color psychology research paper

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Publications
Account settings
My Bibliography
Collections
Citation manager

Save citation to file

Email citation, add to collections.

Create a new collection
Add to an existing collection

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search, create a file for external citation management software, your rss feed.

Search in PubMed
Search in NLM Catalog
Add to Search

Color and emotion: effects of hue, saturation, and brightness

Affiliations.

1 Institute of Psychology, Section Experimental Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, 55099, Mainz, Germany.
2 Institute of Psychology, Section Experimental Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, 55099, Mainz, Germany. [email protected].
PMID: 28612080
DOI: 10.1007/s00426-017-0880-8

Previous studies on emotional effects of color often failed to control all the three perceptual dimensions of color: hue, saturation, and brightness. Here, we presented a three-dimensional space of chromatic colors by independently varying hue (blue, green, red), saturation (low, medium, high), and brightness (dark, medium, bright) in a factorial design. The 27 chromatic colors, plus 3 brightness-matched achromatic colors, were presented via an LED display. Participants (N = 62) viewed each color for 30 s and then rated their current emotional state (valence and arousal). Skin conductance and heart rate were measured continuously. The emotion ratings showed that saturated and bright colors were associated with higher arousal. The hue also had a significant effect on arousal, which increased from blue and green to red. The ratings of valence were the highest for saturated and bright colors, and also depended on the hue. Several interaction effects of the three color dimensions were observed for both arousal and valence. For instance, the valence ratings were higher for blue than for the remaining hues, but only for highly saturated colors. Saturated and bright colors caused significantly stronger skin conductance responses. Achromatic colors resulted in a short-term deceleration in the heart rate, while chromatic colors caused an acceleration. The results confirm that color stimuli have effects on the emotional state of the observer. These effects are not only determined by the hue of a color, as is often assumed, but by all the three color dimensions as well as their interactions.

PubMed Disclaimer

LinkOut - more resources

Full text sources, other literature sources.

scite Smart Citations
Citation Manager

NCBI Literature Resources

MeSH PMC Bookshelf Disclaimer

The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Unauthorized use of these marks is strictly prohibited.

MINI REVIEW article

Color and psychological functioning: a review of theoretical and empirical work.

$\r\nAndrew J. Elliot*$

Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA

In the past decade there has been increased interest in research on color and psychological functioning. Important advances have been made in theoretical work and empirical work, but there are also important weaknesses in both areas that must be addressed for the literature to continue to develop apace. In this article, I provide brief theoretical and empirical reviews of research in this area, in each instance beginning with a historical background and recent advancements, and proceeding to an evaluation focused on weaknesses that provide guidelines for future research. I conclude by reiterating that the literature on color and psychological functioning is at a nascent stage of development, and by recommending patience and prudence regarding conclusions about theory, findings, and real-world application.

The past decade has seen enhanced interest in research in the area of color and psychological functioning. Progress has been made on both theoretical and empirical fronts, but there are also weaknesses on both of these fronts that must be attended to for this research area to continue to make progress. In the following, I briefly review both advances and weaknesses in the literature on color and psychological functioning.

Theoretical Work

Background and recent developments.

Color has fascinated scholars for millennia ( Sloane, 1991 ; Gage, 1993 ). Theorizing on color and psychological functioning has been present since Goethe (1810) penned his Theory of Colors , in which he linked color categories (e.g., the “plus” colors of yellow, red–yellow, yellow–red) to emotional responding (e.g., warmth, excitement). Goldstein (1942) expanded on Goethe’s intuitions, positing that certain colors (e.g., red, yellow) produce systematic physiological reactions manifest in emotional experience (e.g., negative arousal), cognitive orientation (e.g., outward focus), and overt action (e.g., forceful behavior). Subsequent theorizing derived from Goldstein’s ideas has focused on wavelength, positing that longer wavelength colors feel arousing or warm, whereas shorter wavelength colors feel relaxing or cool ( Nakashian, 1964 ; Crowley, 1993 ). Other conceptual statements about color and psychological functioning have focused on general associations that people have to colors and their corresponding influence on downstream affect, cognition, and behavior (e.g., black is associated with aggression and elicits aggressive behavior; Frank and Gilovich, 1988 ; Soldat et al., 1997 ). Finally, much writing on color and psychological functioning has been completely atheoretical, focused exclusively on finding answers to applied questions (e.g., “What wall color facilitates worker alertness and productivity?”). The aforementioned theories and conceptual statements continue to motivate research on color and psychological functioning. However, several other promising theoretical frameworks have also emerged in the past decade, and I review these frameworks in the following.

Hill and Barton (2005) noted that in many non-human animals, including primate species, dominance in aggressive encounters (i.e., superior physical condition) is signaled by the bright red of oxygenated blood visible on highly vascularized bare skin. Artificial red (e.g., on leg bands) has likewise been shown to signal dominance in non-human animals, mimicking the natural physiological process ( Cuthill et al., 1997 ). In humans in aggressive encounters, a testosterone surge produces visible reddening on the face and fear leads to pallor ( Drummond and Quay, 2001 ; Levenson, 2003 ). Hill and Barton (2005) posited that the parallel between humans and non-humans present at the physiological level may extend to artificial stimuli, such that wearing red in sport contests may convey dominance and lead to a competitive advantage.

Other theorists have also utilized a comparative approach in positing links between skin coloration and the evaluation of conspecifics. Changizi et al. (2006) and Changizi (2009) contend that trichromatic vision evolved to enable primates, including humans, to detect subtle changes in blood flow beneath the skin that carry important information about the emotional state of the conspecific. Increased red can convey anger, embarrassment, or sexual arousal, whereas increased bluish or greenish tint can convey illness or poor physiological condition. Thus, visual sensitivity to these color modulations facilitates various forms of social interaction. In similar fashion, Stephen et al. (2009) and Stephen and McKeegan (2010) propose that perceivers use information about skin coloration (perhaps particularly from the face, Tan and Stephen, 2012 ) to make inferences about the attractiveness, health, and dominance of conspecifics. Redness (from blood oxygenization) and yellowness (from carotenoids) are both seen as facilitating positive judgments. Fink et al. (2006) and Fink and Matts (2007) posit that the homogeneity of skin coloration is an important factor in evaluating the age, attractiveness, and health of faces.

Elliot and Maier (2012) have proposed color-in-context theory, which draws on social learning, as well as biology. Some responses to color stimuli are presumed to be solely due to the repeated pairing of color and particular concepts, messages, and experiences. Others, however, are presumed to represent a biologically engrained predisposition that is reinforced and shaped by social learning. Through this social learning, color associations can be extended beyond natural bodily processes (e.g., blood flow modulations) to objects in close proximity to the body (e.g., clothes, accessories). Thus, for example, red may not only increase attractiveness evaluations when viewed on the face, but also when viewed on a shirt or dress. As implied by the name of the theory, the physical and psychological context in which color is perceived is thought to influence its meaning and, accordingly, responses to it. Thus, blue on a ribbon is positive (indicating first place), but blue on a piece of meat is negative (indicating rotten), and a red shirt may enhance the attractiveness of a potential mate (red = sex/romance), but not of a person evaluating one’s competence (red = failure/danger).

Meier and Robinson (2005) and Meier (in press ) have posited a conceptual metaphor theory of color. From this perspective, people talk and think about abstract concepts in concrete terms grounded in perceptual experience (i.e., they use metaphors) to help them understand and navigate their social world ( Lakoff and Johnson, 1999 ). Thus, anger entails reddening of the face, so anger is metaphorically described as “seeing red,” and positive emotions and experiences are often depicted in terms of lightness (rather than darkness), so lightness is metaphorically linked to good (“seeing the light”) rather than bad (“in the dark”). These metaphoric associations are presumed to have implications for important outcomes such as morality judgments (e.g., white things are viewed as pure) and stereotyping (e.g., dark faces are viewed more negatively).

For many years it has been known that light directly influences physiology and increases arousal (see Cajochen, 2007 , for a review), but recently theorists have posited that such effects are wavelength dependent. Blue light, in particular, is posited to activate the melanopsin photoreceptor system which, in turn, activates the brain structures involved in sub-cortical arousal and higher-order attentional processing ( Cajochen et al., 2005 ; Lockley et al., 2006 ). As such, exposure to blue light is expected to facilitate alertness and enhance performance on tasks requiring sustained attention.

Evaluation and Recommendations

Drawing on recent theorizing in evolutionary psychology, emotion science, retinal physiology, person perception, and social cognition, the aforementioned conceptualizations represent important advances to the literature on color and psychological functioning. Nevertheless, theory in this area remains at a nascent level of development, and the following weaknesses may be identified.

