Why Are There More Right-handed People Than Left-handed People?
In this article we will analyze the fighting hypothesis that talks about left-handedness, fighting and survival, and we will turn to the most recent empirical evidence that explains Why are there more right-handed people than left-handed people? according to an interesting line of research.
People who are left-handed are those who tend to preferentially use the left side of their body (that is, their hands and feet).
Left-handedness is a minority phenotype in the human species ; That is, there are more right-handed people (who preferentially use their right limbs) than left-handed people.
In fact, between 8 and 13% of the world’s population is left-handed; On the other hand, there are more left-handed men than left-handed women (13% vs. 9%), although it is not known why. Finally, it is worth mentioning that those people who use their right and left limbs interchangeably are called ambidextrous.
Why are there more right-handed people than left-handed people, according to research
As we mentioned in the introduction, this article focuses on the fact that there are many more people who have their right hand as dominant. Why are there more right-handed people than left-handed people? But before delving into this question, let’s clarify why there are left-handers in the population, according to the fighting hypothesis.
According to this hypothesis, there are left-handers in the population because in the past, left-handed people had an advantage in violent intrasexual competitions. This, according to this hypothesis, would explain why left-handedness persisted over time.
But what does the fighting hypothesis say specifically about left-handedness?
According to this hypothesis, there is a polymorphism (polymorphism implies the existence, in a population, of multiple alleles of a gene) in human hands, which It is maintained over time through a process of natural selection ; In the case of left-handed people, this process is a frequency-dependent selection.
What does this mean? That when a trait offers a certain biological effectiveness to a certain species (increasing its probability of survival), said trait remains, even if it is a minority (such as left-handedness).
How does this extrapolate to the field of wrestling and left-handedness? Right-handed fighters are used to fighting other right-handed fighters ; Therefore, when they compete against a left-handed fighter, the latter will have a certain advantage in the fight (and therefore, will surely have a greater probability of winning), since the left-handed fighter is more accustomed to fighting against a right-handed fighter than the right-handed fighter against a left handed.
Empirical evidence: study
We found different studies that show how left-handed men are overrepresented among modern professional fighters. A recent study (2019) by Richardson and Gilman also set out to analyze the question of why there are more right-handers than left-handers and focused on the world of boxing and wrestling.
Sample
This study analyzed a total of 13,800 boxers and fighters of different martial arts, mixed type.
That is, the sample included men and women. However, it is worth mentioning that of the total number of boxers, 10,445 were men (8,666 right-handed and 1,779 left-handed), 1,314 were women (1,150 right-handed and 164 left-handed) and 2,100 were MMA (mixed martial arts) fighters (1,770 right-handed and 393 left-handed). .
Through these data we see how left-handed men represent 12.6% of the general population, 17% of men in the boxing world, and 18.7% in the MMA sector; In the case of women, they represent 9.9% of the general population, and 12.5% of boxers. We see how, in both cases, left-handedness is overrepresented in the world of fighting.
Study objectives
The study aimed to verify two aspects; on the one hand, whether or not there is an overrepresentation of left-handed fighters compared to right-handed fighters, and on the other hand, whether they accumulate more victories than right-handed fighters.
Results
The results of Richardson and Gilman’s study revealed that, indeed, left-handed boxers and wrestlers had more victories (number of fights won) than right-handed ones. This was reflected in both male wrestlers and female wrestlers.
In addition, the fighting ability of the fighters was also evaluated, through an objective measure, and the results were along the same lines; Left-handed people had better fighting ability than right-handed people.
Another hypothesis that was raised and analyzed in the aforementioned study is another one already suggested by previous studies, and was the following: the fact that left-handed fighters show greater variation in fighting ability. This hypothesis could not be confirmed, since this variation was not observed in left-handed wrestlers.
Conclusions
As we have seen, analyzing the question of why there are more right-handers than left-handers, we reach the following conclusion: the fact that left-handers are a minority (which is why they are overrepresented), makes your actions and techniques more difficult for your rivals to predict.
This can be explained by the tendency of right-handed rivals to pay attention mostly to their opponent’s right hand (this is an attentional bias), and this tendency would appear because right-handed rivals would be accustomed (when generally competing with right-handed rivals) to paying attention to said right hand. hand.
Hypothesis verification
Thus, what is currently happening in the field of fighting and boxing, we can extrapolate to our ancestors; this way, It is likely that our left-handed ancestors, as the fighting hypothesis suggests, had some advantage in violent combats (which, furthermore, were more frequent in the past than today), which gave them a certain evolutionary advantage.
In this way, we see how the fighting hypothesis would be fulfilled, since being left-handed or left-handed implies an advantage in this type of sports.
