Wearing red may give you a competitive edge
Red coloration is associated with higher levels of testosterone and dominance in many animal species. Scientists have shown that the bold color is a sexually selected trait among certain lizards, fish, and monkeys, just to name a few. Interestingly enough, humans may benefit from a similar competitive advantage — at least in sports.
In 2005, evolutionary anthropologists Russell Hill and Robert Barton found that wearing red was associated with a higher probability of winning in the 2004 Summer Olympics. In their study, Hill and Barton looked at four combat sports — boxing, tae kwon do, Greco-Roman wrestling, and freestyle wrestling — in which athletes were randomly assigned to wear red or blue outfits and protective gear.
If color had no effect on the outcome of the matches, the number of winners in red would have been "statistically indistinguishable" from the number of winners in blue. But across all four sports, Hill and Barton found a consistent and statistically significant pattern in which athletes who wore red won more fights than those who wore blue. The two researchers found similar results when they analyzed the outcome of the Euro 2004 soccer tournament.
[Photo via Getty]
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