Overview
- Psychologists at the University of Chieti-Pescara assessed more than 1,000 people and found left-handers scored higher on hypercompetitiveness and were less likely to avoid contests due to anxiety.
- The team used lateralization indices to identify strongly left- and right-handed participants and linked stronger left-handedness with greater willingness to engage in competition.
- A follow-up motor test with 48 participants showed no left-handed advantage in manual speed or dexterity, indicating the edge is psychological rather than motoric.
- Large-scale evidence led by Marietta Papadatou-Pastou places global left-handed prevalence near 10.6%, consistent with a long-standing 10–12% minority.
- The results align with frequency-dependent evolutionary models, including the fight hypothesis, which predict situational benefits in one-on-one contests such as combat sports without broad personality or mental-health differences.