Distinguishing between Perceiver and Wearer Effects in Clothing Color-Associated Attributions
Recent studies have noted positive effects of red clothing on success in competitive sports, perhaps arising from an evolutionary predisposition to associate the color red with dominance status. Red may also enhance judgments of women's attractiveness by men, perhaps through a similar associati...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2010-07-01
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| Series: | Evolutionary Psychology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/147470491000800304 |
| _version_ | 1827347610865762304 |
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| author | S. Craig Roberts Roy C. Owen Jan Havlicek |
| author_facet | S. Craig Roberts Roy C. Owen Jan Havlicek |
| author_sort | S. Craig Roberts |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Recent studies have noted positive effects of red clothing on success in competitive sports, perhaps arising from an evolutionary predisposition to associate the color red with dominance status. Red may also enhance judgments of women's attractiveness by men, perhaps through a similar association with fertility. Here we extend these studies by investigating attractiveness judgments of both sexes and by contrasting attributions based on six different colors. Furthermore, by photographing targets repeatedly in different colors, we could investigate whether color effects are due to influences on raters or clothing wearers, by either withholding from raters information about clothing color or holding it constant via digital manipulation, while retaining color-associated variation in wearer's expression and posture. When color cues were available, we found color-attractiveness associations when males were judged by either sex, or when males judged females, but not when females judged female images. Both red and black were associated with higher attractiveness judgments and had approximately equivalent effects. Importantly, we also detected significant clothing color-attractiveness associations even when clothing color was obscured from raters and when color was held constant by digital manipulation. These results suggest that clothing color has a psychological influence on wearers at least as much as on raters, and that this ultimately influences attractiveness judgments by others. Our results lend support for the idea that evolutionarily-derived color associations can bias interpersonal judgments, although these are limited neither to effects on raters nor to the color red. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T23:54:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cff26116328a46e2ab4ce223d77ba7f1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1474-7049 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T23:54:20Z |
| publishDate | 2010-07-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Evolutionary Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-cff26116328a46e2ab4ce223d77ba7f12024-02-18T15:06:37ZengSAGE PublishingEvolutionary Psychology1474-70492010-07-01810.1177/14747049100080030410.1177_147470491000800304Distinguishing between Perceiver and Wearer Effects in Clothing Color-Associated AttributionsS. Craig RobertsRoy C. OwenJan HavlicekRecent studies have noted positive effects of red clothing on success in competitive sports, perhaps arising from an evolutionary predisposition to associate the color red with dominance status. Red may also enhance judgments of women's attractiveness by men, perhaps through a similar association with fertility. Here we extend these studies by investigating attractiveness judgments of both sexes and by contrasting attributions based on six different colors. Furthermore, by photographing targets repeatedly in different colors, we could investigate whether color effects are due to influences on raters or clothing wearers, by either withholding from raters information about clothing color or holding it constant via digital manipulation, while retaining color-associated variation in wearer's expression and posture. When color cues were available, we found color-attractiveness associations when males were judged by either sex, or when males judged females, but not when females judged female images. Both red and black were associated with higher attractiveness judgments and had approximately equivalent effects. Importantly, we also detected significant clothing color-attractiveness associations even when clothing color was obscured from raters and when color was held constant by digital manipulation. These results suggest that clothing color has a psychological influence on wearers at least as much as on raters, and that this ultimately influences attractiveness judgments by others. Our results lend support for the idea that evolutionarily-derived color associations can bias interpersonal judgments, although these are limited neither to effects on raters nor to the color red.https://doi.org/10.1177/147470491000800304 |
| spellingShingle | S. Craig Roberts Roy C. Owen Jan Havlicek Distinguishing between Perceiver and Wearer Effects in Clothing Color-Associated Attributions Evolutionary Psychology |
| title | Distinguishing between Perceiver and Wearer Effects in Clothing Color-Associated Attributions |
| title_full | Distinguishing between Perceiver and Wearer Effects in Clothing Color-Associated Attributions |
| title_fullStr | Distinguishing between Perceiver and Wearer Effects in Clothing Color-Associated Attributions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Distinguishing between Perceiver and Wearer Effects in Clothing Color-Associated Attributions |
| title_short | Distinguishing between Perceiver and Wearer Effects in Clothing Color-Associated Attributions |
| title_sort | distinguishing between perceiver and wearer effects in clothing color associated attributions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/147470491000800304 |
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