From the article: Red pen too aggressive, Queensland teachers told By Gabrielle Dunlevy, AAP, December 03, 2008

“TEACHERS have been told to stop marking schoolchildren’s work with red pen because it is an “aggressive” colour.

Queensland’s Deputy Opposition Leader Mark McArdle told parliament today that teachers were being advised to reconsider their pen choice because it may offend children.”

As of this morning 301 readers had commented on the article and left some very negative reactions that I enjoyed reading.  It is always so enlightening to have people express their understanding (and misunderstanding) of the effects of color.

Read the article: Red pen too aggressive, Queensland teachers told

The Courier Mail displayed their sense of humor over the issue.  The picture above is one of several they posed.  For a laugh see the entire Red Pen Rogues Photo Gallery

I couldn’t help but leave a comment of my own. Not sure if it will be published but here is what I wrote:

It does sound a bit far fetched but here is a link to a study that shows red can have a negative impact on academic achievement.  The problem is more in the association of red being almost universally used by teachers to mark errors or mistakes as “WRONG” than with the fact that the color is generally aggressive.

In the long run if would seem the only way to overcome this is if teachers were to consistently “mix it up” where color is concerned and use a variety of colors instead of just red.  If there was not a “standard color” it is likely that future generations wouldn’t have this association and if the study was conducted the results would be different.

For current students however I’m not sure that changing it would have an immediate positive impact.  Color associations are deeply rooted in our mind often without us even realizing it.  The associations formed in childhood seem to be particularly strong.

I was tempted to add my comment about the problems of having legislators get involved in anything even remotely linked to aesthetics but that’s a much longer conversation for another day.

It’s 1:30am here in Virginia but I have a good reason for still being awake.  I just got off the phone with George Noory the host of Coast to Coast AM.

He had seen the news story “Study says the woman in red drives the men crazy,” and wanted to know,  “Is it true?”

Since the results came as no surprise to me I confidently said “Yes!” and then shared some of the science behind the psychological effects of the color red.

Basically here’s what happens–

When we see red it sparks the pituitary gland and in turn it sends a signal to the area of the adrenal gland that releases two hormones: epinephrine and norepinephrine each of which produces a chemical change in our body.

Epinephrine

• increases the heart rate
• forces the contractions of the heart, which gets blood flowing
• increases oxygen consumption
• increases heat production throughout the body that may cause a person to perspire

Norepinephrine

• has little effect on metabolic processes or cardiac output, but does cause our blood vessels to constrict, thus increasing blood pressure

In addition from a psychological standpoint red can:

• Increases enthusiasm
• Encourages action and confidence
• Provides a sense of protection from fears and anxiety

Is it any wonder red is associated with love, sensuality, and romance?

What fun to talk to George live on-air.  If you’d like to hear the re-broadcast of last nights show or learn more about Coast to Coast AM visit their website…

By Will Dunham Will Dunham – Tue Oct 28, 1:44 am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – If a woman wants to drive the men wild, she might want to dress in red.

Men rated a woman shown in photographs as more sexually attractive if she was wearing red clothing or if she was shown in an image framed by a red border rather than some other colour, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

The study led by psychology professor Andrew Elliot of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, seemed to confirm red as the colour of romance — as so many Valentine’s Day card makers and lipstick sellers have believed for years.

Although this “red alert” may be a product of human society associating red with love for eons, it also may arise from more primitive biological roots, Elliot said.

Noting the genetic similarity of humans to higher primates, he said scientists have shown that certain male primates are especially attracted to females of their species displaying red. For example, female baboons and chimpanzees show red colouring when nearing ovulation, sending a sexual signal that the males apparently find irresistible.

“It could be this very deep, biologically based automatic tendency to respond to red as an attraction cue given our evolutionary heritage,” Elliot, whose findings appear in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, said in a telephone interview.

The study involved more than 100 men, mostly college undergraduates, who were shown pictures of women and asked to rate how pretty they were, how much the men would like to kiss them and how much the men would like to have sex with them.

Men were shown a woman, with some of the pictures bordered in red and some bordered in white, grey or green. Even though it was the same picture of the same woman, when she was framed in red the men rated her as more attractive than when she was bordered by another colour.

Men were then shown photographs of a woman that were identical except that the researchers digitally made her shirt red in some versions or blue in others. And once again, the men strongly favoured the woman in red.

The men also were asked, “Imagine that you are going on a date with this person and have $100 (64 pounds) in your wallet. How much money would you be willing to spend on your date?” When she was clad in red, the men said they would spend more money on her.

The researchers noted that the colour red did not alter how men rated the women in the photographs in terms of likeability, intelligence or kindness — only attractiveness.

The researchers then had a group of young women rate whether the pictured woman was pretty. Red had no impact on whether women rated other women as pretty, they found.

Gay men and colour blind men were excluded from the study.

Other times a color, or maybe more correctly a color in a specific context, can take us through the millions of images in our mind and locate exactly where we’ve seen that color before.  Recently I was reminded of just how powerful this phenomenon is.

I have received several emails from someone who uses a green font and whenever I read his messages I find my mind calling up images of my father’s handwriting.

You see my dad always loved to write with ballpoint pens or flair markers with green ink.  It quite literally became his signature color.

So although the context is a bit different when I see the green font it so clearly brings my father’s handwriting into my mind that even seven years after his death I can see his signature as clearly in my mind as if I was looking down at it on a piece of paper.

Amazing isn’t it?

Related:

Color Memories Stay With Us

Can you guess where it is?

I just posted a short article inspired by this sign.  You can read it here…