Sports performance, psychology, and color

[Urgent]

I was reading the book Drunk Tank Pink last night, and came across this research.
Drunk Tank Pink discusses external stimuli that impact performance - for example, police have found that painting a room a specific shade of pink has an immediate calming effect, and further studies show that people can lift less weight when looking at that color.

Researchers Russell Hill and Robert Barton of the UK studied uniform color and performance at the Olympics, and later across 55 years of English football. In the Olympics, some competitions have uniform color randomly assigned. They found that the color red has a statistical advantage and that blue has a disadvantage:

This was particularly the case with Taekwondo (red won in 57 percent of all matchups), following by boxing (55 percent victory quotient) and wrestling (Greco-Roman style, 52 percent; freestyle, 53 percent).

A matched-pairs analysis of red and non-red wearing teams in eight English cities shows significantly better performance of red teams over a 55-year period. These effects on long-term success have consequences for colour selection in team sports, confirm that wearing red enhances performance in a variety of competitive contexts, and provide further impetus for studies of the mechanisms underlying these effects.

You can find summaries here:
http://www.spiegel.de/international...rts-psychology-winners-wear-red-a-570918.html
http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheory/2012/03/fashion-and-sporting-performance

Original paper here; requires subscription:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v437/n7063/full/nature04306.html

This reminded me of this comment from Ted Bruschi:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12039309/experts-makes-new-engalnd-patriots-offense-unique

Those coaches need to coach different techniques on a week-to-week basis, and the more they do it, the more they can remember and bring up old film and say, "Here is what we did in Week 2 of 2007," or "We ran this against this team in 1998." This is how extensive they are, going back to game plans that did and didn't work. Hey, Belichick still remembers the time we wore blue pants with our blue uniforms. It didn't work and we lost, so he made sure it never happened again.

All of this argues for more red jerseys.

 

[Mountain_Commando]

First glance at the title, I was like " a racist thread!"

 

[Urgent]

In a similar study, teams wearing black uniforms receive more penalties:
http://psych.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/Frank & Gilo 88.pdf

When teams switch to black uniforms, their penalties increase quickly.

 

[Jackson 2]

I actually believe much of this is true.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Interestingly, is wearing the color making you feel better or seeing the color have that type of mental affect. Because I would think opposing player clothes would be more imprinted on the individual than the clothes being worn by the individual? Then again, maybe I'm just wired differently .

and obvious is has to be wearing more than red sox (well until 2004 came around).

 

[Galeb]

Interestingly, is wearing the color making you feel better or seeing the color have that type of mental affect. Because I would think opposing player clothes would be more imprinted on the individual than the clothes being worn by the individual? Then again, maybe I'm just wired differently .

and obvious is has to be wearing more than red sox (well until 2004 came around).

It is likely that there is something to wearing vs seeing, but it would probably often be different. Also, seeing team mates in certain colors could have a very different affect than if the opponent was wearing it.

 

[shmessy]

Maybe I'm just old and nostalgic, but God, I miss the old uni and logo.

 

[Galeb]

Maybe I'm just old and nostalgic, but God, I miss the old uni and logo.

What do you mean, "maybe"?

 

[MNF]

I wonder the Pats record with their red jersey vs. blue jersey?

 

[Galeb]

I wonder the Pats record with their red jersey vs. blue jersey?

I recall posters in the past saying that the Pats tend to perform poorly in red.

 

[Wax Frog]

I always got fired up by the red... I think the Norwegian part of me was seeing the blood of crushed foes soon to be shed.

 

[Tunescribe]

Does it explain why teams in green pants and green jerseys attract lowlife scum and suck organizationally?

 

[patriot lifer]

Cool stuff.

If some of your are fascinated by this study, then you should also check out research on athletic performance and the time of day. Athletic performance, pain tolerance, and flexibility rise during the day and peak in the late afternoon/early evening.

 

[Patjew]

I was a pretty serious basketball player and always felt like I played better wearing black sneakers. Whether it was because it made me feel like Larry Bird or just cooler than those white sneakered-nerds, I don't know. But I did really feel more nimble out there in my black sneaks.

 

[Danger Zone]

First glance at the title, I was like " a racist thread!"

Not everything is just black and white you know..

 

[IcyPatriot]

Does it explain why teams in green pants and green jerseys attract lowlife scum and suck organizationally?

Damn you beat me to it ...

 

[Fencer]

Just don't wear a red jersey when playing against bulls.

 

[Joker]

of course, wearing green has the effect of inducing uncontrollable fits of vomiting...

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

I'm skeptical.

1. The Patriots have been far more successful in blue than red.

2. The people wearing red are primarily not looking at themselves. Are we suggesting the "feel" of red has effected them?

3. It's a dubious correlation. If I assume red may add to aggressiveness than it could possibly explain boxing or wrestling. But as mentioned before what if those in red are your teammates, the correlation should be negative. If it's not, the correlation again comes down to the "feel" of red.

3. If it can increase winning in aggressive and non-aggressive sports, and in team and singular sports that have no common factor besides competition- than shouldn't it increase ability in other competitive areas? Golf, taking a test, racing cars, etc.

Also, most NFL teams that have been historically successful don't have red (Steelers, Bears, Cowboys, Dolphins, Packers, Patriots-when they won). Maybe the only one is the 49ers. Considering how common red is in jerseys that's not a great record.

Red being a factor whether you see it or not, whether on your opponent or teammate seems much more likely to be a case of data dredging IMO.

I could see maybe some narrow area like in the wrestling test, just seems unlikely to extrapolate out to all sports.

 

[Deus Irae]

Studies like this have been around for years. Colors, clothing style (i.e. suits), etc... These things influence both those who wear them and those who view the wearer.