Emotion Expression and Color: Their Joint Influence on Perceived Attractiveness and Social Position

Effect of the red uniform on the judgment of position or movement used in Wushu Routine, evaluated by practitioners of the modality

In the artistic sports program, the referee' scores directly determine the final results of the athletes. Wushu is a artistic sport that has a Chinese characteristic and has the potential to become an official competition at the Summer Olympic. In this study we tested whether a red uniform color affects Wushu Routine practitioners' ratings of athletes' position or movement of Wushu Routine. We also tested whether the effect varied depending on the gender of the athlete and the practitioner, and depending on whether female practitioners were in the ovulation phase of their menstrual cycle. Male (Experiment 1: N = 72) and female (Experiment 1: N = 72; Experiment 2: N = 52) participants who major in Wushu Routine were recruited to take a referee's perspective and rate the movement quality of male and female athletes wearing red or blue uniforms. The results of Experiment 1 showed that both male and female athletes wearing red uniform (compared to blue uniform) received higher ratings (p = .002, η2 = .066; p = .014, η2 = .043), and the red effect was especially strong when male practitioners rated female athletes (p = .002, η2 = .069). The results of Experiment 2, in an all-female sample, showed that in most cases there was no difference in ratings made by women in the ovulation and non-ovulation phases of their menstrual cycle, with the exception of their ratings of male athletes wearing red; in this condition, women gave higher ratings when they were in the ovulation phase of their cycle (p = .026). The results suggest that there is a red effect in an artistic sport like Wushu Routine, in which gender and the female menstrual cycle play an important role.

Contextual modulation of the red-attractiveness effect: Differences in affiliation and competitive settings

Color is not just about aesthetics but also communicates specific information and has important implications for psychological functioning. It has been shown that the color red enhances perceived attractiveness when evaluating the opposite sex, which we call the red-attractiveness effect. However, few studies have attached importance to the social context in which attractiveness ratings are made, which means that the red-attractiveness effect is rarely explained by analyzing the role of social context. We conducted two experiments to test the red-attractiveness effect in Chinese culture and the influence of context (affiliation or competitive) on the red-attractiveness effect. Experiment 1 (160 Chinese college students, 80 males) showed that the opposite-sex target in red, compared to white, was rated more attractive, and the red-attractiveness effect was applicable to Chinese culture. Experiment 2 (480 Chinese college students, 240 males) found that perceived attractiveness was strengthened in the affiliation context and weakened in the competitive context, that is, the main effect of context was significant. We did not find any significant effect of the color red in either context, that is, the color main effect was not significant. However, the results indicate that red can enhance perceived attractiveness when evaluating the opposite sex. This study demonstrates that the red attractiveness effect may exist in different cultural backgrounds and contexts.

Dominance or Integration? Influence of Sexual Dimorphism and Clothing Color on Judgments of Male and Female Targets' Attractiveness, Warmth, and Competence

The face is an important source of information in social interactions. Prior studies exploring the mechanism of face perception were consistent with either dominance or integration theory. Studies have shown that both sexually dimorphic features and background cues play essential roles in the formation of impressions and the perception of facial attractiveness. In this study, we conducted two experiments to examine 539 participants' appraisal of attractiveness, warmth, and competence of the target faces of masculine and feminine men and women dressed in red, blue, or white. The results showed that: (1) feminized male/female faces were considered to have a higher degree of attractiveness, warmth, and competence, (2) people rated feminine faces wearing red higher in terms of attractiveness perception, while there was no significant effect of red on attractiveness perception of masculine faces, (3) when evaluating the warmth of targets, the promotion effect of red was found for feminine faces but not for masculine faces. This study, conducted in a pathogen disgust environment, provides direct evidence to support the integration theory over the dominance theory. Feminized red preference found in this study matches Chinese collectivism and the red cultural heritage, which has an important value for people's daily impression management and consumption decisions.

