Since ancient times, humans have used colors to express their feelings and values. Indigenous tribes use natural pigments to color their bodies and have specific paintings for rituals of celebration, gratitude, or war. The colors of a flag are carefully chosen to represent the points one wishes to highlight about a country or movement. When we choose an outfit, no matter how beautiful it is, we certainly won't wear it if its color does not please us. The question posed by Natura's new campaign, “Where does your desire to paint your face come from?” sparked my curiosity. Beauty, enhancement, and expression are, in my view, what we seek when we color our faces and bodies, but can colors really influence us?
A study published in Nature in 2005 showed a surprising result regarding the impact of colors in fighters' uniforms. In the 2004 Olympic Games, athletes from four combat sports (boxing, taekwondo, Greco-Roman wrestling, and freestyle wrestling) were randomly assigned red or blue uniforms. Surprisingly, statistics showed that participants in red uniforms won more matches than those in blue across all evaluated sports. In 16 of the 21 rounds contested in the competition, there were more red winners, and only in four did the blue lead. The result held across weight classes: in 19 of the 29 classes, there were more red winners compared to only six with more blue winners (Hill and Barton, 2005).
Certainly, the color of the uniform is not a determinant of victory or defeat, but this work makes it clear that, in some way, colors can interfere with our behavior. One hypothesis for the results found is that they could be related to the fact that red is the color of blood, our faces turn red when we get angry, and this could be an instinctively perceived signal in a fight. And in our daily lives, what other types of influence could colors exert on our perception?
One study used chocolate candies coated with colored sugar (commonly known) to show that colors influence our taste. The red and green candies had the same flavor, while the orange candies tasted different; however, only some participants in the test were aware of this. When asked to compare pairs of chocolates and say if they had the same flavor, the group that believed the red and green candies were identical correctly identified that both had the same taste, while participants who thought different colors corresponded to distinct flavors mostly said the taste was different and failed the test. However, this group had a significant increase in correct answers when the same procedure was conducted with their eyes closed; that is, without the influence of sight, individuals realized that the red candies tasted the same as the green ones (Levitan et al., 2008).
The most interesting aspect of this study is that the researchers chose a product that was familiar to all participants, and even so, the inability to see the colors made it very difficult to recognize the flavor. Another recent study reinforced the importance of tones on our senses and showed that the color of the container in which hot chocolate is served can influence the perception of the drink. The research involved 57 participants, who tasted samples of hot chocolate in containers of the same size but different colors. The results curiously showed that the drink served in orange or cream cups was perceived as tastier (Piqueras-Fiszman and Spence, 2012). These examples give a small idea of what might be behind our interest in colors and can help understand what makes us want to paint our faces.
References
Hill RA, Barton RA. Red enhances human performance in contests. Nature. 2005;435:293;
Levitan CA, Zampini M, Li R, Spence C. Accessing the role of color cues and people’s beliefs about color-flavor associations on the discrimination of the flavor of sugar-coated chocolates. Chem. Senses. 2008;33:415-23;
Piqueras-Fiszman B, Spence C. The influence of the color of the cup on consumer’s perception of a hot beverage. Journal of sensory studies. 2012;27:324-31.
Figure: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Liberia_dancing_girl.jpg?uselang=en
