Friday, August 13, 2010

WOMEN PREFER MEN IN RED, STUDY SHOWS

STUDY: WOMEN VIEW MEN IN RED AS
HIGH STATUS AND SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE
(CNN / APA) - Women in China, the United States, England and Germany said they found men pictured wearing red, or surrounded by the color, more sexually attractive. Women consider men in red as higher in status and more likely to climb the social ladder, according to Andrew Elliot, the lead author and professor of psychology at the University of Rochester. The perception of high status is what leads to the attraction, he says. Despite the cultural differences among women surveyed, the results were consistent, according to the study. However, researchers said, the color only enhanced perceptions of status and romance, but not did not make the man seem more likable and kind. Andrew Elliot, PhD, of the University of Rochester and University of Munich says “Red is typically thought of as a sexy color for women only. Our findings suggest that the link between red and sex also applies to men.” Authors attributed the color’s appeal to its historic use as a symbol of wealth and status.

Women studied were more inclined to rate men in red as having a higher status in addition to finding them more desirable and attractive. “A man who wears red may feel dominant, which influences his self-confidence and behavior and in turn may impress women”, according to the authors. The psychologists say it’s true that red is a symbol of power. Red is a primal color associated with confidence. It is used in bold body paintings and necklaces in rituals and ceremonies in various cultures, including the Masai in east Africa. “In primitive societies, sacred objects were painted or coated in red to enhance their potency and convey a sense of great importance,” the study says. “In ancient China, Japan, and sub-Saharan Africa, red was viewed as a symbol of prosperity and high status. Classical Romans called the most powerful men ‘“the ones who wear red.’”. The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.


Red triggers feelings of love and passion in men, and this study showed that it also does the same in women. The qualities of passion for creation are represented in Lord Brahmā, who is called rakta, or red. When we take material bodies for sense gratification, we stay affected by the material modes of nature (passion, goodness and ignorance).


WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?
In this material world there are 8,400,000 species of life. As spirit souls, they are all transcendental to this material world. Why, then, do they exhibit themselves in different stages of life? The answer is given here: they are under the spell of the three modes of material nature. Because they were created by the material energy, their bodies are made of the material elements. ... In the Vedas also it is stated that the eternal living entities are covered by different modes and that they are called tricolored - red, white and blue - living entities. Red is the representation of the mode of passion, white is the representation of the mode of goodness, and blue is the representation of the mode of ignorance. These modes of material nature belong to the material energy, and therefore the living entities under these different modes of material nature have different kinds of material bodies.


Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam”
Purport in Canto 3 - Chapter 26 - Verse 5.

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