Broaden Me

4 surprising facts about the color red

Seeing red causes people to react faster and more forcefully, according to a new study published in the journal Emotion. Our bodies react to red, a culturally ingrained signal of danger, as if we’ve seen a threat

Men in red are “more attractive, more powerful and more sexually desirable to women,”

A 2005 study by British scientists found that athletes wearing red “have an advantage over blue-suited competitors,” according toMSNBC. “We find that wearing red is consistently associated with a higher probability of winning,” the researchers wrote in the journal Nature. Theeffect is subtle, though, so it may only factor in when evenly matched competitors face off.

Seeing “even a hint of red” on an exam can affect a test-taker’s performance “to a significant degree,” researchers reported in 2007. Perhaps because instructors often use red ink to mark errors, people associate the color “with mistakes and failures,” and, “in turn, they do poorly on” the exam in front of them.

The linked article is fantastic.

Indeed, previous studies have shown that athletes competing against red-clad opponents are more likely to lose, and students taking IQ tests more likely to receive lower scores after seeing red.

Firstly, 30 students were each given a number written in red or gray crayon on white paper. They read their numbers aloud before pinching open a metal clasp.

In the second experiment, 46 undergraduates had to squeeze a handgrip as hard as possible upon seeing the word “squeeze” appear on a computer screen, displayed on a red, blue, or gray background.

The researchers found that the students who saw red numbers exerted more force in the fingergrip experiment. Likewise, the participants who saw the red background squeezed harder than those who saw blue or gray ones. Furthermore, they reacted more quickly to the appearance of the word when it was on a red background.

“Red enhances our physical reactions because it is seen as a danger cue,” said Elliot in a press release.

This suggests that “red may be beneficial for activities like athletic events requiring short bursts of brute force” including weight-lifting, according to the paper. 

The authors note that “threat also evokes worry, task distraction, and self-preoccupation, all of which have been shown to tax mental resources and interfere with effective self-regulation.”

“Color affects us in many ways depending on the context,” said Elliot. “Those color effects fly under our awareness radar.”

It’s interesting that seeing something red can provoke the fight or flight response.

Red causes worry and can intimidate - so that’s why it’s effective for athletes to wear it, and that’s why it impairs test-taking.

With respect to sexual attraction, it’s a different mechanism. This linked article was helpful.

Bright red pigmentation is an indicator of male dominance in a wide range of animal species, from robins to baboons.

 The authors also speculate that the tradition of “rolling out the red carpet” for celebrities and dignitaries has created a cultural perception of red as an indicator of social status.

Perhaps high status men were able to kill beasts, and that gave them their bloody color. Who knows. Either way it’s interesting that red is linked with dominance.

via @alyssa_milano