There are a number of theories floating around in the human psyche-dom that compares the left hemisphere of our brains with the right and how differently they work, and how our mind perceives things that are placed visually on the left vs the right. Here is a new one that has come out from the University of Utah. Things that are placed on your visual left side are scarier than on your right side. This simply means that if you see something scary towards your left eye or anywhere in your left hemisphere, it will scare you much more than what it would have done if the same object was placed on your right.
Himanshu Mishra, Arul Mishra and Oscar Moreno from the University of Utah have conducted a series of studies and have concluded that visual left side is far scarier than its right counterpart. They state that people perceive a far greater threat if the object is placed in the left visual field when compared to the right visual field. For example, traffic in the US flows from left to right while in India it is right to left. So when people cross the road, they would believe that the threat of getting mowed down by vehicles is far more in the US than in India, although in reality, it is the other way around.
Another illustration. If a rough looking stranger approaches you from the right, you may not feel as intimidated as he would have from the left. According to the studies, pedestrians crossed a one-way street 4% faster if the traffic was approaching from their left and sat 17% farther from a threatening-looking homeless man in a row of outdoor chairs if the man was to their left.
Perhaps insurance companies can get you to buy policies by placing the downfalls of unfortunate incidents on your left side, or IT security agencies promote their products by listing the threats on the left side in the seminar room. Use this information wisely, whether you are trying to pitch a business case to your boss or selling products to customers. Place the things that are meant to ill effects of not taking a decision on the left and the rest on the right (or elsewhere).
