Functional Equivalence of the Color Red and Enacted Avoidance Behavior?

Research has shown that subtle stimuli and action can elicit approach and avoidance motivational states. In separate literatures, both the color red and enacting avoidance behavior have been hypothesized to evoke avoidance motivation. The purpose of the present research was to both replicate and empirically integrate prior work on red and enacted avoidance behavior. This was done by testing them together within the same paradigms in two experiments, one on anagram performance and the other on local-relative-to-global processing. Both experiments replicated prior research in each literature, with red and enacted avoidance behavior producing comparable effects across both experiments. Implications of the findings for the two literatures are discussed.