Materials tactile logic via innervated soft thermochromic elastomers

Conventional machines rely on rigid, centralized electronic components to make decisions, which limits complexity and scaling. Here, we show that decision making can be realized on the material-level without relying on semiconductor-based logic. Inspired by the distributed decision making that exists in the arms of an octopus, we present a completely soft, stretchable silicone composite doped with thermochromic pigments and innervated with liquid metal. The ability to deform the liquid metal couples geometric changes to Joule heating, thus enabling tunable thermo-mechanochromic sensing of touch and strain. In more complex circuits, deformation of the metal can redistribute electrical energy to distal portions of the network in a way that converts analog tactile ‘inputs’ into digital colorimetric ‘outputs’. Using the material itself as the active player in the decision making process offers possibilities for creating entirely soft devices that respond locally to environmental interactions or act as embedded sensors for feedback loops.

Designing bio-inspired computational features in soft systems without centralized processing remains challenging. Here, the authors propose a passive display based on thermochromic elastomers by leveraging Joule heating of embedded liquid metal wires by changing geometry in response to deformation.

Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Red on Perceived Attractiveness

We conducted meta-analyses of studies that test the red-romance hypothesis, which is that the color red enhances heterosexual attraction in romantic contexts. For men rating women, we found a small, statistically significant effect ( d = 0.26 [0.12, 0.40], p = .0004, N = 2,961), with substantial heterogeneity, Q(44) = 172.5, pQ < .0001, I2 = 89% [82, 94], and equivocal results regarding the possibility of upward bias in the estimate. For women rating men, we found a very small effect ( d = 0.13 [0.01, 0.25], p = .03, N = 2,739), with substantial heterogeneity, Q(35) = 73.0, pQ = .0002, I2 = 53% [33, 80], and evidence of upward bias in the estimate. Moderator analyses suggest effect sizes may have declined over time (both genders), may be largest when an original shade of red is used (men only), and may be smaller in preregistered studies (women only). We present contrasting interpretations and suggestions for future research.

The Early Facilitative and Late Contextual Specific Effect of the Color Red on Attentional Processing

Many studies have proved that color represents a variety of emotionally meaningful information. Researchers have proposed that context information endows colors with different associated meanings, and elicits corresponding behavior. Others have contended that the color red intensifies the stimulus' existing valence or motivation tendency in the early processing step. The present study attempts to incorporate these two effects of the color red to explore their differences in a dot probe task, using event-related potential (ERP). Our ERP results indicate that the color red intensifies the initial attention to emotion-congruent conditions, as indicated by the P1 component. However, the colors red and green lead to sustained attention to the expression of anger and happiness, respectively, but not fear, as shown by the late positive complex component (all results are available at: https://osf.io/k3b8c/). This study found the different processing stages of the effect of the color red during attentional processing in a discrete emotional context, using ERPs, and may refine the Color-in-Context theory.

Irreproducible text-book "knowledge": The effects of color bands on zebra finch fitness

Many fields of science-including behavioral ecology-currently experience a heated debate about the extent to which publication bias against null findings results in a misrepresentative scientific literature. Here, we show a case of an extreme mismatch between strong positive support for an effect in the literature and a failure to detect this effect across multiple attempts at replication. For decades, researchers working with birds have individually marked their study species with colored leg bands. For the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata, a model organism in behavioral ecology, many studies over the past 35 years have reported effects of bands of certain colors on male or female attractiveness and further on behavior, physiology, life history, and fitness. Only eight of 39 publications presented exclusively null findings. Here, we analyze the results of eight experiments in which we quantified the fitness of a total of 730 color-banded individuals from four captive populations (two domesticated and two recently wild derived). This sample size exceeds the combined sample size of all 23 publications that clearly support the "color-band effect" hypothesis. We found that band color explains no variance in either male or female fitness. We also found no heterogeneity in color-band effects, arguing against both context and population specificity. Analysis of unpublished data from three other laboratories strengthens the generality of our null finding. Finally, a meta-analysis of previously published results is indicative of selective reporting and suggests that the effect size approaches zero when sample size is large. We argue that our field-and science in general-would benefit from more effective means to counter confirmation bias and publication bias.

Is Red Really Romantic?