First, the focus of theoretical work in this area is either extremely specific or extremely general. A precise conceptual proposition such as red signals dominance and leads to competitive advantage in sports ( Hill and Barton, 2005 ) is valuable in that it can be directly translated into a clear, testable hypothesis; however, it is not clear how this specific hypothesis connects to a broader understanding of color–performance relations in achievement settings more generally. On the other end of the spectrum, a general conceptualization such as color-in-context theory ( Elliot and Maier, 2012 ) is valuable in that it offers several widely applicable premises; however, these premises are only vaguely suggestive of precise hypotheses in specific contexts. What is needed are mid-level theoretical frameworks that comprehensively, yet precisely explain and predict links between color and psychological functioning in specific contexts (for emerging developments, see Pazda and Greitemeyer, in press ; Spence, in press ; Stephen and Perrett, in press ).

Second, the extant theoretical work is limited in scope in terms of range of hues, range of color properties, and direction of influence. Most theorizing has focused on one hue, red, which is understandable given its prominence in nature, on the body, and in society ( Changizi, 2009 ; Elliot and Maier, 2014 ); however, other hues also carry important associations that undoubtedly have downstream effects (e.g., blue: Labrecque and Milne, 2012 ; green: Akers et al., 2012 ). Color has three basic properties: hue, lightness, and chroma ( Fairchild, 2013 ). Variation in any or all of these properties could influence downstream affect, cognition, or behavior, yet only hue is considered in most theorizing (most likely because experientially, it is the most salient color property). Lightness and chroma also undoubtedly have implications for psychological functioning (e.g., lightness: Kareklas et al., 2014 ; chroma: Lee et al., 2013 ); lightness has received some attention within conceptual metaphor theory ( Meier, in press ; see also Prado-León and Rosales-Cinco, 2011 ), but chroma has been almost entirely overlooked, as has the issue of combinations of hue, lightness, and chroma. Finally, most theorizing has focused on color as an independent variable rather than a dependent variable; however, it is also likely that many situational and intrapersonal factors influence color perception (e.g., situational: Bubl et al., 2009 ; intrapersonal: Fetterman et al., 2015 ).

Third, theorizing to date has focused primarily on main effects, with only a modicum of attention allocated to the important issue of moderation. As research literatures develop and mature, they progress from a sole focus on “is” questions (“Does X influence Y?”) to additionally considering “when” questions (“Under what conditions does X influence Y and under what conditions does X not influence Y?”). These “second generation” questions ( Zanna and Fazio, 1982 , p. 283) can seem less exciting and even deflating in that they posit boundary conditions that constrain the generalizability of an effect. Nevertheless, this step is invaluable in that it adds conceptual precision and clarity, and begins to address the issue of real-world applicability. All color effects undoubtedly depend on certain conditions – culture, gender, age, type of task, variant of color, etc. – and acquiring an understanding of these conditions will represent an important marker of maturity for this literature (for movement in this direction, see Schwarz and Singer, 2013 ; Tracy and Beall, 2014 ; Bertrams et al., 2015 ; Buechner et al., in press ; Young, in press ). Another, more succinct, way to state this third weakness is that theorizing in this area needs to take context, in all its forms, more seriously.

Empirical Work

Empirical work on color and psychological functioning dates back to the late 19th century ( Féré, 1887 ; see Pressey, 1921 , for a review). A consistent feature of this work, from its inception to the past decade, is that it has been fraught with major methodological problems that have precluded rigorous testing and clear interpretation ( O’Connor, 2011 ). One problem has been a failure to attend to rudimentary scientific procedures such as experimenter blindness to condition, identifying, and excluding color deficient participants, and standardizing the duration of color presentation or exposure. Another problem has been a failure to specify and control for color at the spectral level in manipulations. Without such specification, it is impossible to know what precise combination of color properties was investigated, and without such control, the confounding of focal and non-focal color properties is inevitable ( Whitfield and Wiltshire, 1990 ; Valdez and Mehrabian, 1994 ). Yet another problem has been the use of underpowered samples. This problem, shared across scientific disciplines ( Maxwell, 2004 ), can lead to Type I errors, Type II errors, and inflated effect sizes ( Fraley and Vazire, 2014 ; Murayama et al., 2014 ). Together, these methodological problems have greatly hampered progress in this area.

Although some of the aforementioned problems remain (see “Evaluation and Recommendations” below), others have been rectified in recent work. This, coupled with advances in theory development, has led to a surge in empirical activity. In the following, I review the diverse areas in which color work has been conducted in the past decade, and the findings that have emerged. Space considerations require me to constrain this review to a brief mention of central findings within each area. I focus on findings with humans (for reviews of research with non-human animals, see Higham and Winters, in press ; Setchell, in press ) that have been obtained in multiple (at least five) independent labs. Table 1 provides a summary, as well as representative examples and specific references.

TABLE 1. Research on color and psychological functioning.

In research on color and selective attention, red stimuli have been shown to receive an attentional advantage (see Folk, in press , for a review). Research on color and alertness has shown that blue light increases subjective alertness and performance on attention-based tasks (see Chellappa et al., 2011 , for a review). Studies on color and athletic performance have linked wearing red to better performance and perceived performance in sport competitions and tasks (see Maier et al., in press , for a review). In research on color and intellectual performance, viewing red prior to a challenging cognitive task has been shown to undermine performance (see Shi et al., 2015 , for a review). Research focused on color and aggressiveness/dominance evaluation has shown that viewing red on self or other increases appraisals of aggressiveness and dominance (see Krenn, 2014 , for a review). Empirical work on color and avoidance motivation has linked viewing red in achievement contexts to increased caution and avoidance (see Elliot and Maier, 2014 , for a review). In research on color and attraction, viewing red on or near a female has been shown to enhance attraction in heterosexual males (see Pazda and Greitemeyer, in press , for a review). Research on color and store/company evaluation has shown that blue on stores/logos increases quality and trustworthiness appraisals (see Labrecque and Milne, 2012 , for a review). Finally, empirical work on color and eating/drinking has shown that red influences food and beverage perception and consumption (see Spence, in press , for a review).

The aforementioned findings represent important contributions to the literature on color and psychological functioning, and highlight the multidisciplinary nature of research in this area. Nevertheless, much like the extant theoretical work, the extant empirical work remains at a nascent level of development, due, in part, to the following weaknesses.

First, although in some research in this area color properties are controlled for at the spectral level, in most research it (still) is not. Color control is typically done improperly at the device (rather than the spectral) level, is impossible to implement (e.g., in web-based platform studies), or is ignored altogether. Color control is admittedly difficult, as it requires technical equipment for color assessment and presentation, as well as the expertise to use it. Nevertheless, careful color control is essential if systematic scientific work is to be conducted in this area. Findings from uncontrolled research can be informative in initial explorations of color hypotheses, but such work is inherently fraught with interpretational ambiguity ( Whitfield and Wiltshire, 1990 ; Elliot and Maier, 2014 ) that must be subsequently addressed.

Second, color perception is not only a function of lightness, chroma, and hue, but also of factors such as viewing distance and angle, amount and type of ambient light, and presence of other colors in the immediate background and general environmental surround ( Hunt and Pointer, 2011 ; Brainard and Radonjić, 2014 ; Fairchild, 2015 ). In basic color science research (e.g., on color physics, color physiology, color appearance modeling, etcetera; see Gegenfurtner and Ennis, in press ; Johnson, in press ; Stockman and Brainard, in press ), these factors are carefully specified and controlled for in order to establish standardized participant viewing conditions. These factors have been largely ignored and allowed to vary in research on color and psychological functioning, with unknown consequences. An important next step for research in this area is to move to incorporate these more rigorous standardization procedures widely utilized by basic color scientists. With regard to both this and the aforementioned weakness, it should be acknowledged that exact and complete control is not actually possible in color research, given the multitude of factors that influence color perception ( Committee on Colorimetry of the Optical Society of America, 1953 ) and our current level of knowledge about and ability to control them ( Fairchild, 2015 ). As such, the standard that must be embraced and used as a guideline in this work is to control color properties and viewing conditions to the extent possible given current technology, and to keep up with advances in the field that will increasingly afford more precise and efficient color management.

