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

[hobbit709]

1. So why are repukes such losers?

[NJCher]

2. color psychology

I used extensively in advertising. There's a reason you choose a gray-colored packaged deodorant, especially if you're a man. There is a difference in the perception of a detergent packaged in hot orange as opposed to one packaged in white.

I've had students do investigations into the psychology ocolor and color preference; it never ceases to be a fascinating topic.

Cher

[KatyMan]

6. Can you elaborate?

I find the subject interesting as well, but have never formally studied it or dealt with it professionally, so it would be interesting to hear a 'professional' viewpoint.

[redqueen]

7. I knew a psychiatrist who thought advertising should be illegal...

simply due to the effect it has on the subconscious.

[zbdent]

3. Gee ... I remember the Soviet Olympic atheletes were wearing red a lot ...

but hey, can't have them as winners, right?

[cdsilv]

4. Red cars attract cops, yellow cars, not so much n/t

[Berry Cool]

5. I remember when this study first came out. I thought

"That's interesting, because at the 1988 Winter Olympics, for their final program, the top two male figure skaters wore blue and red. Brian Boitano wore blue. Brian Orser wore red. But Brian Boitano won. How do they explain that?"

(I guess for the answer, I will have to tune in to some new TV show called "What Would Brian Boitano Wear?")

[skorpo]

8. I think it's the way we see color.

In college I remember being told that if you look at a picture with blue squares alternating with red squares, sort of like a checker board, your eyes use different structures to visualize different colors. The structures in the eye involved are rods and cones. These signals sent to your brain from the eye compete for processing. Seeing these colors together can cause an optical illusion .
Looking at a costume with only one color allows the judges to more easily see the motions they are assessing.
Another color trivia item I remember is that this is why many advertisers use blue it capture the attention of consumers because our eyes are drawn to that color.