Scientists uncover truth behind 'pink for a girl, blue for a boy'

 

By FIONA MACRAE - More by this author » Last updated at 17:43pm on 20th August 2007 Comments

It will come as no surprise to any parent who has given into their daughter's demands to paint her bedroom her favourite colour.

Scientists have shown girls prefer pink.

In research that gives substance to the saying "Pink for a girl and blue for a boy", psychologists found that women favour pinks and purples, while men are happiest surrounded by shades of blue.

It is thought the difference has its roots in evolution and the activities of our hunter-gatherer forbearers.

Scroll down for more...

More than simply fashion, Victoria Beckham dressing in pink is actually the result of millions of years of prehistoric conditioning

 

While men developed a preference for the clear blue skies that signalled good weather for hunting, women honed their ability to pick out the reds and pink while foraging for ripe fruits and berries.

Newcastle University scientists pinpointed the pink-blue division by presenting more than 200 men and women with a series of coloured triangles and asking them to pick out their favourite hues.

Faced with more than 250 different colour choices, the women clearly veered towards pinks and lilacs, while the men fixated on blues.

The correlation was so strong that the researchers could tell a person's sex just by looking at their results of the colour test.

Anya Hurlbert, a professor of visual neuroscience, said: "Although we expected to find gender differences, we were surprised at how robust they were, given the simplicity of our test."

The finding held true when the test was run on a group of Chinese volunteers, suggesting that colour preferences are something we are born with, rather than something we learn.

Professor Hulbert, of Newcastle's school of psychology, said: "The explanation might date back to humans' hunter-gatherer days, when women were the primary gatherers and would have benefited from the ability to home in on ripe, red fruits."

The ability to pick up on reds and pinks may also have helped in choosing a suitable mate, with rosy cheeks denoting good health and a red tinge the blush of attraction.

"Finding food and finding a mate are key elements of survival," said Professor Hulbert.

The researcher believes society reinforces our inbuilt preference for colours, by dressing baby girls in pinks and boys in blues.

However, it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

Professor Hulbert said: "I think society is picking up on an innate tendency and pandering to it and exaggerating it. It isn't a bad thing but if everything were pink, then pink wouldn't be interesting any more.

"That is a dangerous route that toy manufacturers to go down, for example. The preference for reddishness is for redness compared to the background and that isn't going to happen if everything is the same colour."

The researchers, whose results are reported in the journal Current Biology, now plan to run a modified version of the experiment on infants as a further test of the 'nature versus nurture' theory.

Interesting, but most likely speculative gibberish :p

 

P.S. My favourite colour is blue :D

Interesting, but most likely speculative gibberish :p

 

P.S. My favourite colour is blue :D

 

Well there you are, then!:rolleyes:

Hm. My favourite colours are blue and then green. I'm rather obsessed with blue, actually.

And I absolutely, totally, and completely LOATHE pink. Oh, and I know plenty of girls who feel the same.

 

So much for that research. :dozey:

Hm. My favourite colours are blue and then green. I'm rather obsessed with blue, actually.

And I absolutely, totally, and completely LOATHE pink. Oh, and I know plenty of girls who feel the same.

 

So much for that research. :dozey:

 

Maybe girls in Nova Scotia are a bit "different"!!:P

Maybe girls in Nova Scotia are a bit "different"!!:P

 

That wouldn't explain some of my American cousins and friends. :tongue:

My favorite color is green. :)

My favorite color is green. :)

 

same here.. and blue too...

i could believe that prehistory theory.... as i use to believe those prehistory theories answering how human behaviour is... but... it's wrong with me too

 

fave colours during long time were: green and blue, mainly green (i used to wear green clothes, in fact a friend called me alien sometimes...) :uhoh:

 

now my faves colours are beige, black and red.... (mainly beige)

do that means that i'm evolutioning into another specie? :thinking: :uhoh: :laugh3: jk

I don't have one favourable colour.. but I definitely do not like pink!

And oh, I've been seeing lately a lot of guys wearing pink shirts around.. which is some sort of a trend these days! I don't get why the wear them, it's awful!

My favorite color is green. :)

 

Perhaps, but those clothes you bought the other day were most definitely pink!!:P

I don't have one favourable colour.. but I definitely do not like pink!

And oh, I've been seeing lately a lot of guys wearing pink shirts around.. which is some sort of a trend these days! I don't get why the wear them, it's awful!

 

Were you in a gay bar at the time?:P

i could believe that prehistory theory.... as i use to believe those prehistory theories answering how human behaviour is... but... it's wrong with me too

 

fave colours during long time were: green and blue, mainly green (i used to wear green clothes, in fact a friend called me alien sometimes...) :uhoh:

 

now my faves colours are beige, black and red.... (mainly beige)

do that means that i'm evolutioning into another specie? :thinking: :uhoh: :laugh3: jk

 

Yes - perhaps you're an arien!!:rolleyes:

I like pink.

 

 

:uhoh:

 

but I can't stand hot pink. Uuuughh. I also like blue and purple. I don't really have a favorite color.