November 23, 2022
Dogs, Brains, and Liberals
Timothy Birdnow
James Doogue mused about whether dogs or cats are left-handed or right handed. Interesting question.
I have another; are left-handed people more conservative or liberal?
One study suggests that there are more left-handed people in Blue states than in Red. Another study argues the opposite.
There seems to be little agreement on this issue.
I once read that left-handedness is a result of brain damage - or brain malformity - in utero. The brain has to rewire for some reason and so it flips sides. I don't know; my left-handed wife doesn't seem to take kindly to my assertion she's brain-damaged, but what the heck! I have to be careful or I'LL wind up brain damaged, right handed or no.
At any rate, it's clear there is no real solid research on this subject that has come to a consensus.
The Left has long claimed Conservatives are driven by fear, and point to studies of self-identified conservatives (on college campuses, which makes such self-identification dubious) having large amydala than their liberal brethren, whom they claim have larger anterior cingulate cortex's. The amygdala is a much older part of the brain and is the driver of emotions, particularly fear, while the ACC is newer and involves complexity and rational thought.
Pardon me if I guffaw!
I wrote about one such study years ago at American Thinker and debunked the methodology.
This type of research gets rehashed over and over by other scientists, who want to prove it as true, especially in the field of psychology, which has always been politicized. Researchers know they will benefit greatly from "proving" this sort of claim. Debunking it will get them nowhere.
And of course a Google search is unlikely to find the papers debunking this because Google is first and foremost a political critter.
It's stupid beyond words though. People move from one side of the political spectrum to the other all the time. David Horowitz, for example, was an actual Communist until he flipped. Now he's considered a radical right winger. David Brock, the former American Spectator writer, is now solidly a leftist. It happens.
And of course there is no place on this scale for a Libertarian, or someone who is solidly apolitical. Or an anarchist.
And there is no gradation of HOW Conservative or Liberal a person may be. There is a difference between Jimmy Carter and Joseph Stalin. (Actually, I've known liberals to call Carter a Conservative, btw.)
As a result, the definition of "left" and "right" is suspect here. There is no objective criteria for determining that.
And a "right winger" at UC Berkeley is likely not very right wing, as a left-winger at CPAC is probably not all that liberal. But, given their place in the world, they may actually see themselves as such.
No, I rather suspect this is but a political attack using science. It's what we called "blinding them with science".
And if it is true, or everyone believes it so? Will the Right be cut slack for being victims? I rather doubt it.
But instead the Conservative will probably be treated as the Soviets used to treat dissidents; put in mental hospitals as "insane" and drugged. That's what Stalin did to people who didn't believe in the glorious Revolution.
At any rate the Amygdala is located on both sides of the brain, buried in folds of gray matter. It is said the larger portion is on the right hemisphere. That would control the left side of a person, of course. So logically Conservatives should be more likely to be left handed.
BTW, the anterior cingulate cortex is a collar-shaped organ in both hemispheres that wraps around the Corpus Collusum, the connective tissue that allows the hemispheres to communicate. Is the enlarged ACC strangling the Corpus Collusum? Choking it off? Or is it over-facilitating communications to the point where the poor individual cannot differentiate things because everything is jumbled together in their brains?
And if all of this is true, why do we not see it in animals? Are there "conservative" and "liberal" dogs or cats?
Another point, this article puts it a little differently:
"There’s less work on this, but it has been found liberals tend to be better at changing their behaviour, when the situation demands it. And the brain region responsible for that is correspondingly larger."
In other words, liberals are less willing to stay within accepted norms of behavior or of decency, and will do whatever they think will work for them. This dovetails with my own theory that liberals do not want restrictions on their behavior but want instead some authority to be there to catch them when they fall while Conservatives believe in self-government and restraining themselves. In the end the societies that have organized themselves along Progressive lines have wound up in chaos and destruction. "Conservative" societies usually are orderly and prosperous. They accept no restraint. In other words Liberals make gods of themselves, and Conservatives look to a God outside of themselves.
Most of these studies and articles try to claim Liberals are more rational than Conservatives. In fact, that last article compared liberals to Spock and Conservatives to McCoy. That's a crock; the Left is far more passionate, as even a casual glance should illustrate. They are much less restrained in their usage of language, for example. Liberal chat rooms are full of profanity and wishes for terrible things like raping political opponents. You don't find that among Conservatives. Progressives will cheat in elections. Progressives will riot. Progressives will march and scream. That all bespeaks a more passionate approach than the far more reserved Conservatives.
