Whole-brain Half-wittedness

The left-brain/right-brain myth just won't go away. The psychologist, Laurence Miller, coined the phrase "whole-brain half-wittedness" and it's a good description. I, and many others, have been debunking the myth in education, business and other domains for many years. We have not had much success. Where did the myth originate and why is it so difficult to bust?

The idea that (Western) education neglected half the brain (usually the right hemisphere) and that the whole brain needed to be activated, did not find its origin in Nobelist Roger Sperry's 1950/60's split brain research, as is commonly believed. In 1985, psychologist Lauren Julius Harris wrote in a book chapter entitled "Teaching the right brain: Historical perspective on a contemporary educational fad.", that these ideas found their origin in Victorian times. Prejudice agains left-handedness (sinistrality) led to the educational ideal of ambidexterity in order to promote two-brainedness. Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scout movement, was one of the supporters of the ambidexterity movement - in order to get more effective soldiers.

Why, if these ideas are so old and so thoroughly debunked (see for instance this chapter from The Throwing Madonna), do they just keep on going? There are of many reasons of course. The idea of a dual brain with a division of function along the lines of popular dichotomies (i.e. rational vs. intuitive, male vs. female, sequential vs. simultaneous) seems elegant and appealing - a scientific solution worthy of Occam's Razor. It is so intuitively plausible and on the face of it, based on science, that quacks find it easy to market any product based on it.

Another reason may lie in the nature of the training or therapy franchises that promote whole -brain half-wittery. They are often what I would like to call inbred granfalloons. A granfalloon is a group of people, often hierarchically organised, that associate around a meaningless, fabricated premise. The granfalloon would be established by the leader (or guru) and members would be limited to approved training and literature. The guru may be well aware that his or her product is nonsense, but the faithful followers or practitioners are kept in the dark. The quaint American expression "mushroomed - kept in the dark and fed manure", seems appropriate.