Third, although in some research in this area, large, fully powered samples are used, much of the research remains underpowered. This is a problem in general, but it is particularly a problem when the initial demonstration of an effect is underpowered (e.g., Elliot and Niesta, 2008 ), because initial work is often used as a guide for determining sample size in subsequent work (both heuristically and via power analysis). Underpowered samples commonly produce overestimated effect size estimates ( Ioannidis, 2008 ), and basing subsequent sample sizes on such estimates simply perpetuates the problem. Small sample sizes can also lead researchers to prematurely conclude that a hypothesis is disconfirmed, overlooking a potentially important advance ( Murayama et al., 2014 ). Findings from small sampled studies should be considered preliminary; running large sampled studies with carefully controlled color stimuli is essential if a robust scientific literature is to be developed. Furthermore, as the “evidentiary value movement” ( Finkel et al., 2015 ) makes inroads in the empirical sciences, color scientists would do well to be at the leading edge of implementing such rigorous practices as publically archiving research materials and data, designating exploratory from confirmatory analyses, supplementing or even replacing significant testing with “new statistics” ( Cumming, 2014 ), and even preregistering research protocols and analyses (see Finkel et al., 2015 , for an overview).

In both reviewing advances in and identifying weaknesses of the literature on color and psychological functioning, it is important to bear in mind that the existing theoretical and empirical work is at an early stage of development. It is premature to offer any bold theoretical statements, definitive empirical pronouncements, or impassioned calls for application; rather, it is best to be patient and to humbly acknowledge that color psychology is a uniquely complex area of inquiry ( Kuehni, 2012 ; Fairchild, 2013 ) that is only beginning to come into its own. Findings from color research can be provocative and media friendly, and the public (and the field as well) can be tempted to reach conclusions before the science is fully in place. There is considerable promise in research on color and psychological functioning, but considerably more theoretical and empirical work needs to be done before the full extent of this promise can be discerned and, hopefully, fulfilled.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Aiken, K. D., and Pascal, V. J. (2013). Seeing red, feeling red: how a change in field color influences perceptions. Int. J. Sport Soc. 3, 107–120.

Google Scholar

Akers, A., Barton, J., Cossey, R., Gainsford, P., Griffin, M., and Micklewright, D. (2012). Visual color perception in green exercise: positive effects of mood on perceived exertion. Environ. Sci. Technol. 46, 8661–8666. doi: 10.1021/es301685g

PubMed Abstract | Full Text | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Alberts, W., and van der Geest, T. M. (2011). Color matters: color as trustworthiness cue in websites. Tech. Comm. 58, 149–160.

Barli,Ö., Bilgili, B., and Dane, Ş. (2006). Association of consumers’ sex and eyedness and lighting and wall color of a store with price attraction and perceived quality of goods and inside visual appeal. Percept. Motor Skill 103, 447–450. doi: 10.2466/PMS.103.6.447-450

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Becker, S. I., Valuch, C., and Ansorge, U. (2014). Color priming in pop-out search depends on the relative color of the target. Front. Psychol. 5:289. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00289

Bertrams, A., Baumeister, R. F., Englert, C., and Furley, P. (2015). Ego depletion in color priming research: self-control strength moderates the detrimental effect of red on cognitive test performance. Pers. Soc. Psychol. B. 41, 311–322. doi: 10.1177/0146167214564968

Brainard, D. H., and Radonjić, A. (2014). “Color constancy” in The New Visual Neurosciences , eds J. Werner and L. Chalupa (Cambridge, MA; MIT Press), 545–556.

Bruno, N., Martani, M., Corsini, C., and Oleari, C. (2013). The effect of the color red on consuming food does not depend on achromatic (Michelson) contrast and extends to rubbing cream on the skin. Appetite 71, 307–313. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2013.08.012

Bubl, E., Kern, E., Ebert, D., Bach, M., and Tebartz van Elst, L. (2009). Seeing gray when feeling blue? Depression can be measures in the eye of the diseased. Biol. Psychiat. 68, 205–208. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.02.009

Buechner, V. L., Maier, M. A., Lichtenfeld, S., and Elliot, A. J. (in press). Emotion expression and color: their joint influence on perceptions of male attractiveness and social position. Curr. Psychol .

Buechner, V. L., Maier, M. A., Lichtenfeld, S., and Schwarz, S. (2014). Red – take a closer look. PLoS ONE 9:e108111. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108111

Cajochen, C. (2007). Alerting effects of light. Sleep Med. Rev . 11, 453–464. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2007.07.009

Cajochen, C., Frey, S., Anders, D., Späti, J., Bues, M., Pross, A., et al. (2011). Evening exposure to a light-emitting diodes (LED)-backlit computer screen affects circadian physiology and cognitive performance. J. Appl. Phsysoil. 110, 1432–1438. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00165.2011

Cajochen, C., Münch, M., Kobialka, S., Kräuchi, K., Steiner, R., Oelhafen, P., et al. (2005). High sensitivity of human melatonin, alertness, thermoregulation, and heart rate to short wavelength light. J. Clin. Endocr. Metab. 90, 1311–1316. doi: 10.1210/jc.2004-0957

Caldwell, D. F., and Burger, J. M. (2011). On thin ice: does uniform color really affect aggression in professional hockey? Soc. Psychol. Pers. Sci. 2, 306–310. doi: 10.1177/1948550610389824

Changizi, M. (2009). The Vision Revolution . Dallas, TX: Benbella.

Changizi, M. A., Zhang, Q., and Shimojo, S. (2006). Bare skin, blood and the evolution of primate colour vision. Biol. Lett. 2, 217–221. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2006.0440

Chebat, J. C., and Morrin, M. (2007). Colors and cultures: exploring the effects of mall décor on consumer perceptions. J. Bus. Res. 60, 189–196. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2006.11.003

Chellappa, S. L., Steiner, R., Blattner, P., Oelhafen, P., Götz, T., and Cajochen, C. (2011). Non-visual effects of light on melatonin, alertness, and cognitive performance: can blue-enriched light keep us alert? PLoS ONE 26:e16429. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016429

Committee on Colorimetry of the Optical Society of America. (1953). The Science of Color . Washington, DC: Optical Society of America.

Crowley, A. E. (1993). The two dimensional impact of color on shopping. Market. Lett. 4, 59–69. doi: 10.1007/BF00994188

Cumming, G. (2014). The new statistics: why and how. Psychol. Sci. 25, 7–29. doi: 10.1177/0956797613504966

Cuthill, I. C., Hunt, S., Cleary, C., and Clark, C. (1997). Color bands, dominance, and body mass regulation in male zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata ). Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. Sci. 264, 1093–1099. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1997.0151

Drummond, P. D., and Quay, S. H. (2001). The effect of expressing anger on cardiovascular reactivity and facial blood flow in Chinese and Caucasians. Psychophysiology 38, 190–196. doi: 10.1111/1469-8986.3820190

Elliot, A. J., and Maier, M. A. (2012). Color-in-context theory. Adv. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 45, 61–125. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-394286-9.00002-0

Elliot, A. J., and Maier, M. A. (2014). Color psychology: effects of perceiving color on psychological functioning in humans. Ann. Rev. Psychol. 65, 95–120. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115035

Elliot, A. J., Maier, M. A., Moller, A. C., Friedman, R., and Meinhardt, J. (2007). Color and psychological functioning: the effect of red on performance attainment. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 136, 154–168. doi: 10.1037/0096-3445.136.1.154

Elliot, A. J., and Niesta, D. (2008). Romantic red: red enhances men’s attraction to women. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 95, 1150–1164. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.95.5.1150

Elwood, J. A., and Bode, J. (2014). Student preferences vis-à-vis teacher feedback in university EFL writing classes in Japan. System 42, 333–343. doi: 10.1016/j.system.2013.12.023

Fairchild, M. D. (2013). Color Appearance Models , 3rd Edn. New York, NY: Wiley Press. doi: 10.1002/9781118653128

Fairchild, M. D. (2015). Seeing, adapting to, and reproducing the appearance of nature. Appl. Optics 54, B107–B116. doi: 10.1364/AO.54.00B107

Feltman, R., and Elliot, A. J. (2011). The influence of red on perceptions of dominance and threat in a competitive context. J. Sport Exerc. Psychol. 33, 308–314.

PubMed Abstract | Full Text | Google Scholar

Fetterman, A. K., Liu, T., and Robinson, M. D. (2015). Extending color psychology to the personality realm: interpersonal hostility varied by red preferences and perceptual biases. J. Personal. 83, 106–116. doi: 10.1111/jopy.12087

Féré, C. (1887). Note sur les conditions physiologiques des émotions. Revue Phil. 24, 561–581.