It is part of why the whole world has moved continuously to the Left over the last century; the passion is on the side of the Left.
Anyway, here is James Doogue's post on dog-handedness: Are Dogs Left Or Right Brain Dominant?
This question was raised by someone in a comment to my post about nipples, so of course I had to check it out. His question which included whether a male dog always cocks to a preferred side remains unanswered. There's a PhD just waiting for someone to stake out a dog park. But I did discover some interesting stuff including how to tell if a dog is scared and anxious based on their tail wagging. So read on.
Intuitively I figured there would be left or right brain dominance in dogs because all mammalian brains as far as I know have left and right hemispheres. Jelly fish on the other hand have no brains, so no favoured side for them.
There have been some studies done on brain laterality of animals and dogs in particular.
Apparently you can work out the left or right paw dominance which might be important depending on the motivation for getting a dog. Emotional support, exercise, guard dog, etc.
This article explains how the test if your dog or cat is right pawed (left brain dominant), or the opposite, or ambidextrous.
https://theconversation.com/ive-always-wondered-can-animals-be-left-and-right-pawed-83716
They say while about 90% of humans are right handed, and 10% left handed (left brain vs right brain dominant), felines and canines are about 50/50.
They indicated an Italian study found that dogs wag their tails to the right when they see something they want to approach, and to the left when confronted with something they would rather avoid.
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822%2807%2900949-9.pdf
This explains why a dog which is furiously wagging their tail isn't always friendly and may indeed bite you if your approach them. I assume when approaching a dog, if it's wagging to the left, it will be wagging to your right. So now we know, if the tail is wagging to your left, the dogs right, it's safe to approach.
The article also claims Left-handed people might be more vulnerable to stress, as are left-pawed dogs and many other animals. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16893254
The direction of hair whorls in humans and animals can also provide generalised information about their disposition.
'In general, many animals, including humans, that have a clockwise hair whorl are less stress-prone than those with anticlockwise hair growth.
The position of the hair whorl also matters; cattle and horses with hair whorls directly above the eyes are more typically difficult to handle than those with whorls lower down on the face.'
Who knew that?
'Another advantage [of knowing brain laterality] might be resistance to disease – hand preference in animals is associated with differences in immune function, with right-handed animals mounting a better immune response.'
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15265650
Maybe only left handed people had serious responses to Covid-19, and only they should have been locked down? 😃 Another PhD right there!
Besides, researchers at Yale found that people with psychotic disorders like schizophrenia are much more likely to be left-handed (right brain dominant). https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/the-athletes-way/201311/brain-asymmetry-changes-dogs-wag-and-humans-mind?amp=
Getting back to dogs, referring to a 2013 study by the Department of Veterinary Medicine at Bari University, specifically looking at agility competition dogs, it was claimed that:
'Research of dogs and other mammals have found that the right hemisphere of the brain is prevalently reserved for stimuli of higher emotions (anxiety, fear, aggression etc.) while the left hemisphere is more task oriented.
Sighting of the handler by the left eye (causing activity in the right hemisphere of the brain) was found to likely increase the arousal rate of the dogs, thus distracting them during the weave performance.'
http://www.mcrehabilitation.com/blog/why-is-knowing-if-your-dog-is-a-lefty-or-a-righty-important-for-sport
The article also suggests some easy tests you can do to determine if a dog is a lefty or righty. Good to know next time you are in the market for a working dog, exercise buddy or emotional support pet.
Fun stuff!
James Doogue mused about whether dogs or cats are left-handed or right handed. Interesting question.
I have another; are left-handed people more conservative or liberal?
One study suggests that there are more left-handed people in Blue states than in Red. Another study argues the opposite.
There seems to be little agreement on this issue.
I once read that left-handedness is a result of brain damage - or brain malformity - in utero. The brain has to rewire for some reason and so it flips sides. I don't know; my left-handed wife doesn't seem to take kindly to my assertion she's brain-damaged, but what the heck! I have to be careful or I'LL wind up brain damaged, right handed or no.
At any rate, it's clear there is no real solid research on this subject that has come to a consensus.
