The popular conception that the right brain is emotional while the left brain is rational and reliable is largely inverted from the truth: the left hemisphere is actually less in touch with reality, more prone to jumping to conclusions, less reliable in judgment, and more prone to anger, while the right hemisphere is more intelligent in terms of IQ, attends more broadly to the world, perceives more, makes better judgments, and is less prone to quick conclusions

causalpending

Speaker

Ian McGilchrist

Evidence Quote

it's the inverse of the truth because the left hemisphere is actually less in touch with reality less reliable more prone to jump to conclusions more prone to quick and dirty decisions

Source

The Divided Mind: A Conversation with Iain McGilchrist (Episode #234)Sam Harris
Created: 8/11/2026, 12:21:55 AM

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