Disney princesses have become more left-handed over time, Montclair State study finds
Among the most left-handed princesses identified were Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Tiana from The Princess and the Frog.
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Disney princesses in animated films have become increasingly left-handed over time, according to a new study by researchers at Montclair State University.
The study, conducted by faculty and student researchers in the university’s psychology department, examined hand use by characters in 13 official Disney Princess films. Researchers analyzed how often protagonists and villains used their left or right hands while performing tasks on screen.
The findings, published in the journal Laterality: Asymmetries of Brain, Behavior, and Cognition, show that earlier princess characters — especially those appearing before about 1992 — were more strongly right-handed than villains. In more recent films, however, princesses have shifted toward left-handedness, while villains’ handedness has remained largely unchanged.
Researchers also found that most characters were less strongly handed overall than people in the real world, meaning many would be considered ambidextrous by the study’s standards. Among the most left-handed princesses identified were Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Tiana from The Princess and the Frog.
Lead researcher and psychology professor Ruth Propper said the shift may reflect broader cultural changes.
“One possibility is that new animators hired after the early 1990s had less bias against left-handedness, as cultural views about lefties had changed,” Propper said.
Researchers noted that because animated characters are drawn rather than acted, handedness is a deliberate choice by animators and may reveal cultural assumptions about traits such as left-handedness.
The films span roughly 80 years, giving researchers a way to examine how portrayals of left-handedness in popular culture have evolved over time.
