Is there any legitimate scientific connection between red-hair and temper/mood?

[JohnBoy2000]

I read this saying recently:

"Red in the hair = fire in the soul".

The "soul" is a day to day euphemism for the operation, emotional-reflexive nature of the nervous-system, through which our behavior is encoded.

Some call it "spirit".

I think Chinese refer to it on some level as "Chi" or lifeforce.

But those with red/ginger hair have historically been associated with having a short temper? More prone to anger outbursts?

Is this a general stereotype, is there any truth to this?
And as I understand, red hair is caused by a mutation in one of the five MCR receptor subtypes, responsible for activation of pigmentation rendering melanocyte cells.

If mood/emotional-nature is encoded in the CNS, in what we do under-functioning melanocytes contribute to a "quicker" neural response, more aggressive?
Shorter temper?

Thoughts?

 

[JohnBoy2000]

Red also causes a more emotional response, a color that's known for elevating others tempers?

Therefore it's the color used in bull-fighting, to provoke an attack from the bull.

Perhaps it's a case that red-haired people, due to the visual stimulus they provide, tend to elicit a more acute emotional response from OTHERS, which they are subsequently subject to.

Being the case, developmentally, they may begin to respond more reflexively, emotionally, with anger?

Therefore they become known as having a quicker temper?

......

Purely speculative.

But I can't seem to think of any connection between an MCR receptor subtype mutation and some link into the nature of innate neural responsiveness (thus temper/mood/behavior responsiveness).

 

[Joey]

I want to be a first responder here. This question has me in crisis. I just dyed my hair red again and I’m fucking pissed to be questioned in this manner. All I want to do is eviscerate the logic.

People with red hair are just bad at life, hard work, awkward, and unable to think in a logical sequence. That’s all. Then that receptor too.

 

[Genetic Freak]

Red also causes a more emotional response, a color that's known for elevating others tempers?

Therefore it's the color used in bull-fighting, to provoke an attack from the bull.

Perhaps it's a case that red-haired people, due to the visual stimulus they provide, tend to elicit a more acute emotional response from OTHERS, which they are subsequently subject to.

Being the case, developmentally, they may begin to respond more reflexively, emotionally, with anger?

Therefore they become known as having a quicker temper?

......

Purely speculative.

But I can't seem to think of any connection between an MCR receptor subtype mutation and some link into the nature of innate neural responsiveness (thus temper/mood/behavior responsiveness).

Coming from the UK, there would appear to be substantial anecdotal evidence for the modern day descendants of early tribes of Celtic, Pictish, origin residing in Wales, Ireland, Cornwall, and Scotland presenting with a temperament to match their fiery red hair..

 

[JohnBoy2000]

Coming from the UK, there would appear to be substantial anecdotal evidence for the modern day descendants of early tribes of Celtic, Pictish, origin residing in Wales, Ireland, Cornwall, and Scotland presenting with a temperament to match their fiery red hair..

So it's like a cultural thing?

Only that/those specific culture(s) has red hair.

The actual physiology behind red hair isn't the contributory factor to temperament, as per this rationale?
But more a denominator of it.

 

[JohnBoy2000]

I want to be a first responder here. This question has me in crisis. I just dyed my hair red again and I’m fucking pissed to be questioned in this manner. All I want to do is eviscerate the logic.

People with red hair are just bad at life, hard work, awkward, and unable to think in a logical sequence. That’s all. Then that receptor too.

My GP has red hair.

He's the most rational/logical doctor in that practice (most respected surgery in town).
Works the hardest, most dependable, most successful (hot wife, successful kids) and I haven't seen the conventional "temper" red heads are known for (which doesn't mean it's not present, I just haven't seen it personally).

 

[Genetic Freak]

So it's like a cultural thing?

Only that/those specific culture(s) has red hair.

The actual physiology behind red hair isn't the contributory factor to temperament, as per this rationale?
But more a denominator of it.

I might suggest there is a genetic component, not only to the hair pigmentation but also predisposition to mood/aggression state..

 

[JohnBoy2000]

I might suggest there is a genetic component, not only to the hair pigmentation but also predisposition to mood/aggression state..

Tie in between culture and gene expression?
i.e. transgenerational effects of culture on gene modification, influence the culture genotype, over time.

Yeah I mean, from observation it appears kids are born with in many respects, a genetically formed attitude/personality (i.e. nature, not nurture, at least in the early stages), which unquestionably encapsulates mood/temper.

I think it's also accurate to say that, with good cultivation/upbringing, that can modify itself.

So those with red hair are predisposed with that quick/short temper?

Gene mutation expressing for the MCR receptor somehow effects that predisposed temperament/emotional outcome?
Or where that mutation occurs it frequently/reliably co-occurs with some other mood related genetic variant?

.......

I guess one question being, does the MCR receptor itself somehow effect temperament?

Yeah I mean, observing someone with red hair, I could see how there is the genetic component to their temperament.

But then of course, as with my GP, there's unquestionably exceptions (unless he's essentially developed/cultivated himself out of that conventional/stereotypical temperamental type disposition).

 

[fastandbulbous]

Couldn't say one way orthe other, just know my first partner had burnished copper red hair, was 5' 1" tall, yet I've seen 15 hands horses shit scared of her (fuck, she scared me at times!)