Study says lefties aren’t more creative after all

For decades, popular belief has held that left-handed people are more creative than their right-handed peers. From Leonardo da Vinci and Mozart to Lady Gaga and Jimi Hendrix, the world is full of famous left-handed artists and performers.

But a new study from Cornell University finds no evidence that being left-handed makes someone more creative.

“In fact, there is some evidence that righties are more creative in some laboratory tests, and strong evidence that righties are overrepresented in professions that require the greatest creativity,” said Daniel Casasanto, psychology professor and senior author of “Handedness and Creativity: Facts and Fictions,” published in the Psychonomic Bulletin and Review.

Casasanto and his team reviewed more than 1,000 studies spanning the last century. Most were eliminated due to poor data reporting or because they only included right-handed participants. In the end, just 17 studies met the criteria for inclusion.

“If you look at the literature on the whole,” Casasanto said, “this claim of left-handed creativity is simply not supported.”

Ranking professional creativity

The researchers also examined U.S. government data that included nearly 12,000 individuals across more than 700 professions, ranked by the level of creativity required. While artists and musicians did show a higher proportion of left-handers, other highly creative fields, such as architecture, did not. Left-handed people were underrepresented in many creative fields.

“People generalized that there [are] all these left-handed artists and musicians, so lefties must be more creative. But if you do an unbiased survey of lots of professions, then this apparent lefty superiority disappears,” Casasanto said.

“There has been this almost romantic notion that left-handed people are naturally more artistic or creative,” Dr. Mosun, a psychiatrist at Cassiobury Court in the UK, said in an interview with Newsweek. “Historically, left-handedness was seen as rare and associated with difference, which society sometimes interprets as special talent or even genius.”

Left-handed stereotypes

But the stereotype hasn’t always been positive. Psychology Today notes that popular myths about left-handed people include being more introverted, having weaker immune systems or even being more prone to criminal behavior. And in some parts of the world, those views have real consequences. In China, while an estimated 10% to 12% of people are born left-handed, many are pressured to switch to using their right hand. 

The creativity myth, however, endured — especially in Western culture, where left-handedness became associated with being an “outside-the-box” thinker. Casasanto believes part of the myth’s staying power comes from a kind of “left-handed exceptionalism.”

“This idea that left-handedness, art and mental illness go together — what we call the ‘myth of the tortured artist’ — could contribute to the appeal and the staying power of the lefty creativity myth,” Casasanto said.

Mosun agreed with the root of this stereotype while offering a broader view on what drives creativity.

“In reality, what this new research shows is that left-handed people aren’t inherently more creative,” Mosun said. “But that doesn’t take away from their individuality. Creativity is shaped by so many factors —  environment, education, culture —  rather than our dominant hand.”

Where being left-handed comes with an advantage

That said, being left-handed does come with some unique advantages, especially in sports. Left-handed boxers — known as southpaws — can be harder to train against. In baseball, left-handed hitters are physically closer to first base and may face more right-handed pitchers, giving them a strategic edge. And in tennis, American star Ben Shelton, ranked No. 10 in the world and still in the hunt at Wimbledon, says being left-handed works in his favor: “Opponents aren’t as used to my style of play.”

So while left-handedness may not predict artistic brilliance, it can still be a secret weapon — just not in the way we once thought.

As one Reddit commenter joked after seeing the study: “Sounds exactly like something a right-handed person would write.”