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Handedness Bias

5 Post author: beriukay 14 March 2011 02:49PM

I just read a blog post on NeuroLogica Blog that could have been a LW post, so I figured that I would bring it on over. It basically details how knowing about our biases can help us correct for them, a la the lens that sees its flaws, and then brings to light a new study (unfortunately behind a paywall... I wanted to see the methodology) that shows that the simple act of wearing a glove on your dominant hand can influence how you perceive the world.

When I learned that Dexter and Sinister were Latin words for Right and Left, respectively, I was told that it came from shield formations, and how the person on your left was a leech for using your shield protection, and the one on your right was your protector. Now that explanation sounds a bit hollow.

Comments (13)

Comment author: [deleted] 14 March 2011 11:44:04PM 4 points [-]

Here is a PDF download of the paper. (Found on the author's website.)

Comment author: beriukay 15 March 2011 03:31:41AM 1 point [-]

Thank you. I didn't think of that.

Comment author: Normal_Anomaly 15 March 2011 12:53:37AM 3 points [-]

I'm left-handed, and I very explicity associated goodness with the left side as a kid. I thought I was being contrarian.

Comment author: [deleted] 15 March 2011 01:26:29AM 0 points [-]

Same.

Comment author: lucidfox 14 March 2011 04:03:40PM 1 point [-]

As a left-handed person, I can definitely confirm I've encountered handedness bias plenty of times in my life.

Just like with other "defaults" in things like race and sexual orientation, right-handed people typically don't think of themselves as having a certain handedness until it's explicitly pointed out.

Comment author: Clippy 14 March 2011 07:55:41PM 1 point [-]

Try being a paperclip collector for a day...

Comment author: Larks 14 March 2011 10:17:52PM 2 points [-]

Not going to fall for that one!

Comment author: MartinB 15 March 2011 04:35:43PM 0 points [-]

Is there handedness for paperclips?

Comment author: Clippy 15 March 2011 10:32:58PM 2 points [-]

No. A paperclip's spiral direction can be inverted by rotating it to the other side.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 14 March 2011 10:18:22PM 1 point [-]

When I learned that Dexter and Sinister were greek words for Right and Left, respectively,

I believe you mean Latin words.

was told that it came from shield formations, and how the person on your left was a leech for using your shield protection, and the one on your right was your protector.

I was told it had to do with the left side being considered unlucky when performing auguries.

Comment author: beriukay 15 March 2011 04:04:43AM 1 point [-]

Corrected. Thanks.

Comment author: Marius 15 March 2011 03:47:02PM 1 point [-]

I had been under the impression that the associations went the other way - that the Latin Dexter came from the Indo-European as did the Latin Sinestra. From those, we derived the association of the right hand with dexterity (so a person with 2 right hands is ambidextrous whereas a person with 2 left feet is clumsy) and the sneaky connotations of "sinister" (as you watch the person's right hand to ensure he will not attack you; a sinister person might stab with the left hand by surprise).

Comment author: jmmcd 14 March 2011 04:46:14PM 1 point [-]

a new study (unfortunately behind a paywall... I wanted to see the methodology)

PM me for a copy of the article.