Fink, B., Grammer, K., and Matts, P. J. (2006). Visible skin color distribution plays a role in the perception of age, attractiveness, and health in female faces. Evol. Hum. Behav. 27, 433–442. doi: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2006.08.007

Fink, B., and Matts, P. J. (2007). The effects of skin colour distribution and topography cues on the perception of female age and health. J. Eur. Acad. Derm. 22, 493–498. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-3083.2007.02512.x

Finkel, E. J., Eastwick, P. W., and Reis, H. T. (2015). Best research practices in psychology: Illustrating epistemological and pragmatic considerations with the case of relationship science. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 108, 275–297. doi: 10.1037/pspi0000007

Folk, C. L. (in press). “The role of color in the voluntary and involuntary guidance of selective attention,” in Handbook of Color Psychology , eds A. Elliot, M. Fairchild, and A. Franklin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Fraley, R. C., and Vazire, S. (2014). The N-pact factor: evaluating the quality of empirical journals with respect to sample size and statistical power. PLoS ONE 9:e109019. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109019

Frank, M. G., and Gilovich, T. (1988). The dark side of self and social perception: black uniforms and aggression in professional sports. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 54, 74–85. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.54.1.74

Furley, P., Dicks, M., and Memmert, D. (2012). Nonverbal behavior in soccer: the influence of dominant and submissive body language on the impression formation and expectancy of success of soccer players. J. Sport Exerc. Psychol. 34, 61–82.

Gage, J. (1993). Color and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Garcia-Rubio, M. A., Picazo-Tadeo, A. J., and González-Gómez, F. (2011). Does a red shirt improve sporting performance? Evidence from Spanish football. Appl. Econ. Lett. 18, 1001–1004. doi: 10.1080/13504851.2010.520666

Gegenfurtner, K. R., and Ennis, R. (in press). “Fundamentals of color vision II: higher order color processing,” in Handbook of Color Psychology , eds A. Elliot, M. Fairchild, and A. Franklin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Genschow, O., Reutner, L., and Wänke, M. (2012). The color red reduces snack food and soft Drink intake. Appetite 58, 699–702. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2011.12.023

Gnambs, T., Appel, M., and Batinic, B. (2010). Color red in web-based knowledge testing. Comput. Hum. Behav. 26, 1625–1631. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2010.06.010

Goethe, W. (1810). Theory of Colors . London: Frank Cass.

Goldstein, K. (1942). Some experimental observations concerning the influence of colors on the function of the organism. Occup. Ther. Rehab. 21, 147–151. doi: 10.1097/00002060-194206000-00002

Greenlees, I. A., Eynon, M., and Thelwell, R. C. (2013). Color of soccer goalkeepers’ uniforms influences the outcomed of penalty kicks. Percept. Mot. Skill. 116, 1–10. doi: 10.2466/30.24.PMS.117x14z6

Greenlees, I., Leyland, A., Thelwell, R., and Filby, W. (2008). Soccer penalty takers’ uniform color and pre-penalty kick gaze affect the impressions formed of them by opposing goalkeepers. J. Sport Sci. 26, 569–576. doi: 10.1080/02640410701744446

Guéguen, N. (2012). Color and women attractiveness: when red clothed women are perceived to have more intense sexual intent. J. Soc. Psychol. 152, 261–265. doi: 10.1080/00224545.2011.605398

Guéguen, N., and Jacob, C. (2014). Coffee cup color and evaluation of a beverage’s “warmth quality.” Color Res. Appl. 39, 79–81. doi: 10.1002/col.21757

Hagemann, N., Strauss, B., and Leißing, J. (2008). When the referee sees red. Psychol. Sci . 19, 769–771. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02155.x

Higham, J. P., and Winters, S. (in press). “Color and mate choice in non-human animals,” in Handbook of Color Psychology , eds A. Elliot, M. Fairchild, and A. Franklin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Hill, R. A., and Barton, R. A. (2005). Red enhances human performance in contests. Nature 435, 293. doi: 10.1038/435293a

Hunt, R. W. G., and Pointer, M. R. (2011). Measuring Colour , 4th Edn. New York, NY: Wiley Press. doi: 10.1002/9781119975595

Ilie, A., Ioan, S., Zagrean, L., and Moldovan, M. (2008). Better to be red than blue in virtual competition. Cyberpsychol. Behav. 11, 375–377. doi: 10.1089/cpb.2007.0122

Ioannidis, J. P. A. (2008). Why most discovered true associations are inflated. Epidemiology 19, 640–648. doi: 10.1097/EDE.0b013e31818131e7

Johnson, G. M. (in press). “Color appearance phenomena and visual illusions,” in Handbook of Color Psychology , eds A. Elliot, M. Fairchild, and A. Franklin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Kareklas, I., Brunel, F. F., and Coulter, R. A. (2014). Judgment is not color blind: the impact of automatic color preference on product advertising preferences. J. Consum. Psychol. 24, 87–95. doi: 10.1016/j.jcps.2013.09.005

Krenn, B. (2014). The impact of uniform color on judging tackles in association football. Psychol. Sport Exerc. 15, 222–225. doi: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2013.11.007

Kuehni, R. (2012). Color: An Introduction to Practice and Principles , 3rd Edn. New York, NY: Wiley. doi: 10.1002/9781118533567

Labrecque, L. L., and Milne, G. R. (2012). Exciting red and competent blue: the importance of color in marketing. J. Acad. Mark. Sci. 40, 711–727. doi: 10.1007/s11747-010-0245-y

Lakoff, G., and Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and its Challenges to Western Thought . New York, NY: Basic Books.

Lee, S., Lee, K., Lee, S., and Song, J. (2013). Origins of human color preference for food. J. Food Eng. 119, 508–515. doi: 10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2013.06.021

Lee, S., and Rao, V. S. (2010). Color and store choice in electronic commerce: the explanatory role of trust. J. Electr. Commer. Res. 11, 110–126.

Lehrl, S., Gerstmeyer, K., Jacob, J. H., Frieling, H., Henkel, A. W., Meyrer, R., et al. (2007). Blue light improves cognitive performance. J. Neural Trans. 114, 457–460. doi: 10.1007/s00702-006-0621-4

Levenson, R. W. (2003). Blood, sweat, and fears: the automatic architecture of emotion. Ann. N. Y. Acad Sci. 1000, 348–366. doi: 10.1196/annals.1280.016

Lin, H. (2014). Red-colored products enhance the attractiveness of women. Displays 35, 202–205. doi: 10.1016/j.displa.2014.05.009

Lindsay, D. T., Brown, A. M., Reijnen, E., Rich, A. N., Kuzmova, Y. I., and Wolfe, J. M. (2010). Color channels, not color appearance of color categories, guide visual search for desaturated color targets. Psychol. Sci. 21, 1208–1214. doi: 10.1177/0956797610379861

Little, A. C., and Hill, R. A. (2007). Attribution to red suggests special role in dominance signaling. J. Evol. Psychol. 5, 161–168. doi: 10.1556/JEP.2007.1008

Lockley, S. W., Evans, E. E., Scheer, F. A., Brainard, G. C., Czeisler, C. A., and Aeschbach, D. (2006). Short-wavelength sensitivity for the direct effects of light on alertness, vigilance, and the waking electroencephalogram in humans. Sleep 29, 161–168.

Lynn, M., Giebelhausen, M., Garcia, S., Li, Y., and Patumanon, I. (in press). Clothing color and tipping: an attempted replication and extension. J. Hosp. Tourism Res. doi: 10.1177/1096348013504001

Maier, M. A., Hill, R., Elliot, A. J., and Barton, R. A. (in press). “Color in achievement contexts in humans,” in Handbook of Color Psychology , eds A. Elliot, M. Fairchild, and A. Franklin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Maxwell, S. (2004). The persistence of underpowered studies in psychological research: causes and consequences. Psychol. Methods 9, 147–163. doi: 10.1037/1082-989X.9.2.147

Mehta, R., and Zhu, R. (2009). Blue or red? Exploring the effect of color on cognitive task performances. Science 323, 1226–1229. doi: 10.1126/science.1169144

Meier, B. P. (in press). “Do metaphors color our perception of social life?,” in Handbook of Color sychology , eds A. Elliot, M. Fairchild, and A. Franklin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Meier, B. P., and Robinson, M. D. (2005). The metaphorical representation of affect. Metaphor Symbol. 20, 239–257. doi: 10.1207/s15327868ms2004_1

Murayama, K., Pekrun, R., and Fiedler, K. (2014). Research practices that can prevent an inflation of false-positive rates. Personal. Soc. Psychol. Rev. 18, 107–118. doi: 10.1177/1088868313496330

Nakashian, J. S. (1964). The effects of red and green surroundings on behavior. J. Gen. Psychol. 70, 143–162. doi: 10.1080/00221309.1964.9920584

O’Connor, Z. (2011). Colour psychology and colour therapy: caveat emptor. Color Res. Appl. 36, 229–334. doi: 10.1002/col.20597

Pazda, A. D., and Greitemeyer, T. (in press). “Color in romantic contexts in humans,” in Handbook of Color Psychology , eds A. Elliot, M. Fairchild, and A. Franklin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Piqueras-Fiszman, B., Alcaide, J., Roura, E., and Spence, C. (2012). Is it the plate or is it the food? Assessing the influence of the color (black or white) and shape of the plate on the perception of food placed on it. Food Qual. Prefer. 24, 205–208. doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2011.08.011

Pomerleau, V. J., Fortier-Gauthier, U., Corriveau, I., Dell’Acqua, R., and Jolicœur, P. (2014). Colour-specific differences in attentional deployment for equiluminant pop-out colours: evidence from lateralized potentials. Int. J. Psychophysiol. 91, 194–205. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2013.10.016

Prado-León, L. R., and Rosales-Cinco, R. A. (2011). “Effects of lightness and saturation on color associations in the Mexican population,” in New Directions in Colour Studies , eds C. Biggam, C. Hough, C. Kay, and D. Simmons (Amsterdam, NL: John Benjamins Publishing Company), 389–394.

