If someone uses both right and left hands for different tasks, would that person be considered ambidextrous?

Question

A friend of mine at work said that if you can't do 2 tasks equally with both hands then you are not ambidextrous.

Answer 1

I'd have to agree with your friend but I'm sure this kind of question is debatable. For example, if you can't write just as well with your left hand as you can with your right (or vice versa), I don't think you should be considered ambidextrous.

When I play hockey, I shoot lefty and that's probably the only thing I ever do that's lefty. Everything else is righty. So honestly, I don't think that makes you ambidextrous, it just shows what your preferences are for those specific tasks.

Answer 2

I don't know. I am right handed, but I drive with my left hand. Am I ambidextrous? No, I don't think so. Your coworker may be right. We all do certain things with one hand or the other, or use different hands for different things. But I would think that the people who can do one task with either hand, and have the end result be the same, would be the people who are genuinely ambidextrous.

Answer 3

Sorry but you are not ambidextrous, you have to be able to do everything equally with both hands, including writing, to be ambidextrous. I busted up my right hand in a sports accident and had to use my left hand for everything. I could write, but it certainly was not as legible as when I used my right hand! I am also typing with both hands, but that does not make me ambidextrous!

Answer 4

Your friend is right - you must be able to do the exact same things with both hands to be considered ambidextrous.

Answer 5

Your friend is right. People who favor different hands for different tasks may have ambiguous hand dominance but they are not ambidextrous.

Answer 6

I think to some degree that they would be ambidextrous....

Answer 7

Yes and yes.

Answer 8

yes that is what it is called, but i call it talent