Wiedemann Diana, Burt D Michael, Hill Russell A, Barton Robert A
Department of Anthropology, Evolutionary Anthropology Research Group, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK.
Biol Lett. 2015 May;11(5):20150166. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2015.0166.
The presence and intensity of red coloration correlate with male dominance and testosterone in a variety of animal species, and even artificial red stimuli can influence dominance interactions. In humans, red stimuli are perceived as more threatening and dominant than other colours, and wearing red increases the probability of winning sporting contests. We investigated whether red clothing biases the perception of aggression and dominance outside of competitive settings, and whether red influences decoding of emotional expressions. Participants rated digitally manipulated images of men for aggression and dominance and categorized the emotional state of these stimuli. Men were rated as more aggressive and more dominant when presented in red than when presented in either blue or grey. The effect on perceived aggression was found for male and female raters, but only male raters were sensitive to red as a signal of dominance. In a categorization test, images were significantly more often categorized as 'angry' when presented in the red condition, demonstrating that colour stimuli affect perceptions of emotions. This suggests that the colour red may be a cue used to predict propensity for dominance and aggression in human males.
在多种动物物种中，红色的存在及其强度与雄性的主导地位和睾酮水平相关，甚至人工红色刺激也能影响主导地位的相互作用。在人类中，红色刺激比其他颜色被视为更具威胁性和主导性，穿着红色会增加赢得体育比赛的概率。我们研究了红色服装在竞争环境之外是否会影响对攻击性和主导地位的认知，以及红色是否会影响情绪表达的解读。参与者对经过数字处理的男性图像的攻击性和主导性进行评分，并对这些刺激的情绪状态进行分类。与以蓝色或灰色呈现时相比，男性以红色呈现时被评为更具攻击性和更具主导性。对于男性和女性评分者都发现了红色对感知攻击性的影响，但只有男性评分者对红色作为主导地位的信号敏感。在分类测试中，当图像以红色呈现时，被显著更频繁地归类为“愤怒”，这表明颜色刺激会影响对情绪的感知。这表明红色可能是一种用于预测人类男性主导和攻击倾向的线索。
