By N. Bhatta
Are you genius at certain jobs but feel like a half-wit when trying to complete other types of work? The two sides of the brain each have distinct preferences and capabilities, and your strong suits and weaknesses are frequently based upon the side of your brain that is dominant. Take this quiz to find out whether or not you are a right or left brain thinker and check out the career choices that correlate.
1. Are you better at math and science than art and literature?
YES – People who are left-brain thinkers are often better at and enjoy math and science over art and literature, making them perfect candidates for a career in engineering.
NO - People who are right-brain thinkers are often better at and enjoy art and literature over math and science, making them perfect candidates for a career in grant writing.
2. Do you love playing sports outdoors over reading indoors?
YES – The great outdoors and athletics are favorites of people who are right-brain thinkers, and a career that can combine the two, like one as a recreation director, is perfect.
NO - Staying indoors and reading are favorites of people who are left-brain thinkers, and a career that can combine the two, like one as a librarian, is perfect.
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Search by Company | Search by Industry3. Do you prefer verbal communication over physical communication?
YES – Left-brain thinkers love to work things out by talking, enjoying jobs like career counseling, where they are very effective.
NO - Right-brain thinkers think that actions speak louder than words, enjoying being very effective at showing their worth without words, like the career path of being a yoga instructor.
4. Would you rather draw pictures freehand instead of putting together a model airplane?
YES – People who are right-brain thinkers aren't fans of tremendous structure and prefer having some creativity at work, which makes marketing a perfect career for them.
NO - People who are left-brain thinkers are in need of structure and prefer having specific guidelines at work, which makes computer programming a perfect career path for them.
5. Do you like being in groups more than being alone?
YES – Group-oriented people are usually right-brain thinkers, making a job in retail a good fit for their lifestyle preference.
NO - Loners are usually left-brain thinkers, making a job in accounting a good fit for their lifestyle preference.
6. When given instructions, are lots of pictures easier to understand than lots of text?
YES – Right-brain thinkers love picture explanations over textual explanations, and this visual preference usually lends well to a career in interior design.
NO - Left-brain thinkers love textual explanations over pictorial explanations, and this preference usually lends well to a clerical career.
7. Have you noticed that you're better at providing the details and necessary information for a project than coming up with the initial idea?
YES – Those who are left-brain thinkers are more into processing loads of information and hammering out the details than being involved in the creative process, and a career in human resources is perfectly suited for this skill set.
NO - Those who are right-brain thinkers are more interested in the initial creative process than the information gathering that follows, and a career in consulting is perfectly suited for this skill set.
8. Do you need a completely quiet environment when you are working?
YES – Quiet environments are usually needed by left-brain thinkers, who would prefer a career where they could work from home in silence over something that required a noisy environment.
NO - Right-brain thinkers don't mind a bustling background as they work, making them more suitable for jobs that require noisy environments like those in the hospitality and hotel fields.
9. Would you enjoy helping someone solve a relationship problem more than a math problem?
YES – Solving relationship problems is right up the alley of the right-brain thinker, and a career as a psychologist would be both enjoyable and rewarding for this type of person.
NO - Solving math and technical problems is right up the alley of the left-brain thinker, and a career as a computer technician would be both enjoyable and rewarding for this type of person.
10. If you were a writer, would you prefer to write nonfiction books instead of fiction?
YES – Left-brain thinkers are obsessed with details and truth, making a career in banking or finance worth considering.
NO - Right-brain thinkers are more imaginative and don't mind making a career up as they go, making a job in sales worth considering.
Next: What's the Best Job for Your Personality? >>
Feb 20th 2009 @ 6:26AM Jetstar
Hmmm - 5 for 5 I guess I'm a split-brain thinker.
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Feb 20th 2009 @ 7:33AM Mercedes
Me too are split thinker.
Feb 20th 2009 @ 8:08AM DEE
So where does that leave us??
