The Effect of the Color Red on the Perceived Attraction of Females

Transcription

1 The Effect of the Color Red on the Perceived Attraction of Females Presented by: Brendan Warner Matthew Case Kelley DiGiovanni Paul Edwards Aaron Harvey

2 Hypothesis Determine if portraits of women that are presented with a red background will be perceived as overall more attractive and regarded with more interest by men than women associated with other colors.

3 Color and Women Attractiveness: When Red Clothed Women Are Perceived to Have More Intense Sexual Intent (Gueguen, 2012) Women in red would be perceived to have greater sexual interest 120 Male undergrad students 30 participants in each condition Chosen randomly Given a picture with a certain color background and smiling woman

4 T-Shirt colors

5 Color and Women Attractiveness: When Red Clothed Women Are Perceived to Have More Intense Sexual Intent (Gueguen, 2012) Question on perceived attractiveness: How attractive do you think this woman is? Likert scale: 1-9 1: not at all attractive 9: extremely attractive Question on sexual intent: How likely is this woman to have sex on the first date? Likert scale: 1-9 1: not at all attractive 9: extremely attractive

6 Color and Women Attractiveness: When Red Clothed Women Are Perceived to Have More Intense Sexual Intent (Gueguen, 2012) Results Between groups ANOVA Attractiveness: Main effect (F (3, 116) = 4.27, p =.007) Sexual Intent: Main effect (F (3, 116) = 10.71, p = <.001)

7 Color and Women Attractiveness: When Red Clothed Women Are Perceived to Have More Intense Sexual Intent (Gueguen, 2012) Red significantly different for both attraction and sexual intent No effect for blue,, or green When attractiveness effect is controlled for there is still a significant effect for the color red Disscusion Gueguen supported his hypothesis that men who viewed a woman dressed in red as opposed to the other colors perceived her to be more attractive as well as her having more sexual interest. These findings support our hypothesis that men perceive women to be more attractive when wearing the color red

8 Color and Women Attractiveness: When Red Clothed Women Are Perceived to Have More Intense Sexual Intent (Gueguen, 2012) _l1.jpg

9 Women Use Red in Order to Attract Males (Prokop & Hromada, 2013) 63 Males and 96 Females between the ages of 15 to 30 from East, West and Central Slovakia were recruited. They were presented with a female figure and different background color selection from either red, white, green, black, yellow brown and blue. They were asked what color they re currently wearing on top and bottom.

10 Prokop and Hromada Cont d Women were asked to date their menstruation to determine what stage they were currently in. Then participants were subjected to either high probability or low probability scenarios for encountering a mate going to a party (high), on a date (high), at a swimming pool (high), watching a movie with the same sex (low), working in the garden (low) and visiting grandparents (low).

11 Results and Predictions of the Study 1. Women prefer red clothes more than men. This was found to be significant, χ 2 = 5.02, p=.025. Women wore more red than men regardless of age. 2. The high probability of encountering a potential partner is associated with a preference for the color red among women, but not with men. This was found to be nonsignificant for former situations. Women preferred wearing red in situations where the probability of meeting a mate is high.

12 Results Continued 3. Women in the fertile stage of the menstruation cycle prefer red clothes more than women in the nonfertile stage. This was found to be nonsignificant. Women preferred red in would-be situations less than those involved in romantic relationships. This was to keep their partner attracted to them. 4. Participants wear red clothes on their upper parts. This was found to be significant, however this was not confined to just one gender.

13 Romantic Red: Red Enhances Men s Attraction to Women (Elliot & Niesta, 2008) A series of 5 experiments were conducted at the University of Rochester. Perceived Phsyical Attractiveness: a positive judgement regarding the target s physical appearance. Sexual Attraction: a felt desire to become romantically involved with the target.

14 Experiment 1 (Elliot & Niesta, 2008) Examined men s perceptions of women s attractiveness when a red or white background was present. 27 Male participants were recruited with the mean age of years (SD=1.83). A female black and white photo was presented to each subject with either a white or red background. Each participant received a questionnaire as well. The female used in the photos had a neutral attractiveness rating from a prior pilot study. The men were asked to rate the female s attractiveness and explain why. The target woman (red) was perceived as more attractive, t(25)= 2.88, p<.01.

