For all but the ambidextrous, having a dominant hand is simply a matter of course. However, most people also have a dominant eye and are unaware of it. Knowing your dominant eye is helpful in a variety of places and situations, from the shooting range to the optometrist's office. To determine which of your eyes is dominant, start with Step 1 below.
Hold your hands at arm's length out in front of you. Your palms should be pointing forward - in other words, you should be looking at the backs of your hands.
Make a "triangle." Extend both of your thumbs so that they're roughly perpendicular to the rest of the hand. Overlap your hands so that the space between makes a triangle. Your two thumbs should be at the bottom of the triangle, while the edge and index finger of each hand form the two remaining sides. The triangle space between your hands acts as a viewing window - you should be able to clearly see objects through it.
Look at an object through the triangle hole made by your hands. Find a nearby object that's small enough (or far enough away) that you can see the whole object through the viewing window between your hands. This can be anything - a door knob, a coffee mug, or even a letter on a faraway billboard.
Focus on the object. Try to focus your eyes on the object between your hands - not your hands themselves. Your hands should become somewhat blurry, while the object remains clear and in-focus. It's important to line this object up directly in front of you and to stare straight at it - turning your head to either side can distort your results.
For best results, at this point, make minor adjustments to your hands so that the object you're looking at fits almost exactly within the edges your viewing window. In other words, if your triangle is bigger than the object you're looking at, move your hands together to make it smaller, and vice versa.
Alternate closing each eye to see which gives better vision. Close one eye, then open it and close the other. Each time you switch eyes, the object you're looking at should do one of two things. It should either stay exactly as it is or jump out of your triangle so that it's partially or completely obscured behind one of your hands. Next, try your other eye. Within a few tries, you should be able to establish that when you close one eye, the object you're looking at moves, while the other eye has no effect. Whichever eye causes the object to jump when you close it is your dominant eye.
In other words, if you close your left eye and the object jumps, but you close your right eye and the object stays stationary, your left eye is your dominant eye because when you use it to look at your object, your vision doesn't change.
Though it is rare, it is possible for someone to exhibit ambidexterity in their eyes - in other words, for both eyes to be equally dominant.
If necessary, cut a window in a piece of paper. Some people have a difficult time focusing on an object beyond their hands - they find it difficult to keep the object in focus while keeping their hands out of focus. If this is the case with you, try cutting a small circle (about 1 inch in diameter) in a normal sheet of paper. Use this as your viewing window, lining an object up in the hole and closing one eye after the other.
Extend your hands out in front of you and create a "triangle." As in the method above, this eye dominance test requires you to make a triangular viewing window with your hands. Stretch your arms out in front of you and turn your hands up, then cross your hands to make a triangle-shaped hole.
Note - as above, you can also cut a small hole in a piece of paper to create a viewing window.
Align an object in the triangular hole. Find a small object nearby and align your hands with it so that you can see it in the hole between your hands. Make sure your head is pointing straight at the object through your hands - cocking your head, even slightly, to either side can affect your results.
Slowly move your hands towards your face. Begin to draw your viewing window towards your face. As you do so, keep your head perfectly still, but keep the object lined up in the hole between your hands. Don't lose sight of it.
Draw your hands in until they touch your face - the eye they end up over is the dominant one. Keeping the object lined up in the hole between your hands, continue drawing them all the way in until you can't any more. Take note of where your hands are - most people subconsciously move their hands towards one eye to keep the object in their line of sight. For example, if you find that your hands end up over your right eye, your right eye is dominant.
Keeping your head still while you perform this test is essential. If you move your head even slightly while your draw your hands towards your face, you can easily end up determining that the wrong eye is dominant.
Again, it's worth noting that a small percentage of people exhibit dominance in both eyes.
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