Color effects describe the influence of different
wavelengths of the visible light spectrum. Research on
this topic dates as far back as the 1800 (Cohn, 1894),
with color effects being examined among both human
beings and animals in the domains of physics, physiology,
linguistics, psychology, and perception (for review
see: Elliot & Maier, 2014).
The most well-known theory regarding color effects is
Elliot and Maier’s (2012) ‘Color-in-Context Theory,’
which attempts to explain the relationship among colors,
cognition, behavior, and affect based on six premises. In
their theory, Elliot and Maier (2012) define context as,
“the set of circumstances that frame a color and determine
its meaning in integrated fashion” (p. 70). These circumstances
can be physical or psychological in nature.
Research on color effects in sport has received increasing
attention ever since Frank and Gilovich (1988) found
that teams in black were perceived as being more malevolent
compared to nonblack teams. In addition, they
showed that teams in black were penalized more often
than nonblack teams in the National Hockey League and
National Football League.
Subsequent studies on color effect have mainly
focused on team and combat sports, with findings indicating
alterations in physiology, psychology, decisionmaking,
behavior, perceived aggression, dominance,
and even match outcome. One of the first and most
cited studies to focus on actual match outcomes was the
research of Hill and Barton (2005) published in Nature.
In this study, they identified a red effect for boxing, tae
kwon do, Greco-Roman wrestling, and freestyle wrestling
at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
With combatants wearing red winning significantly
more matches than combatants in blue, this effect was
most pronounced for individuals of comparable
ranking.
