According to a 2008 study by psychologists at the University of Rochester (USA),the color red makes men more attracted to women unconsciously. And the most interesting thing is that, according to the authors, it is not something learned because it does not only happen to human beings. Chimpanzees and female baboons, for example, visibly blush when ovulation approaches to attract males. “There is a great similarity in the way that human and non-human primates respond to red,” explains Andrew Elliot, a co-author of the study.
To quantify the effect of red on sexual attraction, Elliot and his colleagues conducted a survey with photographs of women dressed in different colored garments. In all cases,women in red were considered more attractive and more sexually desirableIn addition, the subjects who participated in the study were willing to spend more money on a date with them than if the clothes they were wearing were blue or green. The perception of the intelligence or sympathy of the women portrayed, however, did not vary according to color.
But what happens when the one who wears red is a man? Andrew Elliot asked himself the same question and, in a subsequent study published in 2010 in the journalJournal of Experimental Psychology, showed thatwomen perceive that men who wear red clothes have higher status, more money and more chances of success, which makes them more attractive. This response also has biological roots since, according to Elliot, in alpha males of species such as baboons, red is a sign of dominance.
