--- title: Brain Science: Does Being Left-Handed Make You Angry? description: We used to think that the left brain controlled your thinking and that the right brain controlled your heart. But neuroscientists have learned that it's... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7144283/which-is-better-being-right-brained-or-left-brained/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2010-09-15T16:40:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T11:34:27.362Z article:section: Health og:title: Brain Science: Does Being Left-Handed Make You Angry? og:description: We used to think that the left brain controlled your thinking and that the right brain controlled your heart. But neuroscientists have learned that it's... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7144283/which-is-better-being-right-brained-or-left-brained/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1489fe55fcc3b21f/698a9560e6e84a40cd2b9498/103458998resize.jpg?branch=production&width=300&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 300 og:image:height: 169 og:image:alt: 103458998resize og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Brain Science: Does Being Left-Handed Make You Angry? twitter:description: We used to think that the left brain controlled your thinking and that the right brain controlled your heart. But neuroscientists have learned that it's... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1489fe55fcc3b21f/698a9560e6e84a40cd2b9498/103458998resize.jpg?branch=production&width=300&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # Brain Science: Does Being Left-Handed Make You Angry? > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=9b21b6aa-75f9-44d6-9010-cae3df492a41&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Sep 15, 2010 4:40 PM UTC  Ingram Publishing / Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Sep 15, 2010 4:40 PM UTC We used to think that the left brain controlled your thinking and that the right brain controlled your heart. But neuroscientists have learned that it’s a lot more complicated.more In 2007, an [influential paper](http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/pdf/1744-9081-3-13.pdf) in the journal _Behavioral and Brain Functions_ found that while most of us process emotions through the right hemisphere of the brain, about 35% of people — especially victims of trauma — process their hurt and anger through their left brain, where logic and language sit. That may be because they had worked so hard to explain, logically, why they were suffering. But pushing emotions through the left brain taxed it: these people performed significantly worse on memory tests. Now a [new paper](http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Abstract/2010/09000/Negative%5FEmotional%5FValence%5FIs%5FAssociated%5FWith.15.aspx) — out in the September issue of _The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease_ — further complicates the picture with a surprising finding: whether you are right-handed, left-handed or ambidextrous (which the authors call, rather delightfully, “inconsistently handed”) seems to be an important clue in understanding how you use your brain to process emotions. (**More on Time.com:** [Diagnosing Postpartum Depression with a Brain Scan](http://healthland.time.com/2010/09/15/diagnosing-post-partum-depression/)) It’s been known for some time that lefties and the ambidextrous are more prone to negative emotions. The new study shows that they also have a greater imbalance in activity between the left and right brains when they process emotions. Of course, you can’t be sure which comes first: maybe angry people are more out of balance, or maybe the inability to find equilibrium makes you angry. As for the left-handed: maybe they’re more angry because the world is designed for the right-handed majority. The study also used an interesting method to find that angry people are, literally, hot-headed: the authors of the paper — led by Ruth Propper, a psychology professor at Merrimack College in Massachusetts — measured brain-hemisphere activation with a relatively old method called tympanic membrane temperature, which is essentially how hot it is in your inner ear. If you get angry a lot, your head tends to be warmer. One problem is that the study was small — just 55 undergraduates participated (they were paid $20 each for having to endure ear-temperature tests and psychological questioning). Also, _The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease_, while peer-reviewed, is one of less-respected psychology journals. Still, I like the study just because it explains that when you get hot under the collar, you are actually hot under the collar. **More on Time.com:** [Want to Make Quicker Decisions? Muzzle Your Brain](http://healthland.time.com/2010/09/14/want-to-make-quicker-decisions-muzzle-your-brain/) [Video: This Is Your Brain on Football](http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,64253995001%5F1957921,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7144283/which-is-better-being-right-brained-or-left-brained/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7144283/which-is-better-being-right-brained-or-left-brained/"},"headline":"Brain Science: Does Being Left-Handed Make You Angry?","datePublished":"2010-09-15T16:40:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T11:34:27.362Z","description":"We used to think that the left brain controlled your thinking and that the right brain controlled your heart. 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