The Romantic Red Effect

The romantic red effect is the idea that men believe a woman is more attractive and sexually desirable if she is associated with the color red. The romantic red effect fits within the color context theory, which states that colors have different meanings based on the context. During achievement situations, the color red usually means failure or inaccurate. However, in romantic situations red is associated with love, passion, and lust. Therefore, depending on the context red can be perceived as failure or love, which are two complete opposites.

In Experiment 1, there were 27 male participants who were randomly assigned to the red condition or the white condition. The participants were only told that the experiment had to do with first impressions

The color red also represents fertility and lust in ancient mythology and folklore. A sociocultural theorist would point to how society and culture has influenced us to link red and romance. A biological/evolutionary theorist would argue that many female primates are physically red on their genitalia when they are about to ovulate. They would explain that male primates are more attracted to the female primates who are red due to ovulation. When women are about to ovulate they are easily aroused which can lead to a red flush which attracts men as well. Lastly, a behavioral theorist would argue that the romantic red effect comes from what we have learned from the media. For example, in literature red is associated with sexuality therefore when people read literature like this, they start to associate red with sex. The same goes for film and TV shows, where red is also portrayed in a sexual way, especially when it comes to clothing like a red dress. A behavioral theorist would say that people learn to associate things from what they read and see in their everyday