In many nonhuman primates, the color red enhances males' attraction to females. In 5 experiments, the authors demonstrate a parallel effect in humans: Red, relative to other achromatic and chromatic colors, leads men to view women as more attractive and more sexually desirable. Men seem unaware of this red effect, and red does not influence women's perceptions of the attractiveness of other women, nor men's perceptions of women's overall likeability, kindness, or intelligence. The findings have clear practical implications for men and women in the mating game and, perhaps, for fashion consultants, product designers, and marketers. Furthermore, the findings document the value of extending research on signal coloration to humans and of considering color as something of a common language, both within and across species.

What factors influence men's physical attraction to women? This question has been of interest to scholars across disciplines for millennia (Sugiyama, 2005) and has received a significant amount of empirical attention in the past few decades. Research addressing this question has documented several facial and bodily features as important influences; for example, men are most attracted to women with sexually dimorphic (i.e., highly feminine), symmetrical, and average facial features and a relatively low waist-to-hip ratio and body mass index (Gangestad & Scheyd, 2005; Rhodes, 2006; Symons, 1995; Weeden & Sabini, 2005). Although the predominant focus has been on women's physical characteristics, some attention has also been allocated to nonphysical factors that influence men's...