Displaying Red and Black on a First Date: A Field Study Using the “First Dates” Television Series
Previous research has shown that displaying the color red can increase attractiveness. As a result, women display red more often when expecting to meet more attractive men in a laboratory context. Here, we carried out a field study by analyzing 546 daters from the “First Dates” television series. Ea...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2018-04-01
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| Series: | Evolutionary Psychology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/1474704918769417 |
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doaj-5fe9ab34d3bc4a5f832744ab154079ee2020-11-25T02:54:19ZengSAGE PublishingEvolutionary Psychology1474-70492018-04-011610.1177/1474704918769417Displaying Red and Black on a First Date: A Field Study Using the “First Dates” Television SeriesRobin S. S. Kramer0Jerrica Mulgrew1 Department of Psychology, Trent University, Peterborough, Canada Department of Psychology, Trent University, Peterborough, CanadaPrevious research has shown that displaying the color red can increase attractiveness. As a result, women display red more often when expecting to meet more attractive men in a laboratory context. Here, we carried out a field study by analyzing 546 daters from the “First Dates” television series. Each participant was filmed in a pre-date interview and during a real first date, allowing direct comparison of the clothing worn by each person in these two contexts. Analysis of ratings of the amount of red displayed showed that both men and women wore more red clothing during their dates. This pattern was even stronger for black clothing, while the amount of blue clothing did not differ across the two contexts. Our results provide the first real-world demonstration that people display more red and black clothing when meeting a possible mate for the first time, perhaps seeking to increase their attractiveness and/or reveal their intentions to potential partners.https://doi.org/10.1177/1474704918769417 |
| collection |
DOAJ |
| language |
English |
| format |
Article |
| sources |
DOAJ |
| author |
Robin S. S. Kramer Jerrica Mulgrew |
| spellingShingle |
Robin S. S. Kramer Jerrica Mulgrew Displaying Red and Black on a First Date: A Field Study Using the “First Dates” Television Series Evolutionary Psychology |
| author_facet |
Robin S. S. Kramer Jerrica Mulgrew |
| author_sort |
Robin S. S. Kramer |
| title |
Displaying Red and Black on a First Date: A Field Study Using the “First Dates” Television Series |
| title_short |
Displaying Red and Black on a First Date: A Field Study Using the “First Dates” Television Series |
| title_full |
Displaying Red and Black on a First Date: A Field Study Using the “First Dates” Television Series |
| title_fullStr |
Displaying Red and Black on a First Date: A Field Study Using the “First Dates” Television Series |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Displaying Red and Black on a First Date: A Field Study Using the “First Dates” Television Series |
| title_sort |
displaying red and black on a first date: a field study using the “first dates” television series |
| publisher |
SAGE Publishing |
| series |
Evolutionary Psychology |
| issn |
1474-7049 |
| publishDate |
2018-04-01 |
| description |
Previous research has shown that displaying the color red can increase attractiveness. As a result, women display red more often when expecting to meet more attractive men in a laboratory context. Here, we carried out a field study by analyzing 546 daters from the “First Dates” television series. Each participant was filmed in a pre-date interview and during a real first date, allowing direct comparison of the clothing worn by each person in these two contexts. Analysis of ratings of the amount of red displayed showed that both men and women wore more red clothing during their dates. This pattern was even stronger for black clothing, while the amount of blue clothing did not differ across the two contexts. Our results provide the first real-world demonstration that people display more red and black clothing when meeting a possible mate for the first time, perhaps seeking to increase their attractiveness and/or reveal their intentions to potential partners. |
| url |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1474704918769417 |
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