What Color Attracts Men?

By Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen

 The color that attracts men to women the most is red, according to five experiments with color. This psychological research shows that red may make women more appealing to date because of basic physiological properties.

Why the “Lady in Red” is So Attractive to Men

This research was conducted by two University of Rochester psychologists, and was published in the October 28, 2008 online version of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Andrew Elliot, professor of psychology, and Daniela Niesta, post-doctoral researcher, conducted five psychological experiments, and determined that the color red makes men feel more amorous toward women – which makes women wearing red more appealing to date.

"It's only recently that psychologists and researchers in other disciplines have been looking closely and systematically at the relationship between color and behavior,” said Elliott. “Much is known about color physics and color physiology, but very little about color psychology. It's fascinating to find that something as ubiquitous as color can be having an effect on our behavior without our awareness."

The Effects of the Color Red

In all aspects of this psychological research, women wearing or framed by red were rated as “significantly more attractive and sexually desirable” by men than the same women shown with other colors. Women wearing the color red were also more likely to receive a prom invitation and be treated to a more expensive day or night out.

Though red attracts men to women and makes them more appealing to date, the color red didn’t increase men’s perceptions of women’s likeability, intelligence, or kindness. That is, women wearing red may be appealing to date – but it didn’t make them seem smarter or more likeable.

Do Men Realize the Effect of the Color Red?

Elliot and Niesta say men aren’t aware of the effect the color red has on how attractive they perceive women to be. These researchers also say that women in red are appealing to date because of both societal conditioning and deep biological roots. Past research reveals that nonhuman male primates (such as baboons and chimpanzees) are attracted to females displaying red. Female primates redden when they’re close to ovulation, which sends a clear “come hither” signal to male baboons and chimpanzees.

"Our research demonstrates a parallel in the way that human and nonhuman male primates respond to red," concluded the authors. "In doing so, our findings confirm what many women have long suspected and claimed – that men act like animals in the sexual realm. As much as men might like to think that they respond to women in a thoughtful, sophisticated manner, it appears that at least to some degree, their preferences and predilections are, in a word, primitive."