No effect of blue on winning contests in judo

Does Blue Uniform Color Enhance Winning Probability in Judo Contests?

The color of an athlete's uniform may have an effect on psychological functioning and consequently bias the chances of winning contests in sport competition. Several studies reported a winning bias for judo athletes wearing a blue outfit relative to those wearing a white outfit. However, we argue there is no winning bias and that previous studies were confounded and based on small and specific data sets. We tested whether blue biases winning in judo using a very extensive judo data set (45,874 contests from all international judo tournaments between 2008 and 2014). In judo, the first called athlete for the fight used to wear the blue judogi but this was changed to the white judogi in 2011. This switch enabled us to compare the win bias before and after this change to isolate the effect of the color of the judogi. We found a significant win bias for the first called athlete, but this effect was not significantly related to the color of the judogi. The lack of a significant win effect of judogi color suggests that blue does not bias winning in judo, and that the blue-white pairing ensures an equal level of play. Our study shows the importance of thoroughly considering alternative explanations and using extensive datasets in color research in sports and psychology.

The Effect of Color on the Use of Electronic Body Protectors in Taekwondo Matches

This study investigated the relationship between the color protector and success in taekwondo combats in the qualification championships, when electronic body protectors were used. Moreover, it analyzed the confounding effect of a participant being a top-ranked athlete in the 2012 London Olympic Games, in a sample of 462 matches. Results from the entire sample showed a non-significant relationship between the combat outcome and the winner's color electronic protector. At the level of the tournament, the results showed a significant relationship between wearing a red electronic protector and winning the combat in the Asian and the European qualification tournaments. For gender and weight categories, there was no clear color effect. A significant association was, however, found between wearing red and winning the match in the female featherweight category. The inclusion of electronic body protectors and a counterbalanced seed-condition seem to be effective for controlling the effect of the protector's color on the outcomes of combats.

The colour of a football outfit affects visibility and team success

We investigated the impact of the colour of football outfits on localising football players and on the results of football matches. Two studies were conducted: an experimental study examining the effects of outfit colour on the assessment of the positions of computer-animated football players in a video set-up (study 1) and a retrospective study on professional football clubs' performances dependent on their outfit colours (study 2). The studies were conducted with 18 human volunteers aged 15-18 years (study 1) and league results from 10 professional European football teams over 17 years (1995-2013) (study 2). We analysed the number of correct assessments of the positions of virtual football players with different outfit colours (study 1) and analysed the relationship between match results and outfits' colours (study 2). Study 1 showed that the position of players wearing white outfits was better assessed in 5.2% of the trials compared to players wearing green outfits (P = 0.007). Study 2 showed that Manchester City conceded less goals against in away games in highly visible kits (r = 0.62; P = 0.024), while Newcastle United conceded less goals and won more points while playing in kits associated with low visibility (r = 0.63; P = 0.007; r = 0.50; P = 0.040, respectively). We conclude that the colour of football outfits affects evaluations of football players' positions on the field, with white tricots resulting in the best location assessment. The outfit colour may indirectly influence football match results, warranting more attention to the home and away shirts by team managers and football scientists.

Blue judogi may bias competitive performance when seeding system is not used: sex, age, and level of competition effects

This study evaluated whether the judogi colour (blue or white) could influence a combat outcome (victory or defeat) in 1,233 judo official combats. Sex, age group, and level of competition were also considered in the analysis. Binomial probability tests showed a higher probability of an athlete's winning a combat wearing blue judogi for both sexes, levels of competition (regional and state), and for the athletes of the junior and senior categories. Thus, blue judogi may bias competitive outcome for both sexes in regional and state level competitions and for athletes above junior age.

Color psychology: effects of perceiving color on psychological functioning in humans

Color is a ubiquitous perceptual stimulus that is often considered in terms of aesthetics. Here we review theoretical and empirical work that looks beyond color aesthetics to the link between color and psychological functioning in humans. We begin by setting a historical context for research in this area, particularly highlighting methodological issues that hampered earlier empirical work. We proceed to overview theoretical and methodological advances during the past decade and conduct a review of emerging empirical findings. Our empirical review focuses especially on color in achievement and affiliation/attraction contexts, but it also covers work on consumer behavior as well as food and beverage evaluation and consumption. The review clearly shows that color can carry important meaning and can have an important impact on people's affect, cognition, and behavior. The literature remains at a nascent stage of development, however, and we note that considerable work on boundary conditions, moderators, and real-world generalizability is needed before strong conceptual statements and recommendations for application are warranted. We provide suggestions for future research and conclude by emphasizing the broad promise of research in this area.

On Thin Ice

Past research suggests that wearing either a black or a red uniform leads to increased aggression or an increase in perceived aggression during professional sports. However, this research suffers from a number of limitations, including an inability to manipulate the independent variable. A recent change in the National Hockey League’s uniform policy created the possibility of a naturally occurring experiment that allowed the authors to examine whether aggression levels were higher when teams wore black or red jerseys. The authors compared games against the same opponent in which home teams wore red or black jerseys for one game and their usual color for another game on several measures of aggression. They found no evidence that either black or red uniforms were related to higher levels of aggression in professional hockey games.