Red makes opponents blue
May 22, 2005 13:45:43 GMT -5
Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on May 22, 2005 13:45:43 GMT -5
From the Globe and Mail:
Red makes opponents blue
By JAMES CHRISTIE
Thursday, May 19, 2005 Page S1
Colour me a champion.
Colour me red.
An analysis of results in Olympic combat sports to be published today in the scientific journal Nature upholds the long-held belief that wearing the colour red enhances the chance of victory in sport.
Red, as in Michael Schumacher's Formula One Ferrari.
Red, as in the shirt Tiger Woods wears when chasing down a golf championship on a Sunday.
Red, as in the predominant colour of hockey's most successful Stanley Cup club, the Montreal Canadiens.
And the nickname of horse racing's greatest thoroughbred, Secretariat? Big Red.
Robert Barton and Russell Hill, researchers of the University of Durham in England, studied men's 1-on-1 combat sports at the Athens Olympics -- boxing, tae kwon do, freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling. In these events, athletes did not wear the usual national team uniforms, but were randomly assigned red or blue gear to distinguish between them.
Those wearing red, but otherwise reasonably well matched to their opponents, were much more likely to win their bouts than the fighters in blue, as the researchers interpret the statistics.
They found 16 of the 21 rounds across the four sports had more red winners than blue.
There was a similar observation across weight classes in the sports, with 19 of 29 classes witnessing more red winners.
"Red colouration is a sexually selected, testosterone-dependent signal of male quality in a variety of animals," Barton and Hill write. In humans, the colour is associated with excitement, energy, anger, passion, strength, aggression and intensity.
The researchers maintain: "A similar effect can influence the outcome pf physical contests. . . . The colour of sportswear need to be taken into account to ensure a level playing field in sport."
Not everyone is ready to back the theory unconditionally. Canada's Olympians had a disappointing performance in Athens, sometimes with red faces to match their togs.
"We have red uniforms and we had a bigger problem than we thought we would," said Penny Werthner, sport psychologist at the University of Ottawa and a former Olympic runner.
"Belief plays a part in this. Now that the study comes out, it may have an impact if that's what an athlete comes to believe. Many of us are superstitious, and it can be a self-fulfilling prophecy that you lose to an opponent in red because you believe he has an advantage. My job as a sport psychologist is to help athletes ensure they're thoroughly prepared, from nutrition to fitness to skills training -- then to see that they're psychologically tough enough for any situation. If they see an opponent in red, they have to be able to say, 'That doesn't matter.' "
Some people will be willing to buy the theory, however, because it makes the stress of competition a little easier for them. "They might have a built-in excuse," Werthner said.
Hill said he wouldn't predict a similar red effect in women's sports, noting that in nature, the manifestation of red as a signal of dominance is a characteristic of males, not females.
The symbolism of red as the colour of power is embedded deeply in almost every human culture. Earth's celestial neighbour is a red planet named for the mythical god of war, Mars. The Norse god of thunder is hammer-wielding Thor, usually depicted with red hair and beard. In China, it is a colour associated with luck and winning. In the Catholic Church, the senior cleric of every land is a red-cloaked cardinal.
Red is the colour most frequently appearing in national flags around the world, and when major political movements have needed a banner, that, too, has been predominantly red: the Communists in the former Soviet Union and China and Hitler's National Socialists in Germany.
Red is even a colour of authority on an individual plane: Think what colour teachers traditionally use to mark tests?
Small wonder that sports teams and marketers have been drawn to the colour. One of the most successful marketing logos in the world is a big red ball with the white script Coca-Cola across it. Sportswear giant Nike sells a special golf shirt branded Tiger Sunday Red.
Teams who have enjoyed success garbed in at least some red stand out like the colour itself. The red-white-and-blue Detroit Pistons are the reigning champions of the National Basketball Association. Ditto the New England Patriots, the winner of the National Football League's Super Bowl, their faces behind red grille-work masks. Major League Baseball's World Series champion is the Boston Red Sox. Football's greatest quarterback, Joe Montana, wore the red shirt of the San Francisco 49ers.
Canada's greatest hockey rival in the 1972 Summit Series was composed mainly of Soviet soldiers from one team: Red Army.
