Why are the majority of the people in the world right-handed? Even if it is cultural, how did it all start?

Question

Statistically, the possibility of a new-born to use either hand should be even. Eastern cultures, however, have developed to actively discourage left-hand use right from childhood for various reasons from it being used to wash after WC-use to being associated with 'wrong' (religious). While the right hand (it's called 'right' for that reason) is to be used for all 'righteous' work from writing to wielding weapons or tools for the results to be auspicious and blessed. Question is what caused this shift from even-handed ness to right-handed dominance? And when, during human evolution or pre-history did this occur? Were ancient Egyptians or Babylonians righthanded? What about Cro-Magnon Man? Paleolithic humans? Homo Erectus? Do the great apes of present day share this predeliction towards right-handedness with us, since they share most of the DNA?

Answer 1

cuz its 2 hard to pull your pork with ur left

Answer 2

i think it all has do do with which side of the brain you use

Answer 3

mayb the first person who learned 2 ryt rote w/ his ryt hand....... n mayb he taught othrz 2 ryt w/ their ryt handz???????? i dono.... i totally made tht up.... itz prolly not correct tho.....=)

Answer 4

left handed people rock

Answer 5

i know that in america, we started writting with our right hand to rebel from the english, which is also why we drive on the opposite of the road from them.

a lot of weird traditions come from us fighting with the british too. thats where we get flipping people off to. as punishment to the soldiers when caught, the british would cut off americans' middle fingers. so the minute men would flip off the red coats, basically being like haha, havent got my finger yet *****. lol

Answer 6

I'm not sure...(wish I could help, doubt anyone else can)  Well I'm left handed in writing but with everything else I'm right handed. I do just as well as any right-handed writer =)

Answer 7

lol, what do you mean by cultural? Its just genetics...there are few left handed people...thats for sure...thats part of the reason why people use to think those who were left handed were retarted...but I can beg to differ...I am left handed, and I come from a family that has many left handed people in it...ans we are not dumb people.

Answer 8

In a nutshell, nobody knows. Scientists aren't sure why right-handedness is predominant, but there are many working theories out. I linked to an article which will make for some interesting reading and hopefully will answer your question better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness

Answer 9

One of the mysteries of life. Your 'handedness' is set at birth.

Apparently, chimps that display handedness catch more termites, so specializing with one hand probably improves overall manual dexterity. Other animals like chicken and mice show a preference too.

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/102...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/feat...

Being left handed is associated with mild foetal brain damage though, which is why they know ultrasound is not particularly good for babies, and should be kept to a minimum.

It IS associated with subtle foetal brain damage. Look it up before you thumbs down. Those 3D ultrasounds you can get in the mall are a really bad idea, and doctors are campaigning to ban them.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jht...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16...

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/heal...

Answer 10

In the 160 years in which "handedness" has been studied we have learned quite a lot, but we still cannot precisely describe what causes humans preferentially to use one hand over the other, or why human populations are biased toward right-hand use rather than left-hand use.

Answer 11

I don't know why, but I seriously doubt that it is cultural

Answer 12

I think it has got some thing to do with the fact that the left side of the brain which control the right side of the body.

Answer 13

something about embryo development you should google it.

Answer 14

you need to know about the human embryology and the stages of development of the brain

cos the the right side of the body is represented on the left side of the brain and this is where is begins

Answer 15

It is NOT cultural.

It has to do with our "lopsided brain" -- that is, the two hemispheres of our brains are not mirror images of each other. The language-processing stuff is in the left side (which controls the right side of our bodies).

dunno if this site addresses that or not, but it's a good site about the human brain.

BTW, other animals are right- or left-dominant (pawed, if you will), but the individuals in each species are more or less evenly divided between left-pawed and right-pawed. It's only humans that have a more common dominant side.

Answer 16

It happens during embryonic development; 1 theory  is that as the cells slough away they all have a twin or mirror image and in left handedness, it is the one on the left remains. This also means the left-handed person has a tendency to RIGHT brain use--which is supposed to be the creative part of the brain. (it is often supposed left handers are more artistically creative.)

   Due to its relative rarity, in ancient times lefties were probably looked on a 'different', maybe as witches or sorcerers or those 'touched by the gods'. In christian myth the left was bad or 'sinister' due to Judas being seated on the left of Jesus during the Last Supper. In Arabic countries its looked on a bad because its the hand you wipe your butt with!

   Interestingly, there seems to be a GROWING number of people born left-handed but scientists haven't figured out why.

  In past times there may have been more than thought,though, as even in the 1950's lefties were FORCED to use the right hand in school. This is not a good thing to do,and can cause stuttering and other problems because basically you are messing with the way the BRAIN is wired, not the actual hand.