Science Confirms People See Red When Angry

In a tender scene from the 1944 classic film "The Fighting Sullivans", Mr. Thomas F. Sullivan reconciles with his brash young son who had previously lifted his hands to fight him. Papa Sullivan, played by actor Thomas Mitchell, tells the family that the lad can't really be blamed for getting upset as he'd "hardly be an Irishman if he didn't see a flash of red from time to time".

As it turns out, researchers from the North Dakota State University conducted a test on a sample of people measuring any connection between personality types, levels of hostility, and color. Their conclusion is that people can indeed see a flash of red when angry. Now, not everyone sees that color and it is most likely to be perceived in those who already display a hostile temperament.

At the outset of the test, participants were asked to announce their preference between the colors blue and red. Next, their personalities were examined. Next, they were shown images containing a mix of red and blue in degrees that made the images plausibly discernible as leaning towards being either blue or red. Those who tended to perceive the images as being mostly red happened to be the people previously determined to have hostile tempers. How hostile were they? According to the test results, those who see "red" tended to be 25% more hostile than those who didn't. Lastly, participants were asked to consider situations that are threatening and explain how they would respond. Those seeing "red" were more likely to give the person threatening them a righteous beat down.

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Source:
People really do see red when they’re angry and it's all because our ancestors linked it with danger
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2581997/People-really-red-theyre-angry-ancestors-linked-danger.html?amp38