THAT'S MEN:That we are in charge of our own lives, while both a comforting and necessary belief, is an illusion, writes Padraig O'Morain
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
SO WROTE William Ernest Henley more than a century ago in his stirringly-titled poem, Invictus.
The illusion that we are in charge of our own lives is both comforting and necessary. Certainly it is more comforting than to see ourselves as led or driven by forces over which we are by no means the master.
And it is necessary because without it we would sit around all day watching dreary TV shows like Dr Phil instead of getting out and moving in some sort of satisfying direction. That some of us behave like this anyway simply proves my point.
I was led to this line of thought by news about ladies in red. An interesting piece of research at the University of Rochester by scientists who had nothing better to do at the time, reveals the hidden effects of the colour red on men's attitude to women.
For men, they found, the colour red has an aphrodisiac effect but without an awareness on the part of men that this is so.
That's why lipstick is red and not grey. It's why we have red-light districts and not green-light districts. It's why some female monkeys have red bottoms which get redder when they're ovulating, to attract male monkeys.
(At least human females don't have to emulate their simian counterparts: men are more attracted to women when they are at their most fertile even if they can't see their bottoms).
The researchers showed men pictures of women in which the images were framed in different colours. Asked who were the prettiest women, the men were more likely to choose the women associated with the colour red.
But here's the thing that should have women stocking up on red: the men were also shown pictures of women wearing either red or blue clothes and asked how much they would be willing to spend on a date with them. Yep, you've got it: men were willing to spend more on dates with ladies in red than ladies in blue.
The "red effect" applies solely to attractiveness. Wearing red or blue made no difference to how likeable or attractive the men found the women. It's all about sex - so I guess we're not so far from the monkeys after all!
But unconscious influences are at work outside the sexual realm too. Researchers at the University of Colorado set up an experiment in which people were asked to pick up a pad used to relieve muscle pain.
Some pads were heated, some frozen. Later they were offered a drink which they could have themselves or a voucher they could give to a friend.
Those who picked up the heated pad were more likely to choose the voucher for a friend. Physical warmth makes us more generous.
The scientists at the University of Colorado set up another experiment in which people using an escalator were asked to hold either a hot drink or a cold drink. Then they were asked to rate the warmth or coldness of fictional characters. As you've guessed, they judged the characters to be "warmer" after they had held a hot drink than after they had held a cold drink.
Where does all this leave us? It seems to me that it leaves us with something that is quite impossible to accept regardless of its truth.
Is it really possible that Freud and all those fusty old psychanalysts were right and that we are only codding ourselves when we imagine that we think we know why we do the things we do every moment of the day?
Well, yes, I think it does. This and other research - and there's plenty of it - suggests that every detailed choice and preference is influenced by colours, temperatures, sensations (men who are hungry find bigger women more attractive than men who are full) and other factors outside our awareness.
But it's impossible to accept, isn't it? Accept it and we have no way to navigate. We are lost. So we go on pretending we're in charge, because we must.
I am the master of my fate, indeed.
• Padraig O'Morain is a counsellor