Few would think that left-handedness and belief in God were related, but research has shown a relationship between these two seemingly separate things.
What do left-handed people and people with schizophrenia have in common? Maybe this isn’t the first thing people think of, but according to a recent study, what they have in common is religion, or rather not being religious.
Left-handed people and people with schizophrenia are less likely to believe in religion.
In a study published in the journal Evolutionary Psychological Science, researchers discovered an interesting link between atheism and certain genetic traits, including left-handedness, mental schizophrenia and autism.
It all depends on the DNA and what is known as the “mutation burden” . Basically, religious people tend to be less prone to genetic mutations . As a result, they are often right-handed and less prone to genetic problems such as autism or schizophrenia than non-religious people.
Lead author Edward Dutton of the Ulster Institute for Social Research, UK, told The Telegraph the link exists because in pre-industrial societies, religiosity was seen as another genetic attribute. .
If an individual believes in a single moral god, that means they are emotionally stable, mentally healthy, and good at social skills – three things you almost always want to see in a partner. future. This means that in the pre-industrial world, religious people were more likely to grow up and have children than non-believers. It seems that today’s religious people are descendants of the very religious people of pre-industrial times.
Atheism.
In this study, researchers examined religious and paranormal beliefs among 612 volunteers and compared the strength and weakness of those beliefs with the occurrence of four sudden burdens. variables (poor overall health, autism, fluctuating asymmetries, and left-handedness). The results of the study show that there is a “weak but important” relationship between left-handed people (such as Mozart, Marie Curie, and Barack Obama) and atheism, while the link between autism and not being religion is stronger.
And while you might think that self-proclaimed atheists are less inclined to believe in paranormal activity, research suggests otherwise. Research has discovered a positive correlation between belief in the paranormal and each type of mutant burden.
All of these findings reflect trends in Western societies. They are becoming less and less religious – non-believers (also called “non-religious” ) now make up 48.6% of the UK population, and in the US, atheists are up from 6% in 1992. to 22% in 2014. For millennials, this number is even higher (35%).
Meanwhile, belief in the occult has increased. A 2013 Harris survey found that 42% of the US population believes in ghosts and a 2014 YouGov survey also found that one in three Britons believe in ghosts.