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Updated: Mar 2, 2026

Manipulation of Color Patterns in Jumping Spiders for Use in Behavioral Experiments
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Human colour in mate choice and competition.

Hannah M Rowland1,2, Robert P Burriss3

  • 1Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK hr325@cam.ac.uk.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
|May 24, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Human skin and clothing color influence social perceptions and behavior. This review explores how subtle color changes impact judgments of health and attractiveness, and how humans use cosmetics and clothing in social interactions.

Keywords:
attractivenessclothingcolourcompetitionmate choiceskin

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Area of Science:

  • Human coloration
  • Social psychology
  • Evolutionary biology

Background:

  • Human skin color varies with ancestry and is influenced by physiological factors like diet and hormones.
  • Color plays a significant role in social perception, affecting judgments of health and attractiveness.
  • Humans uniquely manipulate their apparent color through cosmetics and clothing for social signaling.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review theoretical and empirical frameworks for researching human color.
  • To examine the link between subtle skin color variations and perceptions of health and attractiveness.
  • To explore the role of manipulated coloration (cosmetics, clothing) in human courtship and competition.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of theoretical and empirical studies on human coloration.
  • Analysis of research on social perceptions related to skin and clothing color.
  • Examination of studies on the use of cosmetics and clothing in social contexts.

Main Results:

  • Subtle changes in skin color influence social judgments of health and attractiveness.
  • Cosmetics and clothing are actively used by humans for courtship and competition.
  • Research in human coloration is less developed than in other areas of psychophysics and animal coloration.

Conclusions:

  • Human color perception is a complex interplay of genetic, physiological, and behavioral factors.
  • Standardized methods and reporting are crucial for advancing the field of human coloration research.
  • Further research is needed to fully understand the evolutionary and social significance of human color.