What is it with RED? Should you wear it?

What is it with RED?

 

What is it with the colour Red?  Women paint it on their lips, rouge their faces, animals use it as an attractant, fish lures with red seem to be more effective, if you wear red you are more likely to win (all things being equal), if people wear red on a date you are more likely to be successful. (Whatever that may be) birds and animals use red in their plumage and skins colours as a mate attractant and dominance signal. But why is this so?

Studies have shown that human males are more attracted to females (all things being equal) who wear red than other colours. Recent studies also indicate that females are more attracted to males who wear red. This is all subliminal of course but it seems to be a powerful behavioural modifier, if it is biological or a social outcome is open to debate. My guess is that it is a bit of both.

The red rose, red love hearts of St Valentine’s Day, all attest to the importance of Red in the game of love but why?

When a person is exposed to red his/her visual cortex becomes more active and their heart and blood pressure both increase. Red has many physical effects it seems to agitate the body in many and varied ways from making people more erratic, to becoming less coherent, to even how they judge the size and shape of things and even to how aggressive they are. Red even effects our perception of time we become more impatient if waiting for things in a red setting than we do in a neutral setting even though the event or activity we are doing is taking exactly the same time.

Red also activates the right hemisphere of our frontal cortex which means we are trying to achieve at the same time as trying hard not to fail. Thus people who wear red in the sporting arena have (all things being equal) a better chance of winning. I knew my team the Essendon Bombers had something going for them. This is so because in nature Red is the colour of dominance and aggression. Black is also a particularly aggressive colour but that is gist for another mill.

 

Red is the colour that signals ovulation and reception in female non-human primates to their male counterparts. Female animals of all types show readiness for mating by vivid displays of red on their genitals, chests, and faces. Females elevated oestrogen levels raises blood flow which of course reddens the skin. Women also experience this phenomenon.

In males animals of all levels the colour red signals vitality, fitness, and virility all sought after attributes in a desirable mate. It is no coincidence that we put out the red carpet for visiting dignitaries and celebrities and red ribbons and sashes for distinguishing acts of courage and winning. Men who wear red are seen as stronger and desirable by potential female mates.

Interestingly the studies seem to suggest that the effect of red although a powerful attractor on a sexual level/physical level does not incline persons to find the “red” person more likable. Biology, natural and sexual selection are not moral codes they just are! Not right or wrong, “black or white” it is how we are shaped and influenced by the millions of years of evolutionary struggle and adaption and we are also affected by  the thin icing of culture and civilisation layered over the whole.

Have a rainbow day.

 

PS; A little test….What do you think of when you look at the colours below red, blue, black, and white.   Answers below.

S: What do you think of when you look at:

Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

And white…………………………………………………………

 

If you need further info see.

The book: Drunk, Tank, Pink by Adam Alder

Psychological Study Reveals That Red Enhances Men's Attraction to Women http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=3268

The Telegraph The woman wearing red……  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9105879/Women-wearing-red-send-signals-that-attract-men.html

 

 

 

Red is the colour of energy, passion, action, ambition and determination. It is also the colour of anger and sexual passion.

Blue is the colour of trust and peace. It can suggest loyalty and integrity as well as conservatism and frigidity. 

White is colour at its most complete and pure, the colour of perfection. The colour meaning of white is purity, innocence, wholeness and completion.

Black is the colour of the hidden, the secretive and the unknown, creating an air of mystery. It keeps things bottled up inside, hidden from the world.

From: Understanding the Meaning of Colors in Color Psychology http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/meaning-of-colors.html