15 Experiment 2 (Elliot & Niesta, 2008) Wanted to see if there were gender differences. 63 men and 32 women with the mean age of years (SD=1.79) were recruited to participate. The same experiment was conducted (experiment 1). Between genders, both reported the attractiveness of the girl with the white background as about the same, however men reported the target female (red) as substantially more attractive, t(29)= 2.13, p<.05.

16 Experiment 3 (Elliot & Niesta, 2008) The same experiment was conducted, however they replaced white with gray. 37 males with the mean age of years (SD=1.70) were recruited. They perceived the target female (red) as more attractive, F(1,35)= 4.24, p<.05, sexually desirable, F(1,35)= 8.24, p<.01. They were more likely to engage in sexual behavior with the target, F(1,35)= 5.08, p<.05. The perceived likeability of both females were the same.

17 Experiment 4 (Elliot & Niesta, 2008) The same experiment was conducted, however they assessed the colors red and green. 31 males participated with the mean age of years (SD=1.22). They found that the target woman (red) was more attractive t(29)= 2.05, p<.05, sexually desirable, t(29)= 4.29, p<.001, and would engage in sexual activities with the target more than the female with the green background, t(29)= 4.59, p<.001.

18 Experiment 5 (Elliot & Niesta, 2008) The same experiement was conducted, however the colors red and blue were used. 23 males with the mean age of years (SD=1.34) participated. The results were the same as the previous studies regarding the target (red) female. Perceived Attractiveness: t(21)= 2.10, p<.05. Sexual Desire: t(21)= 2.42, p<.05.

19 Sexy Red: Perceived sexual receptivity mediates the red-attraction relation in men viewing women Pazda, A.D., Elliot, A.J., & Greitemeyer, T. (2011) Experiment 1a: 25 males ages (M=28.7) Viewed a picture for 5 seconds Then were asked to fill out a questionnaire Results: Independent-Samples t-test found that color on sexual receptivity was significant, t(23)=2.11, p<.05. Participants in the red condition were more sexually receptive than those in the white condition

20 Experiment 1 22 males between ages (M=29.2) Results Same procedure as experiment 1a, however Independent samples t-test indicated the manipulation was effective t(20)=3.93, p<.05 High sexual receptivity condition rated the women more attractive (red condition)

21 Experiment 2 49 males ages (M=23.5) Given a folder with a picture of a women Asked to look at the picture for 5 seconds then close the folder. Results Regressing perceived sexual receptivity on color condition revealed a significant effect F(1,46)=20.60, p<.001

22 Romantic Red Revisited: Red enhances men's attraction to young, but not menopausal women (Schwarz & Singer, 2013) Is it biological or social conditioning? If red is related to fertility then older women should not be perceived as attractive or sexual If red is related to social norms then all women should be viewed as attractive or sexual

23 Romantic Red Revisited: Red enhances men's attraction to young, but not menopausal women (Schwarz & Singer, 2013) 120 participants Young Group: Men aged years old 60 participants Old Group: Men aged years old 60 participants

24 Romantic Red Revisited: Red enhances men's attraction to young, but not menopausal women (Schwarz & Singer, 2013) The questionnaire used in this study was adapted from Elliot and Niesta (2008). How much do you want to be intimate with this person? How sexually desirable do you find this person? How much do you want to have sex with this person? How beautiful do you think this person is? How intelligent do you think this person is? How much do you like this person?

25 Romantic Red Revisited: Red enhances men's attraction to young, but not menopausal women (Schwarz & Singer, 2013) Discussion Facial expression was reported to be the most important factor in rating attractiveness The dress color was the second most important factor Background color found to be NOT important when rating attractiveness

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27 .celebitchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/wenn jpg

28 Romantic Red Revisited: Red enhances men's attraction to young, but not menopausal women (Schwarz & Singer, 2013) Discussion Overall, red had an impact on the sexual attractiveness of the young target as perceived by both young and old men

29 Romantic Red Revisited: Red enhances men's attraction to young, but not menopausal women (Schwarz & Singer, 2013) Why? Good question because we don t really know Most likely it is due to younger women being closer to peak fertility Sex workers are usually younger and associated with red light district Older women are viewed as less sexually receptive and more likely to be rated lower

30 Romantic Red Revisited: Red enhances men's attraction to young, but not menopausal women (Schwarz & Singer, 2013) Do guys know the red effect is real? Nope! Men are not aware that color plays an important role in attraction.

