The effect of red on attractiveness for highly attractive women

Abstract

Previous research has shown that red can increase men’s perception of women’s attractiveness. However, this effect is absent under certain conditions, such as when women have masculine, unattractive, or older features. We sought to test whether this red-attraction effect would be present at the other end of the continuum, specifically, for highly attractive, provocatively dressed young women. In three experiments (the second and third of which were pre-registered), we manipulated the color of highly attractive models’ lingerie and assessed men’s perceptions of their sexual receptivity, attractiveness, and sexual appeal. Results revealed higher ratings across each variable for women in red, relative to green, across all 3 experiments. Furthermore, in Experiment 3, perceived sexual receptivity mediated the relations between red and both attractiveness and sexual appeal. Overall, these results show that the color red can further bolster the attractiveness and desirability of already highly attractive and desirable woman.

Full text

The effect of red on attractiveness for highly attractive women
Adam D. Pazda
1
&Christopher A. Thorstenson
2
&Andrew J. Elliot
3
Accepted: 25 June 2021
#The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2021
Abstract
Previous research has shown that red can increase men’s perception of women’s attractiveness. However, this effect is absent
under certain conditions, such as when women have masculine, unattractive, or older features. We sought to test whether this red-
attraction effect would be present at the other end of the continuum, specifically, for highly attractive, provocatively dressed
young women. In three experiments (the second and third of which were pre-registered), we manipulated the color of highly
attractive models’lingerie and assessed men’s perceptions of their sexual receptivity, attractiveness, and sexual appeal. Results
revealed higher ratings across each variable for women in red, relative to green, across all 3 experiments. Furthermore, in
Experiment 3, perceived sexual receptivity mediated the relations between red and both attractiveness and sexual appeal.
Overall, these results show that the color red can further bolster the attractiveness and desirability of already highly attractive
and desirable woman.
Keywords Red .Color .Attractiveness .Judgments .Impressions
The color red is often linked with passion, romance, and sex in
contemporary society. For example, red roses and hearts de-
marcate love on Valentine’s Day, red-light districts indicate
the availability of sex, and red clothing has been used to sym-
bolize lust in literature and film (e.g., The Scarlett Letter,
Jezebel,etc.).Red’s romantic symbolism has been observed
in numerous cultures (Aslam, 2006;Douglas,2001;Foster&
Johnson, 2003) and across time, as early as 10,000 BCE
(Regas & Kozlowski, 1998). These societal associations be-
tween red and sexuality may have physiological origins. For
example, sexual excitation causes facial regions of skin to
redden (Changizi, 2009). Women also may have more red-
dened skin during peak fertility (Lynn et al., 2007), which is a
time when they display more skin due to a preference for
wearing revealing clothing (Durante et al., 2008). Further
evidence suggests that fertile women wear red clothing when
cold weather prohibits wearing revealing attire (Tracy &
Beall, 2014). In other primate species, females have conspic-
uous reddening of their skinduring ovulation, and this leads to
increased attention from conspecifics (Caro, 2005;Nunn,
1999;Setchelletal.,2006; Waitt et al., 2006).
Color-in-Context Theory (Elliot & Maier, 2012)proposes
that repeated pairings between colors and concepts should
elicit meaning-consistent cognition and behavior. Due to the
societal and physiological pairings of red with female sexual-
ity, perceiving red in interpersonal contexts should activate the
concept of sexuality, leading to downstream effects on cogni-
tion and behavior. Research over the past decade has provided
support for this proposition. For example, several empirical
studies have found that red enhances men’s perceptions of
women’s attractiveness and sexual appeal. This has been ob-
served with red viewed on women’sfacialskin(Pazdaetal.,
2016; Stephen & McKeegan, 2010), clothing (Elliot & Niesta,
2008; Gilston & Privitera, 2016; Roberts et al., 2010), and in
the background or on accessories (Elliot & Niesta, 2008;L
in,
2014). Other empirical work has shown that perceiving red
clothing on women leads to approach-oriented behavior from
men, such as leaving bigger tips, decreasing physical distance,
and making contact on dating sites (see Pazda & Greitemeyer,
2015 for a review). Furthermore, Meier et al. (2012)demon-
strated that red only leads to attraction-relevant behaviors in
*Adam D. Pazda
apazda@gmail.com
1
Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina Aiken, 471
University Parkway, Aiken, SC 29801, USA
2
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin –Madison,
Madison, WI, USA
3
Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology,
University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02045-3
/ Published online: 30 July 2021
Current Psychology (2023) 42:8066–8073
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