Winners wear red: How colour twists your mind

[FreeCajun]

This research piece looks at red-vs-blue uniforms in the 2004 Olympics and examines color can tip decisions in favor of red when a competition is very close. They theorize that this is because the human mind is genetically predisposed towards associating the color red with danger signals. Given Republican predilection for fear tactics, I think this could be filed under ironic. Or maybe too close for comfort?

From the Article:
"Last year, sports psychologists at the University of Münster, Germany, showed video clips of bouts to 42 experienced referees. They then played the same clips again, digitally manipulated so that the clothing colours were swapped round. The result? In close matches, the scoring swapped round too, with red competitors awarded an average of 13 per cent more points than when they were dressed in blue (Psychological Science, vol 19, p 769). "If one competitor is strong and the other weak, it won't change the outcome of the fight," says Norbert Hagemann, who led the study. "But the closer the levels, the easier it is for the colour to tip the scale."
...
When they analysed <2004 Olympic competition> results they found that shirt colour appeared to influence the result, with nearly 55 per cent of bouts being won by the competitor in red. In closely fought bouts it was 62 per cent (Nature, vol 435, p 293). "It should have been roughly 50 per cent red, 50 per cent blue, and this was a statistically significant deviation," Barton says. "Skill and strength may be the main factors - if you're rubbish, a red shirt won't stop you from losing, but when fights were relatively symmetrical, colour tipped the balance.""

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327232.400-winners-wear-red-how-colour-twists-your-mind.html