31 Methods Participants There were 55 participants in our study All over the age of 18; Minimum=18, Maximum Age=58 Age Mean = 24.7 SD= particpants in Red Group 21 participants in Yellow Group 16 participants in Blue Group

32 Methods - Materials Pen or pencil A questionnaire of 22 questions asking the participants their opinion of the characteristics of the girls in the pictures. Questionnaire recorded answers in the form of a Likert Scale. The scale was from one to five (one being completely disagree and five being completely agree). 3 pictures depicting two women on one of three different colors as a background(red, yellow, blue).

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36 Methods - Procedure A coined is flipped to determine which participant is placed in which group. Depending on which group they were placed in, the participants were given a picture of two women on a red, yellow, or blue background. They were then given a questionnaire to fill out. The questionnaire of 22 questions asking the participants their opinion of the characteristics of the girls in the pictures. The questionnaire was answered in the form of a Likert Scale from one to five (one being completely disagree and 5 being completely agree). Once finished with the experiment, the participants were explained the reason for the experiment and were thanked for their participation. The data was recorded on to Excel then put through SPSS to be analyzed.

37 Results - Attractive

38 Results - Ask on Date

39 Results - Get to Know

40 Results - Attractive There was no significant main effect for girl, F(1,50)= 1.05, p>.05. There was no significant main effect for color, F(2,50)=.39, p>.05. There was no interaction of girl and color on attractiveness, F(2,50)=.18, p>.05.

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42 Results - Ask on Date There was no significant main effect for girl, F(1,50)=.25, p>.05. There was no significant main effect for color, F(2,50)= 1.14, p>.05. There was no interaction of girl and color on if the participant would ask them on a date, F(2,50)=.53, p>.05.

43 Results - Get to Know There was no significant main effect for girl, F(1,50)=.01, p>.05. There was no significant main effect for color, F(2,50)=.01, p>.05. There was no interaction of girl and color on whether the participant wanted to get to know the girl, F(2,50)=.29, p>.05.

44 Discussion: Noel Significant Main Effects Romantic Red I : Main effects for attractiveness and perceived sexual availability, not personality traits. Red has stronger effect sizes on more sexually explicit measures rather than physical attractiveness Schwarz, Singer Humans are the only known creatures capable of studying our own biological (and otherwise) evolution through the development of the scientific method; a fact which arguably deepens the complexity - even controversy - regarding gender and subconscious motivations for human sexual behaviors.

45 Biological Basis? Romantic Red II: in contrast to [ R.R. I]...did not find red to have a significant effect on physical attractiveness. Thus [red has] more strongly explicit sexual associations rather than global assessments of physical attractiveness." Studies have already shown that women tend to prefer more provocative clothes prior to ovulation

46 Discussion No significant main effect for any of the 3 variables. No interactions. Not consistent with other literature on the subject. What happened???

47 Discussion - Limitations Beauty ideal of European women may be different than that of American women among American men. Blonde women were used, some men may not be attracted to blonde women. Resolution of picture may influence lesser attraction. Only used caucasion women

48 Discussion - Limitations Red is associated with sexual desirability We did not explicitly measure sexual attractiveness Did not control for only heterosexual/bisexual men Did not control for only single men Presented both women at the same time, to all participants

49 References: Elliot, A., & Niesta, D. (2008). Romantic red: Red enhances men s attraction to women. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(5), doi: / Gueguen, N. (2012). Color and women attractiveness: When red clothed women are perceived to have more intense sexual intent. The Journal of Social Psychology, 152(3), Pazda, A.D., Elliot, A.J., Greitemeyer, T. (2011) Sexy red: Perceived sexual receptivity mediates the red-attraction relation in men viewing woman. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 48, doi: j.jesp Prokop, P., & Hromada, M. (2013). Women use red in order to attract mates. Ethology, 119(7), doi: /eth Schwarz, S., & Singer, M. (2013). Romantic red revisited: Red enhances men s attraction to young, but not menopausal women. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, doi: /j.jesp