In soccer, Liverpool and AC Milan will meet for the Champions League title, and red is a predominant colour on both strips.
Red makes opponents blue
By JAMES CHRISTIE
Thursday, May 19, 2005 Page S1
Colour me a champion.
Colour me red.
An analysis of results in Olympic combat sports to be published today in the scientific journal Nature upholds the long-held belief that wearing the colour red enhances the chance of victory in sport.
Red, as in Michael Schumacher's Formula One Ferrari.
Red, as in the shirt Tiger Woods wears when chasing down a golf championship on a Sunday.
Red, as in the predominant colour of hockey's most successful Stanley Cup club, the Montreal Canadiens.
And the nickname of horse racing's greatest thoroughbred, Secretariat? Big Red.
Robert Barton and Russell Hill, researchers of the University of Durham in England, studied men's 1-on-1 combat sports at the Athens Olympics -- boxing, tae kwon do, freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling. In these events, athletes did not wear the usual national team uniforms, but were randomly assigned red or blue gear to distinguish between them.
Those wearing red, but otherwise reasonably well matched to their opponents, were much more likely to win their bouts than the fighters in blue, as the researchers interpret the statistics.
They found 16 of the 21 rounds across the four sports had more red winners than blue.
There was a similar observation across weight classes in the sports, with 19 of 29 classes witnessing more red winners.
"Red colouration is a sexually selected, testosterone-dependent signal of male quality in a variety of animals," Barton and Hill write. In humans, the colour is associated with excitement, energy, anger, passion, strength, aggression and intensity.
The researchers maintain: "A similar effect can influence the outcome pf physical contests. . . . The colour of sportswear need to be taken into account to ensure a level playing field in sport."
Not everyone is ready to back the theory unconditionally. Canada's Olympians had a disappointing performance in Athens, sometimes with red faces to match their togs.
"We have red uniforms and we had a bigger problem than we thought we would," said Penny Werthner, sport psychologist at the University of Ottawa and a former Olympic runner.
"Belief plays a part in this. Now that the study comes out, it may have an impact if that's what an athlete comes to believe. Many of us are superstitious, and it can be a self-fulfilling prophecy that you lose to an opponent in red because you believe he has an advantage. My job as a sport psychologist is to help athletes ensure they're thoroughly prepared, from nutrition to fitness to skills training -- then to see that they're psychologically tough enough for any situation. If they see an opponent in red, they have to be able to say, 'That doesn't matter.' "
Some people will be willing to buy the theory, however, because it makes the stress of competition a little easier for them. "They might have a built-in excuse," Werthner said.
Hill said he wouldn't predict a similar red effect in women's sports, noting that in nature, the manifestation of red as a signal of dominance is a characteristic of males, not females.
The symbolism of red as the colour of power is embedded deeply in almost every human culture. Earth's celestial neighbour is a red planet named for the mythical god of war, Mars. The Norse god of thunder is hammer-wielding Thor, usually depicted with red hair and beard. In China, it is a colour associated with luck and winning. In the Catholic Church, the senior cleric of every land is a red-cloaked cardinal.
Red is the colour most frequently appearing in national flags around the world, and when major political movements have needed a banner, that, too, has been predominantly red: the Communists in the former Soviet Union and China and Hitler's National Socialists in Germany.
Red is even a colour of authority on an individual plane: Think what colour teachers traditionally use to mark tests?
Small wonder that sports teams and marketers have been drawn to the colour. One of the most successful marketing logos in the world is a big red ball with the white script Coca-Cola across it. Sportswear giant Nike sells a special golf shirt branded Tiger Sunday Red.
Teams who have enjoyed success garbed in at least some red stand out like the colour itself. The red-white-and-blue Detroit Pistons are the reigning champions of the National Basketball Association. Ditto the New England Patriots, the winner of the National Football League's Super Bowl, their faces behind red grille-work masks. Major League Baseball's World Series champion is the Boston Red Sox. Football's greatest quarterback, Joe Montana, wore the red shirt of the San Francisco 49ers.
Canada's greatest hockey rival in the 1972 Summit Series was composed mainly of Soviet soldiers from one team: Red Army.
In soccer, Liverpool and AC Milan will meet for the Champions League title, and red is a predominant colour on both strips.