Abstract. Red has been reported to enhance attraction for women rating men ( Elliot et al., 2010 ) and men rating women ( Elliot & Niesta, 2008 ). We replicated one of these studies online and in-person. To ensure rigor, we obtained original materials, planned for informative sample sizes, pre-registered our study, used a positive control, and adopted quality controls. For men, we found a very weak effect in the predicted direction (d = 0.09, 95% CI [−0.17, 0.34], N = 242). For women, we found a very weak effect in the opposite direction (d = −0.09, 95% CI [−0.30, 0.12], N = 360). The original studies may have overestimated the red effect, our studies may be an underestimate, or there could be strong moderation of the effect of red on attraction.

Romantic Red: Testing the Characteristics of Color–Attraction Effects in a Novel Paradigm

The red-attraction effect refers to the finding that the color red enhances attractiveness ratings of targets, and is most robustly observed when males rate females. Three previously unexplored aspects of color-attraction effects were tested in a single experiment with a large sample size (N = 778). The effect of exposure to a color and the impact of pairing a color with a target were disentangled using a novel design. Moreover, we tested the proposition that color exerts its effects outside of awareness by examining the association of conscious awareness of color-target pairing with the red-attraction effect. Both prior exposure to red and pairing of red with a target influenced attractiveness ratings, but not always in the direction of increased attractiveness. Results also varied as a function of target and participant sex. However, when conscious awareness of target-color pairing was higher, results converged with the typically-observed red-attraction effect among males rating females.

Colours' Impact on Morality: Evidence from Event-related Potentials

Black and white have been shown to be representations of moral concepts. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether colours other than black and white have similar effects on words related to morality and to determine the time course of these effects. We presented moral and immoral words in three colours (red, green and blue) in a Moral Stroop task and used the event-related potential (ERP) technique to identify the temporal dynamics of the impact of colours on moral judgement. The behavioural results showed that it took longer for people to judge immoral words than moral words when the words were coloured green than when they were red or blue. The ERP results revealed the time course of these effects. Three stages were identified in the significant effects of P200, N300 and LPC. These findings suggest a metaphorical association between the colour green and moral information.

Facial Redness Increases Men’s Perceived Healthiness and Attractiveness

Past research has shown that peripheral and facial redness influences perceptions of attractiveness for men viewing women. The current research investigated whether a parallel effect is present when women rate men with varying facial redness. In four experiments, women judged the attractiveness of men’s faces, which were presented with varying degrees of redness. We also examined perceived healthiness and other candidate variables as mediators of the red-attractiveness effect. The results show that facial redness positively influences ratings of men’s attractiveness. Additionally, perceived healthiness was documented as a mediator of this effect, independent of other potential mediator variables. The current research emphasizes facial coloration as an important feature of social judgments.

Not always a matter of context: direct effects of red on arousal but context-dependent moderations on valence

The arousal theory of color proposes that red is associated with arousal. Research on the color-in-context theory, in turn, states that the context in which red is perceived influences its valence-related meaning and behavioral responses to it. This study faces and integrates these theories by examining the influence of red on both arousal and valence perceptions of test-relevant and neutral stimuli, rendering a color 2 (red vs. blue) × context 2 (test vs. neutral) between-subjects design. Participants rated different pictures regarding their arousal and valence component, respectively. In line with the assumptions of both theories, red increased arousal perceptions of stimuli irrespective of their valence but a context × color interaction was found for valence perceptions: for participants viewing test-relevant pictures, red increased their perceptions of negativity compared to neutral pictures. The present study shows that both theories are actually compatible when differentiating the arousal and valence component.

The effects of colour and valence on news evaluation

Research across different fields of psychology has reported effects of colour cues on a variety of cognitive processes. Especially, the colour red has been shown to have striking influences. In the context of media reception, however, colour effects have been widely neglected so far. This study made a first step in this direction by investigating the effects of the colour red (compared with blue and grey) on the way news articles are evaluated. Two types of news were framed by a coloured border while the valence of the news content additionally varied. Based on 369 participants who read and evaluated the news articles online, we observed effects for colour cues and news valence in the absence of an interaction effect, indicating that the colour red induced approach motivation. However, only the contrast between red and grey reached statistical significance, indicating that chromatic and achromatic colours may differ in their perceived visual saliency. Overall, these results provide an important complement to previous studies and have practical implications for media researchers and producers.