Pre-Registration: Title: People perception: The evolution of contextual colour discriminations and intrasexual competition. Kristy Carswell & Ronald Fischer September 3rd 2018 People perception: The evolution of contextual colour discriminations and intrasexual competition. Our world is made of a multiplicity of perceptual experiences, all governed by the ability to discriminate one stimuli from another. Colour discrimination has assisted us, and other Old-World primates in this feat, leading to the evolution of trichromacy or the ability to see three different colours (Hasrod & Rubin, 2016). Indeed, our eyes are specially evolved for colour vision processing. Three unique cone shapes differentiate red, green and blue wavelengths (Hasrod & Rubin, 2016). This evolution of vision has allowed for greater foraging ability, for example detecting the ripeness of fruit or seeing distinct cues indicating resources. It has also enabled perception of sexual selection/maturity and dominance cues typically indicated by an increased red colour from blood flow (Elliot & Maier, 2014; Farrelly, Slater, Elliott, Walden, & Wetherell, 2013; Pryke, 2009). For example, competitors wearing red have been shown to have a greater perceived chance of winning a physical contest in both birds and humans (Piatti, Savage, & Torgler, 2012; Pryke, 2009). The interpretation of our visual experience of colour is influenced by both emotional and cultural factors. For example, red may signal danger and aggression through the emotions of fear or anger, but it can also signal love and enhance perceptions of attractiveness (Elliot et al., 2010). The larger context within which the display and perception of colour takes places is likely to influence the interpretation. This differentiation of experience has been termed the colour in context theory. As cited in Pollet, Costello, Groeneboom, Peperkoorn and Wu (2018), colour in context theory seeks to explain the link between colour and experience. The theory assumes colour carries meaning that is interpreted differently due to natural (evolved) and learned (classically conditioned) mechanisms working from six key assumptions. Firstly, colour carries meaning that conveys information. Second, information transmitted through perceived colour can influence approach/ avoidance motivations depending on context. Thirdly, these meanings are beyond conscious detection, coming from biological or learnt origins (nature and nurture). These origins are not exclusive but may interact with each other. For example Zhang and Han's (2014) findings suggest that Chinese stock brokers found red to have more positive connotations due to associations with increase in share prices. This is compared to Chinese students who performed poorer on intelligence tests when in the presence of red stimuli. Fifthly, emotion, perception, cognition and behaviour may influence each other in a reciprocal manner, altering colour perception. So, if you are feeling sad, watch a sad movie with predominantly blue colours and begin to cry, you may form a stronger association between the colour blue and sadness. In short, the context in which you view colour matters and prior knowledge and experiences will subsequently shape the way you interact and behave in a given environment. The current project investigates the perception of colour when social contexts of competition versus attraction are activated. Specifically, we focus on perceptions of the colours of red, blue and black. As suggested by Elliot and Niesta (2008), red may act as a signal to others as it carries emotional meaning; love, sex, passion. When viewed in a certain context, this may lead to an enhancement of perceptions of attraction. This “romantic red” effect may come from both evolved and socially reinforced origins. Specifically, people that display red are perceived as more desirable and sexually attractive. Fetterman, Liu and Robinson (2015) suggest that the colour red may have been vital to our hunter gatherer ancestors, signalling ripe fruit which carried greater nutritional value. Additionally, in our genetic relative’s monkeys, red can signal sexual receptivity. Bright plumage may also to enhance sexual selection in the mating displays of birds. Interestingly, red has also been shown to enhance perceptions of self-attractiveness, mediated by both males and females own views of sexual receptivity and status (Berthold, Reese, & Martin, 2017). However, red can be also be associated with aggression, blood loss and toxic plants and insects, all signalling danger and caution. Red skin tone carries important biological information, correlating with greater testosterone levels, perceptions of competitive quality, body condition and increases in anger, making it a salient signal to others (Farrelly et al., 2013; Pryke, 2009; Wiedemann, Burt, Hill, & Barton, 2015). Teams wearing red are seen as being more dominant and may therefore have a higher chance of winning, red items may be a symbol of status and wealth and in Chinese culture, red is associated with esteem and victory (Foo, Rhodes, & Simmons, 2017; Mentzel, Schücker, Hagemann, & Strauss, 2017; Pazda, Prokop, & Elliot, 2014; Piatti et al., 2012; Wang, Shu, & Mo, 2014). Using a modified Stroop test, Mentzel et al. (2017) tested whether an implicit link existed between the colour red and dominance, suggesting that colour is implicitly linked to emotional states. Results suggested that red coloured words were categorised more quickly and had fewer errors than grey or blue words, suggesting an implicit link between red and dominance. This finding is reinforced by a study conducted by Kuniecki, Pilarczyk and Wichary (2015), that suggested colour perception is driven by bottom up processes, guiding attention to important objects in our environment through strong automatic processes. Attraction can be artificially augmented to enhance the chances of finding a mate. In nature, this can take the form of red plumage in birds or wearing a red dress in humans (Elliot, Greitemeyer, & Pazda, 2013; Elliot & Niesta, 2008; Pryke, 2009). Colour is therefore linked to competition for mates, affecting social perceptions. Walters and Crawford (1994) suggest that competition exists when an individual seeks a fitness enhancing opportunity of limited availability. When a finite number of mates exist, those that display the most fitness have the greatest chance of reproducing and continuing their genetic line. This leads to competition between individuals looking for mating partners, known as intrasexual competition. Mate poaching is common when mates are scarce (Fink, Klappauf, Brewer, & Shackelford, 2014). Attractive women represent greatest risk, so effective identification systems such as jealousy evolved, allowing for the paired mate to enhance their own attractiveness (Fink et al., 2014). Alternatively, females may employ derogation techniques, an act meant to lower their opponents attractiveness (Fisher, 2004; Pazda et al., 2014). This can be done through indirect aggression such as rumour spreading and social exclusion aimed at lowering rivals perceptions of their own attractiveness (Vaillancourt & Sharma, 2011). Males tend not to use derogation techniques due to different mating priorities and greater respective reproductive ability (Walters & Crawford, 1994). A recent meta-analysis by Calin-Jageman, Lehmann and Elliot (2018), has suggested that the red effect may be smaller than expected with effect sizes diminishing over time. In fact, a number of studies have failed to replicate the red effect hypothesis with small to null findings (Hesslinger, Goldbach, & Carbon, 2015; Peperkoorn, Roberts, & Pollet, 2016; Pollet et al., 2018). This may be due to reduced support from psychological studies with smaller and smaller effects found (decline effects), sample sizes issues and inconsistent methodologies (Calin-Jageman et al., 2018). The current study seeks to add to the colour psychology literature and clarify possible links with social function within the contexts of attraction and competition. Colour, especially red, has been shown to impact the perception of opposite sex others, but few studies have investigated possible modulations of intrasexual perception due to colour. The current study therefore aims to replicate the romantic red finding of Elliot and Neista (2008), then extend this into the realm of intrasexual perception using a priming mindset. Priming is a method of influencing a participant’s memory through targeted suggestion. Exposure to one stimuli influences the response to another without directly instructing the participant to respond in that way. In this experiment, priming was used to experimentally influence the processing of colour information within a social context: attraction and competition. It may be expected that, as in nature, same sex others displaying increased red colouration signal competition for mates. Subsequent ratings of attractiveness should therefore be decreased due to derogation, but aggression and competition ratings should be enhanced as individuals are seen as more of a threat to mate access. Conversely, in contexts that highlight attraction, higher ratings of attraction for opposite sex individuals compared to same sex should be observed. To specify our hypotheses more directly: Based on previous literature and in line with colour in context theory, there will be a main effect of t-shirt colour on subsequent image ratings of both males and females (Elliot & Niesta, 2008). Red should enhance social perceptions in a given context when compared to both black and blue. Secondly, there should be a main effect of prime (attraction, competition or neutral) with participants rating images as higher in a given aspect (e.g., attractiveness vs competition/aggression ratings) when under that prime. The main effects of t-shirt colour and prime may interact. Red t-shirts should produce higher averaged competition scores when primed with a competition mindset (Piatti et al., 2012; Wiedemann et al., 2015). Similarly, red will produce higher averaged attraction scores when primed with an attraction mindset (Elliot et al., 2013). Blue shirts should produce lower attraction and competition scores due to associations with the sky, comfort and peace (Mentzel et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2014), reinforced through social learning. Black t-shirts were used as a control condition and should not produce significant changes in ratings for male or female images under competition or attraction mindsets. We do not expect a main effect of gender (image and participant), with gender effects cancelling each other out. Specifically, crossover effects should be found. Participants should rate opposite sex images as more attractive than same sex. These same sex images should also produce higher competition ratings and lower attraction ratings due to mate guarding and derogation (Fink et al., 2014; Fisher, 2004). This crossover effect will interact with priming. Individuals primed with a competition mindset should produce higher competition scores on subsequent ratings of same sex images. Individuals primed with attraction will rate opposite sex images as more attractive. Those neutrally primed (control condition) should not produce increased scores on either scale. The crossover effect may also interact with colour, increasing the mean rating of competition or attraction when images display red compared to black (Pazda et al., 2014), and lowering ratings when displaying blue compared to black. Additionally, we expect a priming x colour x gender crossover effect interaction. It is expected that ratings of attraction will be greater when images wearing red are viewed by members of the opposite sex primed with an attraction mindset. Similarly, ratings of competition will be greater for individuals primed with competition when same sex individuals are pictured wearing red. The effects should be inverse for blue (reduced attraction when viewing opposite sex individuals