I read that when faced with the option, people are something like 80% more likely to turn right. I couldn’t find the original study I read (many years ago), but this essay is related and pretty interesting–it’s retail-oriented, specifically, which got me thinking–is it just when we’re shopping that we tend to veer right or are we right-centric in general? I mean really, how often are we in a situation where we don’t know if we want to go left or right? When we’re tourists, I suppose. When we have a free afternoon and decide to just stroll. But, really it’s quite unusual to just be wandering aimlessly. Most of us know exactly where we’re going before we get there.

The study goes on to say that malls and department stores have made decisions based on this data. For example, The newer clothing lines or more attractive displays are to the left–because we’ll naturally go right, but we have to be enticed to go left. Airports put fast food on the left but shopping on the right (we’ll cross for food but not for a spur-of-the-moment trinket or magazine from a newsstand.) Fascinating stuff.

So, I think about this a lot–when I enter a building or cross a street, when I’m shopping or wandering aimlessly. What am I naturally drawn toward and what catches my eye? How would I choose to enter this store if I wasn’t thinking about directionality? Then I start to think how, if we could all just move in an unencumbered way, with no specific destination to speak of, we’d all just be turning in circles.

So, whenever I get the chance, I go left.