Interesting fact about the green-red color blindness in men, Rob, and I also 
liked hearing about Lisa's personal experiences. I'm tending to see a 
biological component in the color perference of men/women as more plausible, 
but I still think this article/study doesn't  prove that at all. I know that 
I abhore pink precisely because it's a "girly" color.  I'm convinced that 
color preference is to a large extent a conditioned response -- and how one 
separates what part is nature and what part is nurture is as complicated 
here as it is with determining other gender differences. But if you want to 
do a serious experiment on color and gender, especially on the preference of 
pink, then taking American men and women as your control group is simply 
silly. You would have to conduct the experiment outside the States in a 
country/culture (like China) in which pink is explicitly not considered a 
girl's color (what this article doesn't even tell us one way or the other).  
But even in China, Lisa tells us, red is the preferred color of females 
(i.e. brides), so with some variation, the same color paradigm holds up 
there too, it seems to me.
(Dressed in gold! How cool.)

Trixie



>From: "Rob Felty"  
>To: "Clare Dibble"  
>CC: "Eva Revesz"  , bsoule Æ gmail.com, 
>improvetheworld Æ umich.edu
>Subject: Re: sex difference: the color pink
>Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:03:19 -0400
>
>Trixie is right that their argument is weak, but I also agree that there 
>may
>be some biological differences here. For example. men are much more likely
>to have green-red color blindness than women.
>
>Rob
>
>On 8/28/07, Clare Dibble   wrote:
> >
> > A difference in color sensitivity between men and women seems highly
> > plausible to me.
> > I thin it might even be supported by other science.  Just because men
> > can't all see red shades and therefore can't prefer them does not mean
> > that all the evolutionary biology crap they infer at the end is true.
> > I thought the first half of the article was much stronger than the
> > second.
> >
> >
> > On 8/28/07, Eva Revesz   wrote:
> > >
> > > How does testing Chinese women on their favorite color prove that 
>color
> > > preference is biologically determined?  If that's all this study has 
>to
> > go
> > > by in the nature vs. nurture argument regarding color preference, than
> > > that's pretty scant.
> > > I have no idea whether the Chinese dress their baby girls in pink and
> > their
> > > baby boys in blue -- and this study doesn't even tell us either -- but
> > the
> > > mere fact that the entire Western world does is enough these days to
> > argue
> > > for an influence of our culture on theirs, hegemonic as it has become.
> > > Very weak argument here, if you ask me.
> > > Trixie
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > >From: "bethany soule"  
> > > >To: improvetheworld Æ umich.edu
> > > >Subject: sex difference: the color pink
> > > >Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:13:00 -0400
> > > >
> > > >(from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070820120720.htm)
> > > >
> > > >Girls Prefer Pink, Or At Least A Redder Shade Of Blue
> > > >
> > > >Science Daily — A study in Current Biology reports some of the 
>first
> > > >conclusive evidence in support of the long-held notion that men and
> > > >women differ when it comes to their favorite colors. Indeed, the
> > > >researchers found that women really do prefer pink--or at least a
> > > >redder shade of blue--than men do.
> > > >
> > > >"Although we expected to find sex differences, we were surprised at
> > > >how robust they were, given the simplicity of our test," said Anya
> > > >Hurlbert of Newcastle University, UK. In the test, young adult men 
>and
> > > >women were asked to select, as rapidly as possible, their preferred
> > > >color from each of a series of paired, colored rectangles.
> > > >
> > > >The universal favorite color for all people appears to be blue, they
> > > >found. "On top of that, females have a preference for the red end of
> > > >the red-green axis, and this shifts their color preference slightly
> > > >away from blue towards red, which tends to make pinks and lilacs the
> > > >most preferred colors in comparison with others," she said.
> > > >
> > > >Overall, the differences between men and women were clear enough that
> > > >the seasoned researchers can now usually predict the sex of a
> > > >participant based on their favorite-color profile.
> > > >
> > > >To begin to address whether sex differences in color preference 
>depend
> > > >more on biology or culture, the researchers tested a small group of
> > > >Chinese people amongst the other 171 British Caucasian study
> > > >participants. The results among the Chinese were similar, Hurlbert
> > > >said, strengthening the idea that the sex differences might be
> > > >biological. The explanation might go back to humans' hunter-gatherer
> > > >days, when women--the primary gatherers--would have benefited from an
> > > >ability to key in on ripe, red fruits.
> > > >
> > > >"Evolution may have driven females to prefer reddish colors--reddish
> > > >fruits, healthy, reddish faces," Hurlbert said. "Culture may exploit
> > > >and compound this natural female preference."
> > > >
> > > >She said another way to separate "nature versus nurture" when it 
>comes
> > > >to favorite colors will be to test the preferences of infants. The
> > > >researchers have plans to modify the color-choice test for use in
> > > >young babies and hope to have some answers on that front soon.
> > > >
> > > >About the universal preference for blue, "I can only speculate," said
> > > >Hurlbert. "I would favor evolutionary arguments again here. Going 
>back
> > > >to our 'savannah' days, we would have a natural preference for a 
>clear
> > > >blue sky, because it signaled good weather. Clear blue also signals a
> > > >good water source."
> > > >
> > > >The researchers include Anya C. Hurlbert and Yazhu Ling of Newcastle
> > > >Univesity in Newcastle upon Tyne,UK.
> > > >
> > > >Hurlbert and Ling: "Biological components of sex differences in 
>colour
> > > >preference." Publishing in Current Biology, 21 August 2007, R623-625.
> > >
> > > _________________________________________________________________
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> >

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