in the attractiveness condition; reduced competition when viewing same sex individuals in the competition condition), all compared to the control condition (black clothing). These findings may be moderated by the relationship status of the participant, with those in a relationship producing lower attraction scores towards the opposite sex. Methods: Participants: Participants were taken from a first year psychology course at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. Students were invited to take part as part of mandatory course requirements. Identification numbers were acquired for crediting purposes but responses were anonymous. To all knowledge, this is the first extensive colour based study conducted in the country and should therefore not suffer from possible testing effects (Calin-Jageman et al., 2018). A power analysis was conducted to determine the optimal sample size for the observation of a red main effect, assuming a small to moderate effect size as seen in the meta-analysis conducted by Calin-Jageman et al. (d= .26) (2018), a power level of .8 and a significance of .05. We hope to gain significant results for all hypotheses although the observed effect from Calin-Jageman is only across studies addressing the red effect. The analysis suggested that with a within subject-analysis, a sample size of 33 participants should be sufficient. However, in order to oversample, we aimed for a sample size of 100, in the knowledge that exclusions would need to be made and dropouts were likely. Due to the between subject’s variable of prime, this sample may not be large enough to capture significant effects. Responses from 99 participants have been collected to date but data has not been investigated (e.g., examination of data quality [e.g., incomplete data] and sexual orientation may require exclusion of some participants). Procedure: Following established colour psychology manipulations, images from the Radboud Faces Database (RaFD) (Langer et al., 2010) of standardised size (681x1024 pixels) and colour were used. The RaFD uses a number of Caucasian faces and has been shown to be a reliable and valid database of facial expression (Langer et al., 2010). Screen brightness was optimised for viewing and blinds were used to minimise natural lighting. Images were altered using Adobe Photoshop to include red, blue and black shirts. Individuals in the photographs were wearing black t-shirts which was used as an unaltered comparison. Levels and filters were applied to obtain standardised red (LAB: 54, 81, 70) and blue (LAB: 30, 68, -112) colours while maintaining the texture of the shirt. Filter alteration allowed for a realistic image while compensating for the original image colour. The red filter was altered to 0- 2.6- 60 (100-255) levels and blue to 0- 2.2 – 150 (0-255). 30 images (15 males and 15 females) were used with individuals looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression (Fig. 1). Figure 1: Fig 1: Examples of an image used in the study. Original image depicted left, with altered blue and red images. Basic demographic information was collected including gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation and relationship status. Sexual attraction questions were asked as an exclusionary criterion. Although participants who identified as homo or bisexual were allowed to participate, data will be excluded due to ethical considerations and obscuring of results. Additionally, relationship status was addressed. Relationship status is known to moderate perceptions of attraction and may therefore account for some variance in results. Participants were required to have normal to corrected vision. The temporary mindset of participants was manipulated to test whether mindset would affect the perception of faces. This has not been previously done and was employed to control for possible extraneous variables. Participants were randomly allocated to a neutral (control), competition or attraction condition. To manipulate mindset, participants were asked to write a short story about a recent event in their lives. Neutral mindset was induced using the statement “Think about the last time you saw or read the news”, with the assumption that the news is unexciting. Similarly, attraction was induced using the statement “Think and write a short story about a time that you were really attracted to someone.” and competition with “Think and write a short story about a time when you competed with another person.”. Stories were required to be a minimum of 200 characters long. The effects of priming will be assessed with questionnaires following the story and stories will be inspected to ensure participants engaged in the task appropriately. Manipulation check scales: Romantic beliefs were assessed using one item from the Romantic Beliefs Scale (Sprecher & Metts, 1989) and three items from the Interpersonal Attraction Scale (McCroskey & McCain, 1974). A fifth item was created, resulting in five items total. Item 13 from the Romantic Beliefs Scale was reworded and reverse coded with the final item reading; “If I like someone, my attraction to them will fade over time”. From the Interpersonal Attraction Scale, items 1, 11 and 21 were adapted. Item 1 was reverse coded to read “I could never be friends with the person I was attracted to”. Item 11 was updated to read: “A person I’m attracted to will be good looking” and item 21 was altered and reverse coded; “I could see myself spending a lot of time with the person I was attracted to”. A final item assessing physical attraction was added; “I would be interested in kissing someone I was attracted to”. Participants were asked to indicate how true statements were for them, with the 5 items ranked on 7 point Likert scale where 1 = Never and 7= Always. It is expected that if the prime is effective, attraction scores will be elevated for attraction primed participants but not competition or neutral. Competition was assessed using the Cooperative/Competitive Strategy Scale (CCSS) developed