Misconceptions in Psychology: Left/Right Hemisphere Dominance

You probably heard people saying to you that you use your left or right brain more; movies, books, and even school, they all promote this idea. Unfortunately, this isn’t a true indicator of how you think. Thinking is actually more complex and there are more than one types of thinking implied in one process of though, despite it being analytic or creative.

This lateralization of our brain is a theory based on a very simplistic understanding of how our brain works. The whole idea started being popular after Gazzaniga and Sperry’s tests on people with epilepsy. They severed patients' corpus callosum, obtaining what was known as split brain. In tests, patients used their hemispheres independently. However, this cannot be generalized to all people, especially people who don’t suffer from epilepsy or had their corpus callosum severed. But there was a lot of fuss in the media about the discovery and soon a lot of self help books started promoting the idea that we use just one brain side. 

Seminars that would help people enhance a certain part of the brain started being really popular and everybody continued believing this erroneous theory that our brain is divided into a mathematical/deductive/logical part and another one which is creative/visual/imaginative. Next time you hear such pop-psychology in an academic environment you should point out that it might not be the best approach on how the brain works. 

Don't get me wrong though, there are differences when it comes to both hemispheres, but the similarities are much more pronounced.

http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/a/left-brain-right-brain.htm

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


PS: I want to apologize that I haven't been able to answer all the comments and comment on other blog lately.  I hope I will have more time to resume my favorite activity pretty soon. 

7 Random Facts - Episode 1

Source

1 Given a group of 23 people there is a 50% chance that two people in the group have the same birthday. 

2 Vikings used ravens to navigate. They knew that ravens were seeking their pray on land instead of water, so they used that as a tracking device for land.

3 People with obsessive compulsive behavior show a low cognitive inhibition value in tests.

4 An ancient Egypt cure for blindness was made of honey with mashed pig eyes. Everything was poured into the patient’s ear.

5 In Medieval England there was something called ordeal by water. If you were convicted, you were thrown into water; if you floated, you were guilty of the crime you were accused of.

6 The left side/right side dominance of the brain (and different types of thinking linked to them) is actually a myth. It is one of the most popular psychology myths in the world along with the myth that we only use 10% of our brain. If you don’t believe me, read this and this.

7 There is a big common misconception that you have to wait 24 hours before declaring a missing person. This was made popular by movies but it’s not true in all cases. If there is evidence of abuse or there is something unusual about the fact that the person is missing, the police should be noticed.