Red is more sexy: Factors and evolutional process

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1042.2017.01069

Advances in Psychological Science ›› 2017, Vol. 25 ›› Issue (6): 1069-1076.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2017.01069

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Red is more sexy: Factors and evolutional process

ZHANG Tengxiao¹; HAN Buxin^2,3

(¹Department of Psychology, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China) (² Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China) (³ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

Received:2016-10-08 Online:2017-06-15
Contact: HAN Buxin, E-mail: hanbx@psych.ac.cn E-mail:E-mail: hanbx@psych.ac.cn
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Abstract

Abstract: Studies on psychological effect of colors have focused on the red-sex effect in the past decade. The red color may enhance sexual attractiveness in certain interpersonal context, which is mediated by gender and mate value. This can be mainly interpreted with the moderating effect of motivation. Based on the studies of zoology and psychology, this paper considers the red-sex effect as an adaptation generated from evolutional process and strengthened by culture. Future investigations should overcome the existing limitations on methodology, explore the influence of motivation, color attributes, and spatial-temporal features, as well as promote the application of the red-sex effect on products design.

Key words: red-sex effect, sexual attractiveness, motivation, evolution

CLC Number:

B849:C91

ZHANG Tengxiao, HAN Buxin. Red is more sexy: Factors and evolutional process[J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2017, 25(6): 1069-1076.

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Red is more sexy: Factors and evolutional process

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