Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Right Brained or Left Brained?

When I first saw this Mercedes Benz ad (random, right?)  I had to check and see which one I am.
If you can't read it:


I obviously wanted to be the colorful fun-looking side, not the boring, bland side! They make the right brain side look way better, right? (or is that my right brain talking?)

Maybe this ad is a little bit biased towards right brained people.  Who wants to be boring left-brain, when you can be colorful awesome right brain? (again, is this my right brain talking?)

Then I wondered: What does this ad have to do with their brand?  Are they trying to sell more Mercedes to right brained people? Who knows!

So, I tried to figure out which side I belong on.

Left brain:
I like science, I definitely like the familiar, I'm in control, I'm practical, and I'm realistic.  Playing with numbers is part of my job, and I am addicted to Sudoku.

Right brain:
I am taste, I guess.  I like food, if that's what they mean.
I'm definitely movement!  I love to walk, run, and dance.  Love the feeling of sand beneath my feet.  I sense, and I feel.

Conclusion:
Since I couldn't strictly go by the above illustration, I took an online quiz to find out more. Try it for yourself!
The results:  I'm 35% left brained and 65% right brained.  How accurate is this?  No idea. Do I agree with it?  I guess so.

It makes sense to me that I wouldn't be 100% right or left brained.  I'm not sure if I actually do lean more to the right than the left.  It could be that I want to be more right brained, because I happen to find those qualities appealing.  I don't know much about the psychology of "right brained" and "left brained" idea, but I think it's pretty interesting.  

I tried to think of how this idea applies to my close friends and family.  Some people I know definitely lean more towards one side (my friend Shiloh fits the above right brained description perfectly, and my brother is definitely mostly left brained), but the majority of people are a balance of both.

What do you think?  Are you right brained, left brained, mixture of both, or is this all a bunch of hooey?