Researchers at the University of Durham in England had 50 men and 50 women look at pictures of 20 men wearing blue, gray and red t-shirts. T-shirts? Anyway, the study participants were asked to assess how "aggressive" the shirt wearers (all men) seemed on a scale from one to seven.
The study participants were asked also how "dominant" the shirt wearers seemed on a separate, one-to-seven scale.
The results revealed that men literally see red whenever they see red on other men. That is, they perceive men wearing red as naturally more aggressive, dominant and angry. A man wearing blue or gray? Eh, not so much. We'll let U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walk us through the primary tie colors.
It's interesting to note that women in the study noted no difference in the perceived level of male dominance, no matter what color the men wore in the photos. As long as he doesn't leave his red, blue or gray t-shirt on the floor for somebody else to pick up, it's all good.
So what's behind this hue-influenced happening? As The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports:
"Redness is often a signal of male dominance in non-human species, such as the mandrill monkey; if the same is true in humans, we would expect other males to be particularly sensitive to it," [Robert Barton, an author of the study and professor of evolutionary anthropology at Durham University in England] said.Hmm. So how do we interpret these results in terms of the general workplace? For starters, don't wear a red tie to a job interview, unless the job itself is rather aggressive in nature and the interviewer is a woman. Otherwise, go with muted blue or dull gray. I hope you get the job.
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