Feb 20th 2009 @ 8:34AM Patty-M
I can't tell which I am ! Right or left Hmmmmm
Feb 20th 2009 @ 9:05AM k
glad to know I use both sides of my pea brain
Feb 20th 2009 @ 9:16AM Kimberly2
That's what I was thinking too, for myself that is...LOL!
Feb 20th 2009 @ 11:00AM jer2911
Ditto. What about careers for us?
Feb 20th 2009 @ 12:18PM Rocko
Oh don't be so hard on yourself and please, no profanity! Oh, "split brain" (!), well excuse me! Haha, misread that one chief.
Feb 20th 2009 @ 12:36PM suz
i, too, must have a split also--equal for left and right brained.
Feb 20th 2009 @ 6:43AM Jan Cunningham
I found this interesting. BUT---I had 3 rights, 5 both and 2 left!!! That should be considered in regards to jobs and personality.
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Feb 20th 2009 @ 12:28PM BLJ
Often (or more often than not), it is left-handed people who show evidence for using both sides of the brain. This is in part because of requirements related to living and learning in a right-handed world.
Feb 20th 2009 @ 6:56AM Rick Yount
The entire LB-RB paradigm was proven false 30 years ago, but it hangs on under pop articles like this. Even children suffering from epilepsy who are treated by having half of their brain removed still function normally (one such patient is doing well in college right now), and display LB-RB characteristics.
John McCrone, writing nearly a decade ago, in 2000, declared the “myth” that the brain’s left hemisphere is coldly logical and verbal, while the right is imaginative and emotional, is seen by “most neuroscientists. . .as simplistic at best and nonsense at worst.” Brain scans show that both sides of the brain play an active, cooperative role in mental functioning. The difference is more in processing styles than content. McCrone uses language as an example, long thought to be a left-brain function. In turns out language is represented on both sides of the brain. The left side deals with core aspects of speech such as grammar and word production, while the right side focuses on intonation and emphasis. Spatial perception, long thought to be a right-brain function, involves both hemispheres in complex ways, the right side more active in “a general sense of space,” while the left side fires “when someone thinks about objects at particular locations.” The simple dichotomies “that inspired so many self-help books exhorting people to liberate their right brains and avoid too much sterile left-brain thinking” are out. “It is how the two sides of the brain complement and combine that counts.” John McCrone, “‘Right Brain’ or ‘Left Brain’ – Myth or Reality?” in The New Scientist (July 21, 2000)
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Feb 20th 2009 @ 7:11AM butch whitmon
Thank you Rick, for posting this info on John McCrone's work.
No wonder this "pop quiz" confused me. Geez, more garbage from the internet, LOL !!!
Feb 20th 2009 @ 7:48AM Lynne
I agree that the Left-Right thing is totally bogus!
I may be wrong but I recall that people who only use one side or another end up being those who have mental health issues!
Most people have a preference to how they like to "do" different processes. A majority of people will adapt to a different process if necessary. It is only those unable to adapt and change that cause a problem.
Feb 20th 2009 @ 7:33AM Rocky
Wow! You and I must both be left brain thinkers, thanks for the information.
Feb 20th 2009 @ 9:46AM chris
Stunning response. Really.
Feb 20th 2009 @ 9:29AM Bette Dewing
Right brainers usually more able to see the big picture - they are "essence" people. Unfortunately their ideas don't take effect because they're not as verbal as left-brainers. Left brainers control the world. Unfortunately.
Feb 20th 2009 @ 1:28PM Roger E. Kergaravat
Thank you for some "whole brain" truth.
Feb 20th 2009 @ 10:30AM ur an idiot
ur an idiot
Feb 20th 2009 @ 11:03AM C.L. Brown
Your information was interesting. I am an artist, poet, and have always been terrible with math. People have so often told me that I am "left-brained." I think your sources are right because I don't believe the use of one's brain can be completely categorized! I live in a retirement village and I have seen so many elderly people with dementia etc. and also other injuries to the brain, recover and have complete changes of abilities and some in personality.