Once upon a time there was a little village girl, the prettiest that had ever been seen. She had a little green hood that became her so well, that everyone called her Little Green Riding Hood.

She felt different from the other village girls, she felt better, standing out from the crowd. Not only because she was beautiful. She felt superior iintellectually too. In fact, she was a shy - and also somewhat dumb - girl, but she managed at compensating her inferiorities very well.

One day, her mother, who baked some cakes, said: "Go and see your grandmother for I've heard she's ill."

In the wood, Little Green Riding Hood met the wolf.

"Hello, pretty," said the wolf. Little Green Riding Hood was flattered. "Where are you going," the wolf asked.

"I'm going to see my grandmother," she replied. "I'm bringing her these cakes..." and she lifted the red and white checkered towel that covered hte cakes.

"Oh, beautiful cakes," said the wolf. "Have you made them?"

"Well, yes," Little Green Riding Hood lied, "yes, I made them; I'm very good at baking cakes. Unfortunately, I cannot give you any. My granny is ill and I made them specially for her."

"No, no", said the wolf, "I wouldn't dare inconvenience you and your dear grandmother."

"Do you know her?" asked Little Green Riding Hood, pleased that he knew not only her but also her family.

"Of course," said the wolf, "I know your grandmother well. She is the niocest lady in the land. Shall I accompany you and pay her my respects?"

"Very well," she said. "Would you mind carrying my basket? It's rather heavy."

"Not at all," said the wolf and hopped alongside Little Green Riding Hood, the basket in his paw.

Stupid wolf, Little Green Riding Hood thought. But inside she was rather pleased by the recognition she was given. Rocognition and status are indeed the feelings with which people like Little Green Riding Hood cope with tensions arising from their need states.

At times I feel unique, special, ahead of the pack. As for me, it makes me feel quite superior.

The Recognition of Status dimension reflects the need to be different, to stand out from the crowd, not drift with the current.

Recognition or Status is all about feeling superior - intellectually, culturally and materially.

In psychology, Recognition of Status is mostly a compensation for inferiority, for Alder's inferiority complex. People striving for Recognition of Status want their status to be recognized and want to be in control of themselves and of their emotions.

Whatever Green political parties may think, psychologically green is not a very "sympathetic" colour. Symbolically it may stand for hope, newness and even innovation, but psychologically it stands for envy and lack of experience.

Representing Martians as green creatures could be called creative use of colour.
These creatures, literally created by our imagination, would indeed have a skin colour that is not represented in humans in our planet Earth.

In Martians, green has a special and unique connotation: green is non-human. When earhtlings paint themselves green, they do it to become less human, to blend in with the vegetation, as for example in a jungle warfare.

Before all that, it was the colour of hope, symbolised by the germination of the seed in spring. Culturally; it announces the Ressurection of the Lord. In Germany, Palm Sunday is called Green Sunday and Maundy Thursday, or White Thursday in some languages, is called Green Thursday and Christians eat spinach.

The colour green, and its connotations, haas a double face. It symbolises new life, youth and vigour, but also, and more often, lack of experience and immaturity, lack of sophistication or worldly experience and naivety even.
The poet and playwriter Oscar Wilde put it thus: "He had that curious love of green, which in individuals is always the sign of a subtle artistic temperament, and in nations is said to denote a laxity, if not a decadence of morals."
The latter is certainly true for Spain, where green is the colour of libido and indecency.