Mar
9
Are geologists mostly lefties?
- Fellow all-geo blogger Simon Wellings had noticed something weird about some of the geologists he went to school with: 4 in 10 of them were left-handed.
- ShareRequest for information about left-handed geologists | Metageologist
I’m a cack-handed sinister southpaw and the chances are surprisingly high that you are too. At University, about 40% of my peers studying Earth Sciences were left-handed. Faculty professors confirmed that this was normal, based on their experience of teaching geologists over the decades. This is of course an unusually high proportion. - This compares to only about 1 in 10 of the wider population being left handed, according to the Internet.
- ShareHandedness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaHandedness (also referred to as chirality or laterality) is a human attribute defined by unequal distribution of fine motor skills between the left and right hands. An individual who is more dexterous with the right hand is called right-handed and one who is more skilled with the left is said to be left-handed.
- The question Simon had was: was his anecdotal observation meaningful. If it is, interesting research might ensue. I decided to help out with the data collection by asking Twitter.
- ShareQuick twitter poll! I’m a mostly left handed geologist. If you’re a geo-type, RT with your preferred hand!
- A few fellow lefties chimed in:
- Share@Allochthonous I’m left-handed too. Did we know the other was a leftie too?
- ShareI use my left hand for everything EXCEPT snapping. For some reason, my right fingers produces louder snaps. @Allochthonous
- Share@metageologist FWIW, I’m a lefty. Out of the class I taught last term, 0 of 11 were lefties.
- Share“@Allochthonous: Quick twitter poll! I’m a mostly left handed geologist. If you’re a geo-type, RT with your preferred hand!” left handed!
- But a horde of right-handed geo-types were also weighing in.
- Share
- Share@Allochthonous Not sure that I count, being a mere geo-fancier, but I’m right-handed.
- Share
- Share@Allochthonous Completely a righty…except when I shoot pool for some reason.
- ShareMT @Allochthonous: Quick twitter poll! If you’re a geo-type, RT with your preferred hand! > right hand, but now ex-geo. maybe this is why?
- Share
- Share@Allochthonous @metageologist @eruptionsblog I’m a righty, but shoot left-eyed and bat left (actually a switch hitter)
- Share“@Allochthonous: Quick twitter poll! I’m a mostly left handed geologist. If you’re a geo-type, RT with your preferred hand!”ShareShare@Allochthonous I’m right-handed for pretty much everythingShareRight, with ambidexterity seemingly dwindling over the years. MT @Allochthonous If you’re a geo-type, RT with your preferred hand!ShareShareShare@Allochthonous I’m mostly R handed, but L footed and L eyedCurrent score: 6 lefties (if we include Simon and I) and 14 righties. Of course, this is not an either/or question: I myself am mildly ambidextrous (I have different dominant hands for different things, and could do a fair number with both) and it appears I’m not alone.Share@metageologist in answer to your lefty question… what about us ambidextrous people?Share“@Allochthonous If you’re a geo-type, RT with your preferred hand!” - I use both! :DShareShareAmbidextrous mostly. RT @Allochthonous Twitter poll! I’m a mostly left handed geologist. If you’re a geo-type, RT with your preferred hand!So now we have 6 leftie, 14 righty, 4 ambi. In percentage terms, this works out as 25% left-handed, 15% ambidextrous and 60% right-handed. Twitter therefore supports the notion that we have more than our fair share of lefties, although the sample size is small. Some people also provided data from their peer groups that also point in this direction.ShareOur grad student group is 4 righties to 1 lefty RT @Allochthonous If you’re a geo-type, RT with your preferred hand!Share@metageologist well there’s a fair few lefty’s in the student body-40-50%, but only 2-3 profs I think. (I notice these things…)Share@metageologist on secondd thoughts, maybe 30-40% of about 70.Of course, this is still all anecdotal, but it is interesting. I wonder if there’s also a story in what seems to be a high proportion of mixed-handed and ambidextrous geologists. But finding out will require…. MORE SCIENCE!!
Posted at 9:27 PM
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