.

Although it has never been scientifically proven that left handers are more creative, quite a high number of world-famous artists and musicians are southpaws. There are also a disproportionately long list of actors who are lefties.

Someone who is believed to have used both sides of his brain equally was Leonardo da Vinci. he was both a genius scientist and engineer, as well as a highly talented artist and sculptor. He was one of those rare individuals who fused logic, fact and reason with emotion, intuition and abstract thinking. Not surprisingly, for someone who used both sides of his brain, he was also ambidextrous.

Oops, sorry pressed ‘answer’ twice. :)

And I just discovered that Kermit the Frog is left-handed.

Left handed individuals are not necessarily more creative, they are simply different, however this difference can be perceived as creativity to the right handed majority. Some recent theories suggest that right handedness formed as language became more prominent in our evolution. This belief is based on the observation that while apes do have left and right hand dominance it is around a fifty fifty split between the two. With recent functional MRI studies, researchers have determined that in most humans the language center is in the left hemisphere of the brain, which would correlate with selection for right handedness.
With left handed individuals, however, researchers have found that centers such as the language center are often in very different locations than one would expect. For instance, language can span both hemispheres or even be on the right. This implies that the brain of left handers can be more flexible in its distribution of functions, allowing one function to be proximal to different functions than they would be in a right hander’s brain. It is important to remember that these differences are very small, but even slight differences can still be noticed. This has led researchers to often accept only right handed subjects in functional MRI studies.

no, I’m right handed.

I’d say yes left handed people are more creative. Why? They have to be, in order not to die in a right handed person’s world.
Clinton was actually a lefty too.