Pressey, S. L. (1921). The influence of color upon mental and motor efficiency. Am. J. Psychol. 32, 327–356. doi: 10.2307/1413999

Ridgway, J., and Myers, B. (2014). A study on brand personality: consumers’ perceptions of colours used in fashion brand logos. Int. J. Fash. Des. Tech. Educ. 7, 50–57. doi: 10.1080/17543266.2013.877987

Roberts, S. C., Owen, R. C., and Havlicek, J. (2010). Distinguishing between perceiver and wearer effects in clothing color-associated attributions. Evol. Psychol. 8, 350–364.

Ross, C. F., Bohlscheid, J., and Weller, K. (2008). Influence of visual masking technique on the assessment of 2 red wines by trained consumer assessors. J. Food Sci. 73, S279–S285. doi: 10.1111/j.1750-3841.2008.00824.x

Rutchick, A. M., Slepian, M. L., and Ferris, B. D. (2010). The pen is mightier than the word: object priming of evaluative standards. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 40, 704–708. doi: 10.1002/ejsp.753

Sahin, L., and Figuerio, M. G. (2013). Alerting effects of short-wavelength (blue) and long-wavelength (red) lights in the afternoon. Physiol. Behav. 116, 1–7. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2013.03.014

Schwarz, S., and Singer, M. (2013). Romantic red revisited: red enhances men’s attraction to young, but not menopausal women. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 49, 161–164. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2012.08.004

Setchell, J. (in press). “Color in competition contexts in non-human animals,” in Handbook of Color Psychology , eds A. Elliot, M. Fairchild, and A. Franklin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Shi, J., Zhang, C., and Jiang, f. (2015). Does red undermine individuals’ intellectual performance? A test in China. Int. J. Psychol. 50, 81–84. doi: 10.1002/ijop.12076

Sloane, P. (1991). Primary Sources, Selected Writings on Color from Aristotle to Albers . New York, NY: Design Press.

Smajic, A., Merritt, S., Banister, C., and Blinebry, A. (2014). The red effect, anxiety, and exam performance: a multistudy examination. Teach. Psychol. 41, 37–43. doi: 10.1177/0098628313514176

Sokolik, K., Magee, R. G., and Ivory, J. D. (2014). Red-hot and ice-cold ads: the influence of web ads’ warm and cool colors on click-through ways. J. Interact. Advert. 14, 31–37. doi: 10.1080/15252019.2014.907757

Soldat, A. S., Sinclair, R. C., and Mark, M. M. (1997). Color as an environmental processing cue: external affective cues can directly affect processing strategy without affecting mood. Soc. Cogn. 15, 55–71. doi: 10.1521/soco.1997.15.1.55

Sorokowski, P., and Szmajke, A. (2007). How does the “red wins: effect work? The role of sportswear colour during sport competitions. Pol. J. Appl. Psychol. 5, 71–79.

Sorokowski, P., Szmajke, A., Hamamura, T., Jiang, F., and Sorakowska, A. (2014). “Red wins,” “black wins,” “blue loses” effects are in the eye of the beholder, but they are culturally niversal: a cross-cultural analysis of the influence of outfit colours on sports performance. Pol. Psychol. Bull. 45, 318–325. doi: 10.2478/ppb-2014-0039

Spence, C. (in press). “Eating with our eyes,” in Handbook of Color Psychology , eds A. Elliot, M. Fairchild, and A. Franklin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Spence, C., Velasco, C., and Knoeferle, K. (2014). A large sampled study on the influence of the multisensory environment on the wine drinking experience. Flavour 3, 8. doi: 10.1186/2044-7248-3-8

Steele, K. M. (2014). Failure to replicate the Mehta and Zhu (2009) color-priming effect on anagram solution times. Psychon. B. Rev. 21, 771–776. doi: 10.3758/s13423-013-0548-3

Stephen, I. D., Law Smith, M. J., Stirrat, M. R., and Perrett, D. I. (2009). Facial skin coloration affects perceived health of human faces. Int. J. Primatol. 30, 845–857. doi: 10.1007/s10764-009-9380-z

Stephen, I. D., and McKeegan, A. M. (2010). Lip colour affects perceived sex typicality and attractiveness of human faces. Perception 39, 1104–1110. doi: 10.1068/p6730

Stephen, I. D., Oldham, F. H., Perrett, D. I., and Barton, R. A. (2012a). Redness enhances perceived aggression, dominance and attractiveness in men’s faces. Evol. Psychol. 10, 562–572.

Stephen, I. D., Scott, I. M. L., Coetzee, V., Pound, N., Perrett, D. I., and Penton-Voak, I. S. (2012b). Cross-cultural effects of color, but not morphological masculinity, on perceived attractiveness of men’s faces. Evol. Hum. Behav. 33, 260–267. doi: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.10.003

Stephen, I. D., and Perrett, D. I. (in press). “Color and face perception,” in Handbook of Color Psychology , eds A. Elliot, M. Fairchild, and A. Franklin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Stockman, A., and Brainard, D. H. (in press). “Fundamentals of color vision I: processing in the eye,” in Handbook of Color Psychology , eds A. Elliot, M. Fairchild, and A. Franklin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Taillard, J., Capelli, A., Sagaspe, P., Anund, A., and Akerstadt, T. (2012). In-car nocturnal blue light exposure improves motorway driving: a randomized controlled trial. PLoS ONE 7:e46750. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0046750

Tan, K. W., and Stephen, I. D. (2012). Colour detection thresholds in faces and colour patches. Perception 42, 733–741. doi: 10.1068/p7499

Tanaka, A., and Tokuno, Y. (2011). The effect of the color red on avoidance motivation. Soc. Behav. Pers. 39, 287–288. doi: 10.2224/sbp.2011.39.2.287

Tchernikov, I., and Fallah, M. (2010). A color hierarchy for automatic target selection. PLoS ONE 5:e9338. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009338

Thorstenson, C. A. (in press). Functional equivalence of the color red and enacted avoidance behavior? Replication and empirical integration. Soc. Psychol.

Tracy, J. L., and Beall, A. T. (2014). The impact of weather on women’s tendency to wear red pink when at high risk for conception. PLoS ONE 9:e88852. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0088852

Ten Velden, F. S., Baas, M., Shalvi, S., Preenen, P. T. Y., and De Dreu, C. K. W. (2012). In competitive interaction displays of red increase actors’ competitive approach and perceivers’ withdrawal. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol . 48, 1205–1208. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2012.04.004

Valdez, P., and Mehrabian, A. (1994). Effects of color on emotions. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 123, 394–409. doi: 10.1037/0096-3445.123.4.394

Van Ittersum, K., and Wansink, B. (2012). Plate size and color suggestability, The Deboeuf Illusion’s bias on serving and eating behavior. J. Consum. Res. 39, 215–228. doi: 10.1086/662615

Vandewalle, G., Schmidt, C., Albouy, G., Sterpenich, V., Darsaud, A., Rauchs, G., et al. (2007). Brain responses to violet, blue, and green monochromatic light exposures in humans: prominent role of blue light and the brainstem. PLoS ONE 11:e1247. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0001247

Viola, A. U., James, L. M., Schlangen, L. J. M., and Dijk, D. J. (2008). Blue-enriched white lightin the workplace improves self-reported alertness, performance and sleep quality. Scan. J. Work Environ. Health 34, 297–306. doi: 10.5271/sjweh.1268

Whitfield, T. W., and Wiltshire, T. J. (1990). Color psychology: a critical review. Gen. Soc. Gen. Psychol. 116, 385–411.

