Study: Left-Handed Politicians Have Upper Hand On TV

A new study from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, suggests that we unconsciously give away our opinions through our hand gestures. Specifically, which hand we gesture with when we speak often reveals whether we view our statements as positive or negative, a fact that plays out well for left-handed politicians on television.

The study is the latest to explore body-based conceptions of good and bad. Previous studies have found that we tend to associate good things with the dominant side of our bodies and bad things with the non-dominant sides. Given that 90% of people are right-handed, right is often associated with good and left with bad. This association is particularly obvious in our language. We use phrases like “the right answer” and “two left feet,” which associate positive feelings with the right side of our bodies and negative feelings with the left side. (Note: Political notions of Right and Left are something different. Don’t start.)

>>>Read the full post at Mediaite.

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Robert Quigley