title: Red and romantic rivalry: viewing another woman in red increases perceptions of sexual receptivity, derogation, and intentions to mate-guard.
abstract: Research has shown that men perceive women wearing red, relative to other colors, as more attractive and more sexually receptive; women's perceptions of other women wearing red have scarcely been investigated. We hypothesized that women would also interpret female red as a sexual receptivity cue, and that this perception would be accompanied by rival derogation and intentions to mate-guard. Experiment 1 demonstrated that women perceive another woman in a red, relative to white, dress as sexually receptive. Experiment 2 demonstrated that women are more likely to derogate the sexual fidelity of a woman in red, relative to white. Experiment 3 revealed that women are more likely to intend to guard their romantic partner from a woman wearing a red, relative to a green, shirt. These results suggest that some color signals are interpreted similarly across sex, albeit with associated reactions that are sex-specific.
authors.affiliation: University of Rochester, NY, USA apazda@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Adam D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Pazda
authors.affiliation: Trnava University, Slovakia Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Pavol
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Prokop
authors.affiliation: University of Rochester, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Elliot
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003118:Color Perception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: color; competition; derogation; red; sexual receptivity