Romantic red? The domain specificity of the color red effect in the context of affiliation and social status. Cognitive, affective and physiological determinants.

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Daniela Niesta Kayser; Privatdozent Dr. Sascha Schwarz
• Subject Area: Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology ; General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2014 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 253838887

Recent empiric evidence shows that the color red creates a psychological effect in the human affiliation context. In self-reports and behavior, individuals indicate that they perceive a person of the opposite gender as more attractive and feel more attracted to him/her, if the perceived individual is either surrounded by a red frame or wears red as opposed to white, grey, blue or green attire. The goals of the present project predominantly grounded in Social Psychology are threefold: (1) We aim to create evidence on the question on how specifically this red effect pertains to the affiliation domain hereby including neuro-physiological data paired with evaluations and behavioral data. (2) Moreover, we engage the most recent debate on whether and how much of the facilitating effect of the color red originates in social conditioning and/or in human biological heritage. (3) Furthermore we yield to extend the psychological effect of the color red in the affiliation context to the domain of female leadership, status and power.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants