Taekwondo - red the winning colour?

[andyjeffries]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/aug/08/tv-review-horizon-see

In Olympic taekwondo, where contestants are randomly assigned red or blue to wear, there are significantly more red winners. Taekwondo referees have been shown to be more generous to red contestants (just like football referees at Old Trafford). Other experiments show that wearing red reduces stress levels, giving the wearer more confidence.

I'm sure the TV programme will be available to download from your favourite internet sources... For those of you in the UK (or using the BBC's iPlayer abroad system) it's on iPlayer for the next month.

Note: I haven't seen the programme, but that quote comes from the article so I assume the programme has something about Taekwondo in it.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

When I bought my adidas hogu a few years back a mate of mine also bought one at the same time. We are the only 2 in the club with the adidas ones and were sure we would get them mixed up, so we agreed that we should choose a colour each and always wear that colour so they would bend into shape and we could tell them apart. He chose blue, after reading your post Im glad I have the red one

 

[Cyriacus]

Interesting.
I cant help but call some more Theory into this.

Red is categorised as an "Inciteful", "Hostile" Color.
Some of the damn best fighters ive seen in what Competitions ive attended are the ones who go in there with Violence on their Minds and a Will to Win written accross their face. Which in many ways, is channelling Aggression.

Blue is a more Passive Color.

Heh, this is quite interesting indeed.

 

[StudentCarl]

If there's "research", then the controls should be shared. How the brackets are set matters, particularly if seeding is involved. I'm not buying that color matters, so the question is what variable wasn't considered.

 

[mango.man]

I saw this http://www.metro.co.uk/tv/reviews/8...t-i-see-played-with-our-perceptions-of-colour earlier today which gives a little more detail into "what variable wasn't considered." which to me seems like none.


The extended quote from the link is:


It turned out that red won two-thirds of the contests, a statistical twister. Even more interestingly, when the fights were digitally manipulated to switch the colours – so red was blue and vice versa – and the fights were shown to new referees to score, the reds still came out strongly on top. So it was the colour red that was influencing the judging, rather than anything the fighters were doing. You can bet they’ll be fighting over the red gear at London 2012.



This study was actually done a few years ago and I recall there being a thread on here about it.

 

[Charles]

That's funny. I checked out the olympics site after reading this and the first thing that I found was that the winner was actually wearing RED! http://www.olympic.org/taekwondo
random fact?

 

[ATC]

So maybe they need to do away with the colors. Both wear red or both wear blue, or some other color like maybe white. Then just give a number to the fighters. A big 1 or 2 on the hogu. But then they may find out that one number vs. the other is more influentual.

OK fight to the death then. Probem solved.:erg:

 

[Cyriacus]

So maybe they need to do away with the colors. Both wear red or both wear blue, or some other color like maybe white. Then just give a number to the fighters. A big 1 or 2 on the hogu. But then they may find out that one number vs. the other is more influentual.

OK fight to the death then. Probem solved.:erg:

Optionally, make everyone dress Casually, and dont tell them their Numbers

 

[granfire]

I suppose choosing red and green for color blind judges would defeat the purpose of picking different colors?

 

[Kong Soo Do]

Interesting.
I cant help but call some more Theory into this.

Red is categorised as an "Inciteful", "Hostile" Color.
Some of the damn best fighters ive seen in what Competitions ive attended are the ones who go in there with Violence on their Minds and a Will to Win written accross their face. Which in many ways, is channelling Aggression.

Blue is a more Passive Color.

Heh, this is quite interesting indeed.

I've read this as well and have seen the color black as being one that is neutral and doesn't inspire emotion.

 

[Cyriacus]

I've read this as well and have seen the color black as being one that is neutral and doesn't inspire emotion.

And it can be very Visualistically pleasing, of course.
But Yes.
Certainly.

 

[KELLYG]

When judging you are to put the Red selector in your right hand and the Blue selector in your left hand. Since most people are right handed, maybe the reaction time is better, more consistant between the corner judges, with the red opponents selector than than the blue. Just a thought

 

[terryl965]

No everybody knows red is the favorite color.. GO RED

 

[StudentCarl]

No everybody knows red is the favorite color.. GO RED

As a University of Michigan grad, gotta stick with GO BLUE!

I do think Kelly's point about handedness is the first intelligent theory I've heard that would explain a significant difference. I wonder if there's any reseach on handedness and accidentally using strong hand when meaning to use weak hand in a situation of intense focus and quick reactions...seems plausible to me. WE NEED TO INVOLVE MYTHBUSTERS.

 

[mango.man]

- Watch the scoreboard. Red kicks blue in the head and judge 3 first pushes the correct (red/head) button then immediately also pushes red/body by mistake. Then judges 1 and 2 BOTH push blue/head before pushing red/head resulting in 2 points for red, but came very close to resulting in 2 point for blue if 1 other judge had screwed up and pushed blue/head first. The only judge who got it right was #4 who pushed red/head and nothing else.

Based on this, I believe that only 25% of judges do not have their heads up their butts.

After seeing so MANY mistakes by judges pushing buttons I started recording all my daughter's fights with 2 cameras. 1 on the fight and 1 on the scoreboard.

Lajust crap is not the answer but human judges suck too.

 

[Cyriacus]

- Watch the scoreboard. Red kicks blue in the head and judge 3 first pushes the correct (red/head) button then immediately also pushes red/body by mistake. Then judges 1 and 2 BOTH push blue/head before pushing red/head resulting in 2 points for red, but came very close to resulting in 2 point for blue if 1 other judge had screwed up and pushed blue/head first. The only judge who got it right was #4 who pushed red/head and nothing else.

Based on this, I believe that only 25% of judges do not have their heads up their butts.

After seeing so MANY mistakes by judges pushing buttons I started recording all my daughter's fights with 2 cameras. 1 on the fight and 1 on the scoreboard.

Lajust crap is not the answer but human judges suck too.

Haha!
That Sir, is an Awesome Idea

 

[NSRTKD]

As a University of Michigan grad, gotta stick with GO BLUE!I do think Kelly's point about handedness is the first intelligent theory I've heard that would explain a significant difference. I wonder if there's any reseach on handedness and accidentally using strong hand when meaning to use weak hand in a situation of intense focus and quick reactions...seems plausible to me. WE NEED TO INVOLVE MYTHBUSTERS.

I second that. Somebody call the guy with the hat and moustache. I bet they'd eat this one up!