An Examination of Handedness as a Predictor of Personality

It was noted in the book, The Well Dressed Ape, by Hannah Holmes, that there have been many studies that suggest that there is a correlation between handedness and certainly personality traits (Holmes, 2008). That led to the creation of this website, with the goal being to determine if there truly is a relationship that can be observed between handedness and behavior or other physical traits. That being said, it is probably best to define what is meant by the term, “handedness”. Handedness is defined as, “a preference for using one hand rather than the other to perform most manual tasks and activities.” (“handedness”) This gives the impression that handedness is something that can be changed at will, if the effort was put into it. Well, as anyone who has tried to write something with their non-dominant could attest, that is not quite as simple as it sounds. It is by no means impossible to switch dominant hands though, especially if the individual is younger.

What is it, though, that determines handedness? Is it biological factors? Cultural, environmental or social ones? The prevailing studies that have been examined in this website suggest that it is a combination of both. Since handedness is caused by both biological and environmental factors it is certainly plausible that handedness could be connected with personality as biological and environmental factors also play a large role in shaping personality. Therefore, it is plausible that handedness could function as a predictor of personalities and other physical and mental traits. This website will attempt to assess the veracity of the correlation between handedness and environmental and biological effectors and whether or not handedness could potentially be used to predict personality.

I am personally quite interested in this topic; Holmes' initial comments introduced me to the subject and I am left-handed, which made me curious as to the authenticity of the claims. On a quick side note, there was an effort made to keep the site free of bias for one handedness or the other, however, most studies have looked specifically at left-handers using the right-handed majority as a control group.