Petty in Pink: Clothing Color Moderates Audience Perceptions of a Female Politician’s Verbal Aggression

Abstract

This research assessed whether the color of a female politician’s clothing affected perceptions of her verbal aggression. In the context of Kamala Harris attacking Donald Trump, a 2 (color: pink vs. gray) × 2 (verbal aggression: low vs. high) experiment was conducted. While wearing pink, participants perceived Harris as more competent and reported more message-consistent perceptions if she used low rather than high verbal aggression. While wearing gray, high rather than low verbal aggression was perceived more favorably.