Yamazaki, A. K. (2010). An analysis of background-color effects on the scores of a computer-based English test. KES Part II LNI. 6277, 630–636. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-15390-7_65

Young, S. (in press). The effect of red on male perceptions of female attractiveness: moderationby baseline attractiveness of female faces. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol .

Yüksel, A. (2009). Exterior color and perceived retail crowding: effects on tourists’ shoppingquality inferences and approach behaviors. J. Qual. Assur. Hosp. Tourism 10, 233–254. doi: 10.1080/15280080903183383

Zanna, M. P., and Fazio, R. H. (1982). “The attitude behavior relation: Moving toward a third generation of research,” in The Ontario Symposium , Vol. 2, eds M. Zanna, E. T. Higgins, and C. Herman (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.), 283–301.

Zhang, T., and Han, B. (2014). Experience reverses the red effect among Chinese stockbrokers. PLoS ONE 9:e89193. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089193

Keywords : color, psychological functioning, hue, lightness, chroma

Citation: Elliot AJ (2015) Color and psychological functioning: a review of theoretical and empirical work. Front. Psychol. 6:368. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00368

Received: 25 November 2014; Accepted: 16 March 2015; Published online: 02 April 2015.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2015 Elliot. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Andrew J. Elliot, Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, Intercampus Drive, Rochester, NY 14627, USA [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

A review study of cognitive design research on colors from a visual psychological perspective

International Journal of experimental research and review 30:75-86
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Delhi Technological University

Delhi Technological University, Formerly Delhi college of Engineering, Delhi, India
This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.

Abstract and Figures

The color wheel is a circular chart that illustrates the relationships between primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. It is commonly used in design, art, and other creative fields to create harmonious color schemes, and to help identify complementary and analogous color combinations (Adapted from Alfenas et al., 2019)

Discover the world's research

25+ million members
160+ million publication pages
2.3+ billion citations
Krishnendu Sarkar
Hye Jung Kim

Asumi Takei

Miriah Steiger
Timir Bharucha

Matthew Lease

TRENDS COGN SCI
Stanislas Dehaene
Fosca Al Roumi

Mathias Sablé-Meyer
Krishna Prakash Shah

Recruit researchers
Join for free
Login Email Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google Welcome back! Please log in. Email · Hint Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google No account? Sign up

A-Z Publications

Annual Review of Psychology

Volume 65, 2014, review article, color psychology: effects of perceiving color on psychological functioning in humans.

Andrew J. Elliot 1 , and Markus A. Maier 2
View Affiliations Hide Affiliations Affiliations: 1 Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627; email: [email protected] 2 Department of Psychology, University of Munich, Munich 80802, Germany; email: [email protected]
Vol. 65:95-120 (Volume publication date January 2014) https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115035
First published as a Review in Advance on June 26, 2013
© Annual Reviews

Color is a ubiquitous perceptual stimulus that is often considered in terms of aesthetics. Here we review theoretical and empirical work that looks beyond color aesthetics to the link between color and psychological functioning in humans. We begin by setting a historical context for research in this area, particularly highlighting methodological issues that hampered earlier empirical work. We proceed to overview theoretical and methodological advances during the past decade and conduct a review of emerging empirical findings. Our empirical review focuses especially on color in achievement and affiliation/attraction contexts, but it also covers work on consumer behavior as well as food and beverage evaluation and consumption. The review clearly shows that color can carry important meaning and can have an important impact on people's affect, cognition, and behavior. The literature remains at a nascent stage of development, however, and we note that considerable work on boundary conditions, moderators, and real-world generalizability is needed before strong conceptual statements and recommendations for application are warranted. We provide suggestions for future research and conclude by emphasizing the broad promise of research in this area.

Article metrics loading...

Full text loading...

Article Type: Review Article

Most Read This Month

Most cited most cited rss feed, job burnout, executive functions, social cognitive theory: an agentic perspective, on happiness and human potentials: a review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, sources of method bias in social science research and recommendations on how to control it, mediation analysis, missing data analysis: making it work in the real world, grounded cognition, personality structure: emergence of the five-factor model, motivational beliefs, values, and goals.

Publication Date: 03 Jan 2014

Online Option

Sign in to access your institutional or personal subscription or get immediate access to your online copy - available in PDF and ePub formats

Color and emotion: effects of hue, saturation, and brightness

Original Article
Published: 13 June 2017
Volume 82 , pages 896–914, ( 2018 )

Cite this article

Lisa Wilms 1 &
Daniel Oberfeld ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6710-3309 1

22k Accesses

162 Citations

63 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

Previous studies on emotional effects of color often failed to control all the three perceptual dimensions of color: hue, saturation, and brightness. Here, we presented a three-dimensional space of chromatic colors by independently varying hue (blue, green, red), saturation (low, medium, high), and brightness (dark, medium, bright) in a factorial design. The 27 chromatic colors, plus 3 brightness-matched achromatic colors, were presented via an LED display. Participants ( N = 62) viewed each color for 30 s and then rated their current emotional state (valence and arousal). Skin conductance and heart rate were measured continuously. The emotion ratings showed that saturated and bright colors were associated with higher arousal. The hue also had a significant effect on arousal, which increased from blue and green to red. The ratings of valence were the highest for saturated and bright colors, and also depended on the hue. Several interaction effects of the three color dimensions were observed for both arousal and valence. For instance, the valence ratings were higher for blue than for the remaining hues, but only for highly saturated colors. Saturated and bright colors caused significantly stronger skin conductance responses. Achromatic colors resulted in a short-term deceleration in the heart rate, while chromatic colors caused an acceleration. The results confirm that color stimuli have effects on the emotional state of the observer. These effects are not only determined by the hue of a color, as is often assumed, but by all the three color dimensions as well as their interactions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save.

Get 10 units per month
Download Article/Chapter or eBook
1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
Cancel anytime

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Interactions of Color Vision with Other Visual Modalities

Bringing color to emotion: the influence of color on attentional bias to briefly presented emotional images, psychophysical correlates of retinal processing.

Adams, F. M., & Osgood, C. E. (1973). A cross-cultural study of the affective meanings of color. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 4 (2), 135–156.

Google Scholar

Ali, M. R. (1972). Pattern of EEG recovery under photic stimulation by light of different colors. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 33 (3), 332–335.

PubMed Google Scholar

Arnau, J., Bono, R., & Vallejo, G. (2009). Analyzing small samples of repeated measures data with the mixed-model adjusted F Test. Communications in Statistics-Simulation and Computation, 38 (5), 1083–1103. doi: 10.1080/03610910902785746 .

Ashcroft, K. R., Guimaraes, F. S., Wang, M., & Deakin, J. F. W. (1991). Evaluation of a psychophysiological model of classical fear conditioning in anxious patients. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 104 (2), 215–219. doi: 10.1007/Bf02244181 .

Aston-Jones, G. (2005). Brain structures and receptors involved in alertness. Sleep Medicine, 6, S3–S7. doi: 10.1016/s1389-9457(05)80002-4 .

Berson, D. M., Dunn, F. A., & Takao, M. (2002). Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock. Science, 295 (5557), 1070–1073. doi: 10.1126/science.1067262 .

Bland, J. M., & Altman, D. G. (1995a). Statistics notes: 12. Calculating correlation coefficients with repeated observations: Part 1: Correlation within subjects. British Medical Journal, 310 (6977), 446.

PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Bland, J. M., & Altman, D. G. (1995b). Statistics notes: 13. Calculating correlation coefficients with repeated observations: Part 2: Correlation between subjects. British Medical Journal, 310 (6980), 633.

Boucsein, W. (1992). Electrodermal activity . New York: Plenum Press.

Boucsein, W., Fowles, D. C., Grimnes, S., Ben-Shakhar, G., Roth, W. T., Dawson, M. E., & Filion, D. L. (2012). Publication recommendations for electrodermal measurements. Psychophysiology, 49 (8), 1017–1034. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01384.x .

Bradley, M. M., Codispoti, M., Cuthbert, B. N., & Lang, P. J. (2001). Emotion and motivation I: Defensive and appetitive reactions in picture processing. Emotion, 1 (3), 276–298. doi: 10.1037//1528-3542.1.3.276 .

Bradley, M. M., Greenwald, M. K., Petry, M. C., & Lang, P. J. (1992). Remembering pictures: Pleasure and arousal in memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 18 (2), 379–390.

Bradley, M. M., & Lang, P. J. (1994). Measuring emotion: The self-assessment mannequin and the semantic differential. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 25 (1), 49–59. doi: 10.1016/0005-7916(94)90063-9 .

Brainard, D. H. (2003). Color appearance and color difference specification. In S. K. Shevell (Ed.), The science of color (2nd ed., pp. 191–216). Amsterdam, Boston: Elsevier & Optical Society of America.