The Left has long claimed Conservatives are driven by fear, and point to studies of self-identified conservatives (on college campuses, which makes such self-identification dubious) having large amydala than their liberal brethren, whom they claim have larger anterior cingulate cortex's. The amygdala is a much older part of the brain and is the driver of emotions, particularly fear, while the ACC is newer and involves complexity and rational thought.
Pardon me if I guffaw!
I wrote about one such study years ago at American Thinker and debunked the methodology.
This type of research gets rehashed over and over by other scientists, who want to prove it as true, especially in the field of psychology, which has always been politicized. Researchers know they will benefit greatly from "proving" this sort of claim. Debunking it will get them nowhere.
And of course a Google search is unlikely to find the papers debunking this because Google is first and foremost a political critter.
It's stupid beyond words though. People move from one side of the political spectrum to the other all the time. David Horowitz, for example, was an actual Communist until he flipped. Now he's considered a radical right winger. David Brock, the former American Spectator writer, is now solidly a leftist. It happens.
And of course there is no place on this scale for a Libertarian, or someone who is solidly apolitical. Or an anarchist.
And there is no gradation of HOW Conservative or Liberal a person may be. There is a difference between Jimmy Carter and Joseph Stalin. (Actually, I've known liberals to call Carter a Conservative, btw.)
As a result, the definition of "left" and "right" is suspect here. There is no objective criteria for determining that.
And a "right winger" at UC Berkeley is likely not very right wing, as a left-winger at CPAC is probably not all that liberal. But, given their place in the world, they may actually see themselves as such.
No, I rather suspect this is but a political attack using science. It's what we called "blinding them with science".
And if it is true, or everyone believes it so? Will the Right be cut slack for being victims? I rather doubt it.
But instead the Conservative will probably be treated as the Soviets used to treat dissidents; put in mental hospitals as "insane" and drugged. That's what Stalin did to people who didn't believe in the glorious Revolution.
At any rate the Amygdala is located on both sides of the brain, buried in folds of gray matter. It is said the larger portion is on the right hemisphere. That would control the left side of a person, of course. So logically Conservatives should be more likely to be left handed.
BTW, the anterior cingulate cortex is a collar-shaped organ in both hemispheres that wraps around the Corpus Collusum, the connective tissue that allows the hemispheres to communicate. Is the enlarged ACC strangling the Corpus Collusum? Choking it off? Or is it over-facilitating communications to the point where the poor individual cannot differentiate things because everything is jumbled together in their brains?
And if all of this is true, why do we not see it in animals? Are there "conservative" and "liberal" dogs or cats?
Another point, this article puts it a little differently:
"There’s less work on this, but it has been found liberals tend to be better at changing their behaviour, when the situation demands it. And the brain region responsible for that is correspondingly larger."
In other words, liberals are less willing to stay within accepted norms of behavior or of decency, and will do whatever they think will work for them. This dovetails with my own theory that liberals do not want restrictions on their behavior but want instead some authority to be there to catch them when they fall while Conservatives believe in self-government and restraining themselves. In the end the societies that have organized themselves along Progressive lines have wound up in chaos and destruction. "Conservative" societies usually are orderly and prosperous. They accept no restraint. In other words Liberals make gods of themselves, and Conservatives look to a God outside of themselves.
Most of these studies and articles try to claim Liberals are more rational than Conservatives. In fact, that last article compared liberals to Spock and Conservatives to McCoy. That's a crock; the Left is far more passionate, as even a casual glance should illustrate. They are much less restrained in their usage of language, for example. Liberal chat rooms are full of profanity and wishes for terrible things like raping political opponents. You don't find that among Conservatives. Progressives will cheat in elections. Progressives will riot. Progressives will march and scream. That all bespeaks a more passionate approach than the far more reserved Conservatives.
It is part of why the whole world has moved continuously to the Left over the last century; the passion is on the side of the Left.
Anyway, here is James Doogue's post on dog-handedness: Are Dogs Left Or Right Brain Dominant?
This question was raised by someone in a comment to my post about nipples, so of course I had to check it out. His question which included whether a male dog always cocks to a preferred side remains unanswered. There's a PhD just waiting for someone to stake out a dog park. But I did discover some interesting stuff including how to tell if a dog is scared and anxious based on their tail wagging. So read on.
Intuitively I figured there would be left or right brain dominance in dogs because all mammalian brains as far as I know have left and right hemispheres. Jelly fish on the other hand have no brains, so no favoured side for them.
