Reseach confirms wearing red boosts attraction to men

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Dear Patriotic global scientists:

Re: the majic is with the colour red! says recent reseaarch

It is interesting our choices are influenced by our vision and color, especially when it relates to men.

Vison and colour has been a very important part of our emotional characteristics for centuries. For the first time, research is shown men like women who dress red at their dates.

What colour is attractive to women? Do women pay more attention to sound rather than colour? What is common for both sexes, colour, sound and shapes, touch and temperature?

More reserach is needed to complement these initial findings. Here is the BBC story for us to think through.

Dr B Jesus (Globalbelai)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Listen up, ladies: If you're looking to score, break out that red dress.

Men were more eager to bed women wearing red than those decked out in other colors, according to five studies involving 149 men and 32 women published today in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The men also judged those women as more attractive than those sans red duds.

"I'm not going to let my 16-year-old daughter wear red, let's put it that way," says study author Andrew Elliot, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester. "I do think a female who's interested in a male and going on a date ought to pull that red shirt out of the closet, because most likely it will make her more attractive to him."

There are two explanations for the phenomenon, says Elliot, a visiting professor at the University of Munich this semester. Society's emphasis on red on Valentine's Day as well as in sexy red lingerie may have taught men to link the color with romance, he says. There may also be an evolutionary explanation, based on humans' close genetic relationship with primates: Male primates tend to be especially attracted to female primates who show their red hindquarters, made rosy by increased blood flow when they're most fertile.

The men in the study were asked to rate their level of sexual interest on a scale of one to nine (one signifying zero interest and nine representing the strongest) in the women in photos they were shown. They were also asked to grade the women's attractiveness using the same scale. The desirability score was about 1.5 points higher and their attractiveness rating 1.2 points higher for women in red than for those in gray, green or blue.

Women surveyed didn’t rate their red-clad sisters as being any more attractive than those sporting garb in other hues, and neither they nor the guys found the ladies in red to appear any more likable, nicer or smarter than those in other colors. That suggests that red has a very specific color association with sexual behavior, Elliot says.

Women are likely to show a similar level of increased attraction to men in red in follow-up research he’s doing now, Elliot adds.

"The hypothesis is that you're going to see the same thing for females rating males, but through a different process," he says. "Females are more attracted to dominant, higher-status males. Red is a dominant cue in the wild when it's shown on a male. So human females who see red on a male will view him as more dominant, and that will lead her to be more attracted to him."

One caveat: The findings may be colored by certain situations. Elliot's previous research found that people who literally saw red immediately before a writing task performed worse—possibly because of our negative association with teachers' red pens used to point out errors.

(Image by iStockphoto)

*~*



Wearing red 'boosts attraction'
Women who don a little red dress before going out with a man may find their date more attentive and generous, according to scientists.

The University of Rochester study, published in a psychology journal, supports other evidence linking the colour to attractiveness.

Men said they would spend more money on a woman pictured in red, compared with the same woman wearing a blue shirt.

Experts say that red signals ovulation or attractiveness in other species.


It's fascinating to find that something as ubiquitous as colour can be having an effect on our behaviour without our awareness
Professor Andrew Elliot
University of Rochester

The colour has traditionally been linked with romantic and sexual matters, from red hearts on Valentine's Day, to red-light districts.

The researchers say that their study is clear evidence that the colour red makes men feel more amorous - even if this is only on a subconscious level.

Their volunteers were told they had $100, shown the picture of their "date", then asked how much of that money they were prepared to spend.

On average, wearing red meant a more expensive night out, and in general, a higher rating of attractiveness.

When the pictures were shown to other women, there were no wardrobe-dependent differences in attractiveness ratings.

Monkey business

Professor Andrew Elliot, who led the research, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, said: "It's fascinating to find that something as ubiquitous as colour can be having an effect on our behaviour without our awareness."

Dr Jo Setchell, an anthropologist from Durham University, said that, as the colour of blood, red was the easiest signal for an animal to produce externally, and had become a handy method of advertising fertility.

"For example, a lot of female monkeys have bright red sexual swellings, which show that they are around the time of ovulation.

"There has been controversy over whether, in female humans, ovulation is advertised or not, although there is some evidence that behaviour, such as going out, changes around that time.

"But wearing red could give you an advantage."


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7693708.stm

Published: 2008/10/28 08:19:06 GMT

© BBC MMVIII