Brainard, G. C., Hanifin, J. P., Greeson, J. M., Byrne, B., Glickman, G., Gerner, E., & Rollag, M. D. (2001). Action spectrum for melatonin regulation in humans: Evidence for a novel circadian photoreceptor. Journal of Neuroscience, 21 (16), 6405–6412.

Burton, P., Gurrin, L., & Sly, P. (1998). Extending the simple linear regression model to account for correlated responses: An introduction to generalized estimating equations and multi-level mixed modelling. Statistics in Medicine, 17 (11), 1261–1291.

Cacioppo, J. T., Berntson, G. G., Larsen, J. T., Poehlmann, K. M., & Ito, T. A. (2000). The psychophysiology of emotion. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed., pp. 173–191). New York: The Guilford Press.

Camgöz, N., Yener, C., & Guvenc, D. (2002). Effects of hue, saturation, and brightness on preference. Color Research and Application, 27 (3), 199–207. doi: 10.1002/Col.10051 .

Carterette, E. C., & Symmes, D. (1952). Color as an experimental variable in photic stimulation. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 4 (3), 289–296. doi: 10.1016/0013-4694(52)90054-0 .

Carvalho, S., Leite, J., Galdo-Alvarez, S., & Goncalves, O. F. (2012). The emotional movie database (EMDB): A self-report and psychophysiological study. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 37 (4), 279–294. doi: 10.1007/s10484-012-9201-6 .

Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates.

Commission Internationale de l’Éclairage (2006). Colorimetry. Part 1: CIE standard colorimetric observers (Vol. CIE S 014-1/E:2006/ISO 11664-1:2008(E)).

Commission Internationale de l’Éclairage (2007). Colorimetry. Part 4: CIE 1976 L*a*b* colour spaces (Vol. CIE S 014-4/E:2007 (ISO 11664-4:2008)).

Commission Internationale de l’Éclairage (2008). Colorimetry: Part 2: Standard llluminants for colorimetry (Vol. CIE S 014-2/E:2006 (ISO 11664-2:2007(E))).

Crozier, W. R. (1999). The meanings of colour: preferences among hues. Pigment & Resin Technology, 28 (1), 6–14. doi: 10.1108/03699429910252315 .

Cuthbert, B. N., Schupp, H. T., Bradley, M. M., Birbaumer, N., & Lang, P. J. (2000). Brain potentials in affective picture processing: covariation with autonomic arousal and affective report. Biological Psychology, 52 (2), 95–111.

Dacey, D. M., Liao, H. W., Peterson, B. B., Robinson, F. R., Smith, V. C., Pokorny, J., & Gamlin, P. D. (2005). Melanopsin-expressing ganglion cells in primate retina signal colour and irradiance and project to the LGN. Nature, 433 (7027), 749–754. doi: 10.1038/nature03387 .

Dael, N., Perseguers, M. N., Marchand, C., Antonietti, J. P., & Mohr, C. (2016). Put on that colour, it fits your emotion: Colour appropriateness as a function of expressed emotion. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 69 (8), 1619–1630. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2015.1090462 .

Edwards, L. J., Muller, K. E., Wolfinger, R. D., Qaqish, B. F., & Schabenberger, O. (2008). An R 2 statistic for fixed effects in the linear mixed model. Statistics in Medicine, 27 (29), 6137–6157. doi: 10.1002/sim.3429 .

Ekman, P. (1992). An argument for basic emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 6 (3–4), 169–200. doi: 10.1080/02699939208411068 .

Elliot, A. J., & Maier, M. A. (2014). Color psychology: Effects of perceiving color on psychological functioning in humans. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 95–120. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115035 .

Eysenck, H. J. (1941). A critical and experimental study of colour preferences. The American Journal of Psychology, 54 (3), 385–394.

Fairchild, M. D. (2005). Color appearance models . Chichester, UK: Wiley.

Gao, X. P., Xin, J. H., Sato, T., Hansuebsai, A., Scalzo, M., Kajiwara, K., & Billger, M. (2007). Analysis of cross-cultural color emotion. Color Research and Application, 32 (3), 223–229. doi: 10.1002/col.20321 .

Gerard, R. M. (1958). Color and emotional arousal. American Psychologist, 13 (7), 340.

Gomez, P., Zimmermann, P., Guttormsen-Schar, S., & Danuser, B. (2005). Respiratory responses associated with affective processing of film stimuli. Biological Psychology, 68 (3), 223–235. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2004.06.003 .

Greene, T. C., Bell, P. A., & Boyer, W. N. (1983). Coloring the environment: Hue, arousal, and boredom. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 21 (4), 253–254.

Guilford, J. P., & Smith, P. C. (1959). A system of color preferences. American Journal of Psychology, 72 (4), 487–502. doi: 10.2307/1419491 .

Happ, M., Harrar, S. W., & Bathke, A. C. (2016). Inference for low- and high-dimensional multigroup repeated measures designs with unequal covariance matrices. Biometrical Journal, 58 (4), 810–830. doi: 10.1002/bimj.201500064 .

Happ, M., Harrar, S. W., & Bathke, A. C. (2017). High-dimensional repeated measures. Journal of Statistical Theory and Practice . doi: 10.1080/15598608.2017.1307792 .

Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Heller, E. (2008). Wie Farben wirken: Farbpsychologie, Farbsymbolik, kreative Farbgestaltung (4th ed.). Reinbek: Rowohlt.

Hochberg, Y. (1988). A sharper Bonferroni procedure for multiple tests of significance. Biometrika, 75 (4), 800–802.

Hogg, J., Goodman, S., Porter, T., Mikellides, B., & Preddy, D. E. (1979). Dimensions and determinants of judgements of colour samples and a simulated interior space by architects and non-architects. British Journal of Psychology, 70 (2), 231–242.

Hurlbert, A. C., & Ling, Y. Z. (2007). Biological components of sex differences in color preference. Current Biology, 17 (16), R623–R625. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.06.022 .

Ishihara, S. (2013). The series of plates designed as a test of colour deficiency. 24 (Plates ed.). Tokyo: Kanehara Trading Inc.

Jacobs, K. W., & Hustmyer, F. E. (1974). Effects of four psychological primary colors on GSR, heart-rate and respiration rate. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 38 (3), 763–766.

Jameson, D., Hurvich, L. M., & Varner, F. D. (1979). Receptoral and post-receptoral visual processes in recovery from chromatic adaptation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 76 (6), 3034–3038.

Kaiser, P. K. (1984). Physiological response to color: A critical review. Color Research and Application, 9 (1), 29–36.

Kaiser, P. K., & Boynton, R. M. (1996). Human color vision (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Optical Society of America.

Kenward, M. G., & Roger, J. H. (1997). Small sample inference for fixed effects from restricted maximum likelihood. Biometrics, 53 (3), 983–997. doi: 10.2307/2533558 .

Keselman, H. J., Algina, J., & Kowalchuk, R. K. (2001). The analysis of repeated measures designs: A review. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 54, 1–20.

Keselman, H. J., Algina, J., & Kowalchuk, R. K. (2002). A comparison of data analysis strategies for testing omnibus effects in higher-order repeated measures designs. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 37 (3), 331–357. doi: 10.1207/S15327906mbr3703_2 .

Knutson, B., Katovich, K., & Suri, G. (2014). Inferring affect from fMRI data. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18 (8), 422–428. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2014.04.006 .

Kowalchuk, R. K., Keselman, H. J., Algina, J., & Wolfinger, R. D. (2004). The analysis of repeated measurements with mixed-model adjusted F tests. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 64 (2), 224–242. doi: 10.1177/0013164403260196 .

Kreibig, S. D. (2010). Autonomic nervous system activity in emotion: A review. Biological Psychology, 84 (3), 394–421. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.03.010 .

Küller, R., Mikellides, B., & Janssens, J. (2009). Color, arousal, and performance: A comparison of three experiments. Color Research and Application, 34 (2), 141–152. doi: 10.1002/col.20476 .

Lane, R. D., Reiman, E. M., Bradley, M. M., Lang, P. J., Ahern, G. L., Davidson, R. J., & Schwartz, G. E. (1997). Neuroanatomical correlates of pleasant and unpleasant emotion. Neuropsychologia, 35 (11), 1437–1444. doi: 10.1016/s0028-3932(97)00070-5 .

Lang, P. J. (1980). Behavioral treatment and bio-behavioral assessment: Computer applications. In J. B. Sidowski, J. H. Johnson, & T. A. Williams (Eds.), Technology in Mental Health Care Delivery Systems (pp. 119–137). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Lang, P. J., Bradley, M. M., Fitzsimmons, J. R., Cuthbert, B. N., Scott, J. D., Moulder, B., & Nangia, V. (1998a). Emotional arousal and activation of the visual cortex: An fMRI analysis. Psychophysiology, 35 (2), 199–210.