There have been some studies done on brain laterality of animals and dogs in particular.
Apparently you can work out the left or right paw dominance which might be important depending on the motivation for getting a dog. Emotional support, exercise, guard dog, etc.
This article explains how the test if your dog or cat is right pawed (left brain dominant), or the opposite, or ambidextrous.
https://theconversation.com/ive-always-wondered-can-animals-be-left-and-right-pawed-83716
They say while about 90% of humans are right handed, and 10% left handed (left brain vs right brain dominant), felines and canines are about 50/50.
They indicated an Italian study found that dogs wag their tails to the right when they see something they want to approach, and to the left when confronted with something they would rather avoid.
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822%2807%2900949-9.pdf
This explains why a dog which is furiously wagging their tail isn't always friendly and may indeed bite you if your approach them. I assume when approaching a dog, if it's wagging to the left, it will be wagging to your right. So now we know, if the tail is wagging to your left, the dogs right, it's safe to approach.
The article also claims Left-handed people might be more vulnerable to stress, as are left-pawed dogs and many other animals. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16893254
The direction of hair whorls in humans and animals can also provide generalised information about their disposition.
'In general, many animals, including humans, that have a clockwise hair whorl are less stress-prone than those with anticlockwise hair growth.
The position of the hair whorl also matters; cattle and horses with hair whorls directly above the eyes are more typically difficult to handle than those with whorls lower down on the face.'
Who knew that?
'Another advantage [of knowing brain laterality] might be resistance to disease – hand preference in animals is associated with differences in immune function, with right-handed animals mounting a better immune response.'
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15265650
Maybe only left handed people had serious responses to Covid-19, and only they should have been locked down? 😃 Another PhD right there!
Besides, researchers at Yale found that people with psychotic disorders like schizophrenia are much more likely to be left-handed (right brain dominant). https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/the-athletes-way/201311/brain-asymmetry-changes-dogs-wag-and-humans-mind?amp=
Getting back to dogs, referring to a 2013 study by the Department of Veterinary Medicine at Bari University, specifically looking at agility competition dogs, it was claimed that:
'Research of dogs and other mammals have found that the right hemisphere of the brain is prevalently reserved for stimuli of higher emotions (anxiety, fear, aggression etc.) while the left hemisphere is more task oriented.
Sighting of the handler by the left eye (causing activity in the right hemisphere of the brain) was found to likely increase the arousal rate of the dogs, thus distracting them during the weave performance.'
http://www.mcrehabilitation.com/blog/why-is-knowing-if-your-dog-is-a-lefty-or-a-righty-important-for-sport
The article also suggests some easy tests you can do to determine if a dog is a lefty or righty. Good to know next time you are in the market for a working dog, exercise buddy or emotional support pet.
Fun stuff!
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:56 AM
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Post contains 1606 words, total size 11 kb.
1
Well, as to "handedness," there are freaks like me. I throw a ball with my left hand, and back when I used to bowl, I did that left-handed too. Everything else I do right-handed. Except texting with my phone -- I use my left index finger for that.
As a kid, playing baseball, I attempted to teach myself to switch-hit, but was better batting right-handed because my master eye was my right eye.
I like to kid that "I'm amphibious -- I can drink with either hand." But truth to tell, with the tremors I have these days, I often hold the glass with both hands, to prevent spillage.
Aren't you sorry you asked?
As a kid, playing baseball, I attempted to teach myself to switch-hit, but was better batting right-handed because my master eye was my right eye.
I like to kid that "I'm amphibious -- I can drink with either hand." But truth to tell, with the tremors I have these days, I often hold the glass with both hands, to prevent spillage.
Aren't you sorry you asked?
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at November 23, 2022 04:46 PM (ISUTu)
2
Me too Dana. I shoot a bow and arrow left handed, among other things. But I'm predominantly a righty.
My father is the same. He wrote left-handed and did a nunber of things left handed all his life, but did a lot right handed.
So where does that fit in politically? IF there are brain differences then handedness likely is involved in how we view politics. But what of the ambidextrous?
My father is the same. He wrote left-handed and did a nunber of things left handed all his life, but did a lot right handed.
So where does that fit in politically? IF there are brain differences then handedness likely is involved in how we view politics. But what of the ambidextrous?
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at November 24, 2022 01:37 AM (twTX3)
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