Red more than just a lucky color for Chinese

[Richard]

By Belinda Goldsmith
updated 12:57 p.m. ET, Mon., Aug. 11, 2008

BEIJING - Red might be more than just a lucky color for Chinese athletes competing at the Olympics.

A study has found choosing the color red for a uniform in competitive sports can affect the referee's split-second decision-making ability and even promote a scoring bias.

Red is thought to bring good luck for Chinese and is the color of items ranging from packets of lucky money handed out at Lunar New Year to lanterns and wedding dresses.

And Tiger Woods famously wears red on the last day of a golf tournament for luck.

Now psychologists Norbert Hagemann, Bernd Strauss and Jan Leissing from Germany's University of Muenster have found referees tended to assign more points to taekwondo competitors dressed in red than those dressed in blue.

The study, published in the August issue of Psychological Science, was conducted by the researchers presenting 42 taekwondo referees with videos of blue- and red-clad competitors sparring.

The two sets of clips were identical except that the colors were reversed in the second set so the red athlete appeared to be wearing blue and vice versa.

After each video the referees were asked to score the performance of each competitor, red or blue.

The psychologists said competitors wearing red were awarded an average of 13 percent more points and the points seemed to increase after the blue athlete was digitally transformed into a red athlete and decrease when the red competitor turned blue.

"Referees' decisions will 'tip the scales' when athletes are relatively well-matched but have relatively small influence when one is clearly superior," the researchers said in a statement.

"Although there is a need for further research, including research on the effects of different colors, our results suggest a need to change the rules or support referees by providing electronic decision-making aids in those sports in which this color bias may be a problem."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26137526/

[SilverInfinity]

They need to change this not only in the olympics, but throughout all professional sports.

[Richard]

I thought it was interesting that people wearing red were awarded an average of 13 percent more points. There’s that 13 again.

[Ghost]

Amazing, would it be wrong to wear Red to an interview or should I stick to more pleasant colours.

[Polly]

Ghost, it would depend upon what type of position you are interviewing for, why you would choose to wear red and what your personality is like.

[SilverInfinity]

Ghost, you should stick to the traditional suit. Go into men's wearhouse and ask. They know all about which suit and dress shirt goes with which occasion.

Just because red works in sport doesn't mean it would give positive bias in other situations. There could be something else.

[Astrojewels]

Ghost[/color]]Amazing, would it be wrong to wear Red to an interview or should I stick to more pleasant colours.

The Chinese were destined to do so well having the games at home. Red is not a good color to wear to an interview, it may work in competitions but not in a situation where you are trying to make a connective energy between you and another or others. Each of us has a distinctive dominant color in our energy field, the color that we project but most can not see or pick up on it, but it is there. What is your favorite color?

[Richard]

A couple of days ago DT and I were have a discussion about red and today I ran across an a news story about it. It goes along with what I was telling her but it surprised me that women aren’t affected by red the same way men are.

Red on Women Drives Men Wild

livescience.com – Tue Oct 28, 1:04 am ET.Red may be the color of love for a reason: It makes men feel more amorous towards women, a new study reports.

From ancient rituals to those red paper lace hearts on Valentines, red has been tied to carnal passions and romance in many cultures over the course of history.

In five psychological experiments, University of Rochester psychologists tested how different colors affected men's attitudes towards women.

In one experiment, test subjects were shown a picture of a woman that was framed by either a red or white border and asked to answer a series of questions, such as: "How pretty do you think this person is?" Other experiments contrasted red with gray, green or blue (keeping saturation and brightness levels the same between the different hues).

In the final study, the shirt of the woman in the photo was digitally colored red or blue. In this experiment, men were questioned not only about their attraction to the woman, but about how they would plan a hypothetical date with her. For example, one question asked: "Imagine that you are going on a date with this person and have $100 in your wallet. How much would you be willing to spend on your date?"

In all the experiments, women shown framed by or wearing red were rated significantly more attractive and sexually desirable by men than the exact same women shown with other colors.

When wearing red, women were also more likely to be treated to a more expensive outing.

"It's fascinating to find that something as ubiquitous as color can be having an effect on our behavior without our awareness," said study team member Andrew Elliot.

The study, detailed in the Oct. 28 online edition of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, is said to be the first to scientifically document the effects of color on behavior in relationships.

Elliot and his co-author Daniela Niesta said the effect could be due to societal conditioning, though they attribute it to deeper biological roots because nonhuman male primates, such as baboons and chimpanzees, are known to be attracted to females displaying red.

The red effect applied only to males and only to their perceptions of attractiveness; it did not change their ratings of the pictured women in terms of likability, intelligence or kindness.

Other research suggests that the effect of color depends on the context. In a previous study, Elliot and his colleagues showed that seeing red in competitive situations, such as sporting events, leads to worse performance. Another recent study suggests that referees favor red-clad competitors because of a subconscious bias for the color.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/2008...0xLxUEtbAF

[Astrojewels]

Interesting study Richard, and to quote ‘"It's fascinating to find that something as ubiquitous as color can be having an effect on our behavior without our awareness’  it shows once again that scientists live in a world of their own, how could they not think that color affects human behavior.

I am not surprised that red does not affect a female in the same way, this is because the male base chakra works so different to the females, but we already knew that hey?

[Richard]

Well, for some reason I didn’t think about the chakras when I was reading the news story. Now that you mention it, it does make sense. So does that mean that women get turned on by orange? DT says no but I was wondering what other women say.