Abstract
Previous studies have found a link between red and aggressive behavior. For example, athletes who wear red uniforms in sports are considered to have a competitive advantage. So far, most previous studies have adopted self-report methods, which have low face validity and were easily influenced by the social expectations. Therefore, the study used two implicit methods to further explore the association between red and aggressiveness. A modified Stroop task was used in Experiment 1 to probe college students’ differences between “congruent” tasks (i.e., red–aggressiveness and blue–agreeableness) and “incongruent” tasks (i.e., red–agreeableness and blue–aggressiveness). Result showed that participants responded more quickly to the congruent tasks than the incongruent tasks. Then, in order to adapt to the competitive context, Experiment 2 used an implicit association test with photos of athletes as the stimulus to college students and athletes to evaluate “congruent” tasks (i.e., red uniform photo-aggressiveness and blue uniform photo-agreeableness) as well as “incongruent” tasks (i.e., red uniform photo-agreeableness and blue uniform photo-aggressiveness), respectively. According to the results, both college students and athletes respond faster to congruent tasks than to incongruent tasks. Besides, athletes’ reactions to the red–aggressiveness association are faster than college students, which may relate to the athletes’ professional experience. The athletes may be more aggressive and impulsive. Overall, the study has attempted to examine the association between red and aggressiveness through implicit methods, but in the future, researches are need to find a deep association from brain mechanism aspect.
Highlights
Color perception is a common sensation in daily lives, as an esthetic awareness and in terms of its wider impact on human psychology and behaviors
A significant Valence × Color interaction, F(1,75) = 42.27, p = 0.041 (p < 0.05), η2 = 0.17, indicated that participants were faster in categorizing aggressiveness-related words presented in red (M = 595.16 ms, SD = 191.60) than in blue (M = 611.19 ms, SD = 202.19), t(76) = −1.46, p = 0.038 (p < 0.05), and were faster in categorizing agreeableness-related words presented in blue (M = 593.33 ms, SD = 116.82) than in red (M = 604.01 ms, SD = 191.54), t(76) = 3.92, p = 0.043 (p < 0.05)
The results indicated that red is positively associated with aggressiveness, because the aggressiveness-related words presented in red were categorized more quickly than in blue
Summary
Color perception is a common sensation in daily lives, as an esthetic awareness and in terms of its wider impact on human psychology and behaviors. Researchers have been interested in discerning advantage for competitors wearing red. In their analysis of the Olympic Games in 2004, Hill and Barton (2005) reported an advantage for athletes wearing red (vs blue) in combat sports such as boxing, Taekwondo, and wrestling. They stated that the advantage conferred by red uniforms may be because of an evolutionary, engrained, and social learning association of red with dominance and aggression
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
