New Study: Left-Handed Politicians Have Upper Hand On TV

A new study from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, suggests that we unconsciously give away our opinions through our hand gestures. Specifically, which hand we gesture with when we speak often reveals whether we view our statements as positive or negative, a fact that plays out well for left-handed politicians on television.

The study is the latest to explore body-based conceptions of good and bad. Previous studies have found that we tend to associate good things with the dominant side of our bodies and bad things with the non-dominant sides. Given that 90% of people are right-handed, right is often associated with good and left with bad. This association is particularly obvious in our language. We use phrases like “the right answer” and “two left feet,” which associate positive feelings with the right side of our bodies and negative feelings with the left side. (Note: Political notions of Right and Left are something different. Don’t start.)

Dutch researchers Daniel Casasanto and Kyle Jasmin examined whether this association carries over into gestures. They analyzed positive and negative statements made by U.S. presidential candidates in the 2004 and 2008 elections in relation to the right- or left-handed gestures that accompanied each statement. (These two elections were perfect for this kind of research because in both elections, the candidates were the same “handedness.” Bush and Kerry are both right-handed, whereas Obama and McCain are both left-handed.)

In each case, the candidates tended to make positive statements accompanied by a gesture with their dominant hand. Negative statements were usually accompanied by a gesture with their non-dominant hand. As Casasanto explains, this pattern can give constituents the ability to better read political candidates because gestures can be an unconscious tell:

The hand that speakers use to gesture may provide an index of how they feel about what they are saying. Speakers may not know they are sending this message, since people are generally unaware of how they are gesturing, and often unaware that they are gesturing, at all.

But by far the study’s most interesting implication is that left-handed politicians may have an advantage in televised debates and speeches:

Right-handers automatically think “good stuff” is on the right, and “lefties” think “good stuff” is on the left, And vice versa. When we see someone on television that is a mirror image.

A “rightie” gesturing with his right hand appears on our bad side of TV. While a left-hander appears to be putting things in a much more positive light for the 90% of viewers who are right-handed.

So aspiring politicians take note: If you need to soften a political statement, a bit of frantic, left-handed waving wouldn’t be remiss.