Better to Be Red than Blue in Virtual Competition

Ilie, Andrei; Ioan, Silvia; Zăgrean, Leon; Moldovan, Mihai

doi:10.1089/cpb.2007.0122

Cited by 48 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…This ‘sexually salient’ hypothesis is also difficult to reconcile with studies that suggest red functions as a signal of male quality [1], that artificial red badges enhance male dominance [1]–[3], and that viewing red is associated with failure and lack of success [4], [5].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Red Is Not a Proxy Signal for Female Genitalia in Humans

2012

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Red is a colour that induces physiological and psychological effects in humans, affecting competitive and sporting success, signalling and enhancing male social dominance. The colour is also associated with increased sexual attractiveness, such that women associated with red objects or contexts are regarded as more desirable. It has been proposed that human males have a biological predisposition towards the colour red such that it is ‘sexually salient’. This hypothesis argues that women use the colour red to announce impending ovulation and sexual proceptivity, with this functioning as a proxy signal for genital colour, and that men show increased attraction in consequence. In the first test of this hypothesis, we show that contrary to the hypothesis, heterosexual men did not prefer redder female genitalia and, by extension, that red is not a proxy signal for genital colour. We found a relative preference for pinker genital images with redder genitalia rated significantly less sexually attractive. This effect was independent of raters' prior sexual experience and variation in female genital morphology. Our results refute the hypothesis that men's attraction to red is linked to an implied relationship to genital colour and women's signalling of fertility and sexual proceptivity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Red Is Not a Proxy Signal for Female Genitalia in Humans

2012

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“…An interesting study done by Ilie et al [27] examined the world or virtual competition for any red performance biases in the realm of online first-person-shooters (FPS). Specifically the FPS examined was an extremely popular game, Unreal Tournament 2004 (UT2004), using the "Death-Match" ranking system over a three month period (1,347 observations).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The red mist? Red shirts, success and team sports

2012

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Baron von Richthofen (the Red Baron) arguably the most famous fighter pilot of all time painted his plane the vividest of red hues, making it visible and identifiable at great distance, showing an aggressive pronouncement of dominance to other pilots. Can colour affect aggression and performance and if so is it observable within team sports? This study explores the effect of red on sporting performances within a team sports arena, through empirical analysis of match results from the Australian Rugby League spanning a period of 30 years. While the descriptive analysis reports a positive relationship, the multivariate analysis provides some mixed results once you control for team effects. Thus, more evidence at the team level is required to better understand whether teams in red do enjoy greater success controlling explicitly in a multivariate analysis for many factors that simultaneously affect performance.Keywords: impact of team colours; red; (Australian) rugby league; team sports IntroductionBaron von Richthofen, Ferrari, Manchester United and the Chicago Bulls or Michael "Air" Jordan in particular have two common elements, a widely recognized level of skill and the colour red. In many urban myths teams wearing red are considered to be more dominant (win more) than any other colour. But why is this colour associated with this perception of greater skill and * with dominance and aggression in human societies, but also in the animal kingdom. It has been demonstrated that for male Stickleback fish, being shown a red object will always triggers an attack response.[3] The effects of aggression and dominance are not only observed among fish, but also higher order animals such as: reptiles, birds and primates.[4] Thus, one can assume that for aggressive competition colour can affect the outcome of sports contests. To some extent modern societies have ritualized identity, aggression and competition in the forms of sports.Sport is closely linked to the definition of competition in entomology, namely "the active 1 Anger has physical effects including raising the heart rate and blood pressure, often giving the face a red or ruddy complexion.2 demand by two or more of the same species or members of two or more species at the same trophic level for a common resource or requirement that is actually or potentially limiting".[5] In these ritualized competitions, team colours are used to signalize identity, membership and loyalty.Colour also plays an important role in the organization and functioning of societies. In India, the various castes are symbolized by different colours. Red symbolizes the Kashatriyas Caste, which is second in the social hierarchy below the Brahmans (white colour).[6] The traditional wedding colours in Egypt, Russia, the Orient and the Balkans are of red and yellow hues.Red has been fundamental in the development of human psychology. The development of human vision is progressive, such that the first colour that is recognisable by human children is red. Experiments have found that the order of colour p...

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“…Greenlees, Eynon, and Thelwell, (2013) showed that viewing red (relative to blue and green) on a goalkeeper's uniform undermines penalty kick performance, although Pollet and Peperkoorn (2013) found no evidence that the color of shorts influenced the outcome of fights in the ultimate fighting championship. In contrast, Ilie, Ioan, Zagrean, and Moldovan (2008) showed that the red advantage may occur even within a virtual arena. They analyzed the outcomes of an online combat game over a three-month period, and found that red consistently teams won more games than blue.…”

Section: Red In Sporting Contextsmentioning

confidence: 90%

Color in achievement contexts in humans

Meier¹,

Hill²,

Elliot³

et al. 2015

Handbook of Color Psychology

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Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. lightness, chroma, and hue. In this chapter we focus on the hue dimension, primarily on red, blue, and green, since experimental work has focused on these colors. Whilst the other two attributes are also crucial in color research, we do not highlight their significance in this chapter since lightness and chroma were (mostly) held constant across hue conditions in the research Research on nonhuman primates in competitive encounters indicates that red displays and other threat-relevant cues prompt avoidance by conspecifics, as indicated by submission and appeasement gestures and actions (Gerald, Waitt, & Little, 2008;Setchell & Wickings, 2005). In humans, encountering a negative object, event, or possibility, including the possibility of failure, is known to automatically evoke a motivational tendency to avoid that object, event, or possibility (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999;Cacioppo, Gardner, & Berntson, 1999). In addition, research has demonstrated that avoidance motivation in achievement settings evokes anxiety, task distraction, and a number of self-protective processes (e.g., disidentification, selfhandicapping; Birney, Burdick, & Teevan, 1969;Elliot & Church, 2003;Elliot & McGregor, 1999;Hembree, 1988;Osborne, 1995;Zuckerman, Kieffer, & Knee, 1998) that negatively influence performance on tasks requiring flexible mental manipulation (i.e., tasks commonly encountered at school and work). Accordingly, viewing red in an achievement context is posited to impair performance attainment because it evokes avoidance, which in turn, is inimical to performance. The activation, operation, and influence of avoidance motivation in this hypothesized red effect is thought to take place outside of conscious awareness; that is, it acts in an implicit rather than explicit fashion (see Friedman & Förster, 2010).Researchers have begun to explore such red associations in different variants of achievement situations, such as sporting contests, exam-like situations, and competence evaluations within impression formation scenarios. In the remainder of the chapter we provide an overview of empirical work on the effects of red on sport performance, cognitive mechanisms, behavioral processes, and psychophysiological activity in evaluative contexts. Red in evaluative contexts Red in sporting contextsExploring premise 2 and 4 of the CIC theory, several studies have investigated whether color has a psychological impact that influences performance and outcomes in sports. This work was ...

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Better to Be Red than Blue in Virtual Competition

Cited by 48 publications

References 8 publications

Red Is Not a Proxy Signal for Female Genitalia in Humans

Red Is Not a Proxy Signal for Female Genitalia in Humans

The red mist? Red shirts, success and team sports

Color in achievement contexts in humans

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