by Tang (1999). Participants were asked to indicate how true statements were for them, with 5 items ranked on a 7 point Likert scale where 1= Never and 7= Always. Items included “To succeed, one must compete with others”, “Success is only achieved through individual effort”, “I enjoy working with others for joint success.” (reverse coded), “It is important to me to do better than others” and “Cooperation rather than competition is best for success” (reverse coded). Low scores indicated higher levels of cooperation, and higher scores, greater levels of competition. It is expected that if the prime has worked, competition scores will be elevated for competition primed participants but not attraction or neutral. Neutrally primed participants should not show elevated scores for either questionnaire. Filler items: Additionally, to obscure the true purpose of the study and the nature of the manipulation checks, personality of respondents was assessed using the 20 item mini IPIP scale (Cooper, Smillie, & Corr, 2010). 20 items assessing the Five Factors of personality (conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness, extraversion, openness) were rated on a 5-point Likert scale. Participants were asked to indicate how true the statements were for them including items such as “I like order” and “I feel other’s emotions”. Experimental procedure: From this, participants moved onto the experimental phase where they were shown the 30 images. Each participant saw one randomly coloured t-shirt (black, blue or red) for each image. Participants were asked to view each image and rate how much they thought the person in the image showed trait characteristics. There were a total of 11 items, five of assessing personality, three assessing competition and three assessing attraction, rated on a 7-point scale where 1= strongly disagreeing that the person in the image exhibited the trait and 7= strongly agreeing. Personality was assessed using the Five Item Personality Index (FIPI) and included terms such as imaginative, measuring the factor of openness, and sociable (for extraversion) (Gosling, Rentfrow, & Swann, 2003). Although not as reliable as the 10-item version (TIPI), the FIPI has been shown to be valid and acceptable for use in a short timeframe. Trait terms for attraction were taken from Elliot and Niesta (2008) and included the items attractive, pretty/handsome and warm, with higher scores indicating greater perception of attraction. Finally, competition traits were taken from the Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 1992) and included the trait items dominant, aggressive and weak (reverse coded) with higher scores indicating greater perceived aggression and competition. Participants were given a break after 15 images and instructed to think back to the priming story they wrote. This was done to reinforce the earlier mindset and give the participants a break from the task. To conclude the study, the participants were asked to write what they thought the purpose of the study was. Any correct answers will be excluded from the study. Finally, they were thanked for their time, given a debriefing sheet and dismissed. In total, the experiment was expected to take no longer than 30 minutes. Data collection is complete, but data has not been inspected and exclusions have not been made. Planned Analyses: Participants were forced to answer in order to progress and 90% of questions must have be answered for data to be included in analysis (participants were able to end sessions early if they desired). Individuals who indicated that they were not sexually attracted to individuals of the opposite sex will be excluded from the present analysis. A p value of .05 will be used as standard. Box‘s test of homogeneity will be used to test for equality of means. For between subject’s variables (priming condition), Levene’s test will also be used. This data will be analysed using a general linear model. We may control for stimulus effects. Effects of red and blue will be compared to black (control condition). Priming effects (attraction vs competition) will be compared to the neural prime. Variables: IV: Between subjects- Prime (3 levels, Neutral, Competition, Attraction), Gender of Participant (2 levels, Male, Female) Within subjects- T-shirt colour (3 levels,Black, Red, Blue), Gender of Image (2 levels, Male, Female) DV: Image ratings (competition/attraction) Possible Moderator: Relationship status Stimulus: Picture Hypotheses: 1) A main effect of t-shirt colour will be observed. Overall, images with images depicting red t-shirts (within subjects variable) will produce higher averaged competition ratings and attraction ratings (within subjects variables) than black or blue (red > black > blue). 2) We expect priming effects on the overall ratings. Those primed with an attraction mindset will produce enhanced attraction ratings. When primed with competition, participants will produce greater competition ratings. 3) In line with colour in context theory, the main effects of colour and prime will interact. When participants are primed with attraction or competition, they should produce higher respective average scores for red t-shirt images, compared to black and blue. Blue t-shirt images should produce low scores on both attraction and competition, compared to black and red. 4) We expect no main effects of gender for either participant or image due to effects cancelling each other out. However, we do predict cross-over effects. When viewing opposite sex images, ratings of attraction will be higher than that of same sex images. Similarly, when viewing same sex images, ratings of competition will be higher than that of opposite sex images. 5) We additionally expect a priming x colour x gender of participant x gender of stimulus interaction. Effects for attraction should be higher for viewing the opposite sex image when wearing read and being primed with attraction, compared to black and blue. 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