Lang, P. J., Greenwald, M. K., Bradley, M. M., & Hamm, A. O. (1993). Looking at pictures: Affective, facial, visceral, and behavioral reactions. Psychophysiology, 30 (3), 261–273. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1993.tb03352.x .

Lang, P. J., Öhman, A., & Vaitl, D. (1998b). The international affective picture system . Gainesville, FL: Univeristy of Florida, Center for Research. (in Psychophysiology) .

Lench, H. C., Flores, S. A., & Bench, S. W. (2011). Discrete emotions predict changes in cognition, judgment, experience, behavior, and physiology: A meta-analysis of experimental emotion elicitations. Psychological Bulletin, 137 (5), 834–855. doi: 10.1037/a0024244 .

Luce, R. D. (1991). Response times: Their role in inferring elementary mental organization . New York: Oxford University Press.

Mauss, I., & Robinson, M. (2009). Measures of emotion: A review. Cognition and Emotion, 23 (2), 209–237. doi: 10.1080/02699930802204677 .

McManus, I. C., Jones, A. L., & Cottrell, J. (1981). The aesthetics of colour. Perception, 10 (6), 651–666. doi: 10.1068/p100651 .

Meerwein, G., Rodeck, B., & Mahnke, F. H. (2007). Farbe: Kommunikation im Raum (4th ed.). Basel: Birkhäuser.

Mehrabian, A., & Russell, J. A. (1974). An approach to environmental psychology . Cambridge: M.I.T. Press.

Mikellides, B. (1990). Color and physiological arousal. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 7 (1), 13–20.

Moore, R. Y. (1983). Organization and function of a central nervous-system circadian oscillator: The suprachiasmatic hypothalamic nucleus. Federation Proceedings, 42 (11), 2783–2789.

Nourse, J. C., & Welch, R. B. (1971). Emotional attributes of color: Comparison of violet and green. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 32 (2), 403–406.

Oberfeld, D., Hecht, H., Allendorf, U., & Wickelmaier, F. (2009). Ambient lighting modifies the flavor of wine. Journal of Sensory Studies, 24 (6), 797–832. doi: 10.1111/j.1745-459X.2009.00239.x .

Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J., & Tannenbaum, P. H. (1957). The measurement of meaning . Oxford, England: Univer. Illinois Press.

Ou, L. C., Luo, M. R., Woodcock, A., & Wright, A. (2004a). A study of colour emotion and colour preference. Part I: Colour emotions for single colours. Color Research and Application, 29 (3), 232–240. doi: 10.1002/Col.20010 .

Ou, L. C., Luo, M. R., Woodcock, A., & Wright, A. (2004b). A study of colour emotion and colour preference. Part III: Colour preference modeling. Color Research and Application, 29 (5), 381–389.

Palmer, S. E., & Schloss, K. B. (2010). An ecological valence theory of human color preference. Proceedings of the National academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107 (19), 8877–8882. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0906172107 .

Palomba, D., Sarlo, M., Angrilli, A., Mini, A., & Stegagno, L. (2000). Cardiac responses associated with affective processing of unpleasant film stimuli. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 36 (1), 45–57. doi: 10.1016/S0167-8760(99)00099-9 .

Provencio, I., Rodriguez, I. R., Jiang, G. S., Hayes, W. P., Moreira, E. F., & Rollag, M. D. (2000). A novel human opsin in the inner retina. Journal of Neuroscience, 20 (2), 600–605.

R Core Team (2017). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Wien: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Retrieved from https://www.R-project.org/ .

Robertson, A. R. (1990). Historical development of CIE recommended color difference equations. Color Research and Application, 15 (3), 167–170. doi: 10.1002/col.5080150308 .

Roedema, T. M., & Simons, R. F. (1999). Emotion-processing deficit in alexithymia. Psychophysiology, 36 (3), 379–387. doi: 10.1017/S0048577299980290 .

Rouanet, H., & Lépine, D. (1970). Comparison between treatments in a repeated-measurement design: ANOVA and multivariate methods. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 23 (2), 147–163.

Sato, T., Kajiwara, K., Hoshino, H., & Nakamura, T. (2000). Quantitative evaluation and categorising of human emotion induced by colour. Advances in Colour Science and Technology, 3, 53–59.

Schaie, K. W. (1961). Scaling the association between colors and mood-tones. American Journal of Psychology, 74 (2), 266. doi: 10.2307/1419412 .

Schauss, A. G. (1985). The physiological effect of color on the suppression of human aggression: Research on Baker-Miller pink. International Journal of Biosocial Research, 7 (2), 55–64.

Scherer, K. R. (2005). What are emotions? And how can they be measured? Social Science Information Sur Les Sciences Sociales, 44 (4), 695–729. doi: 10.1177/0539018405058216 .

Soriano, C., & Valenzuela, J. (2009). Emotion and colour across languages: implicit associations in Spanish colour terms. Social Science Information Sur Les Sciences Sociales, 48 (3), 421–445. doi: 10.1177/0539018409106199 .

Storm, H., Fremming, A., Odegaard, S., Martinsen, O. G., & Morkrid, L. (2000). The development of a software program for analyzing spontaneous and externally elicited skin conductance changes in infants and adults. Clinical Neurophysiology, 111 (10), 1889–1898. doi: 10.1016/s1388-2457(00)00421-1 .

Suk, H. J., & Irtel, H. (2010). Emotional response to color across media. Color Research and Application, 35 (1), 64–77. doi: 10.1002/col.20554 .

Tate, F. B., & Allen, H. (1985). Color preferences and the aged individual: Implications for art therapy. Arts in Psychotherapy, 12 (3), 165–169. doi: 10.1016/0197-4556(85)90016-4 .

Terwogt, M. M., & Hoeksma, J. B. (1995). Colors and emotions: Preferences and combinations. Journal of General Psychology, 122 (1), 5–17.

Thapan, K., Arendt, J., & Skene, D. J. (2001). An action spectrum for melatonin suppression: evidence for a novel non-rod, non-cone photoreceptor system in humans. Journal of Physiology-London, 535 (1), 261–267. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7793.2001.t01-1-00261.x .

Valdez, P., & Mehrabian, A. (1994). Effects of color on emotions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 123 (4), 394–409.

Vandewalle, G., Schwartz, S., Grandjean, D., Wuillaume, C., Balteau, E., Degueldre, C., & Maquet, P. (2010). Spectral quality of light modulates emotional brain responses in humans. Proceedings of the National academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107 (45), 19549–19554. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1010180107 .

Vary, P., & Stiny, L. (1977). Ein Herz-Rhythmus-Analysator für Langzeit-EKG-Untersuchungen [A Heart Rate Analyzer for Long-Term ECG Recordings]. Biomedizinische Technik, 22 (3), 39–44. doi: 10.1515/bmte.1977.22.3.39 .

Article PubMed Google Scholar

Walters, J., Apter, M. J., & Svebak, S. (1982). Color preference, arousal, and the theory of psychological reversals. Motivation and Emotion, 6 (3), 193–215.

Whitfield, T. W. A., & Wiltshire, T. J. (1990). Color psychology: A critical review. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 116 (4), 385–411.

Wilson, G. D. (1966). Arousal properties of red versus green. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 23 (3, Part 1), 947–949.

Witvliet, C. V., & Vrana, S. R. (1995). Psychophysiological responses as indexes of affective dimensions. Psychophysiology, 32 (5), 436–443.

Wolfinger, R. D. (1996). Heterogeneous variance: Covariance structures for repeated measures. Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics, 1 (2), 205–230.

Wright, B., & Rainwater, L. (1962). The meanings of color. Journal of General Psychology, 67, 89–99.

Wundt, W. M. (1903). Grundriss der physiologischen Psychologie . Leipzig: Engelmann.

Wyszecki, G., & Stiles, W. S. (2000). Color science: Concepts and methods, quantitative data, and formulae (Wiley Classics Library edn.) . New York: Wiley.

Yasukouchi, A., & Ishibashi, K. (2005). Non-visual effects of the color temperature of fluorescent lamps on physiological aspects in humans. J Physiol Anthropol Appl Human Sci, 24 (1), 41–43. (JST.JSTAGE/jpa/24.41) .

Yildirim, K., Hidayetoglu, M. L., & Capanoglu, A. (2011). Effects of interior colors on mood and preference: comparisons of two living rooms. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 112 (2), 509–524. doi: 10.2466/24.27.pms.112.2.509-524 .

Zielinski, P. (2016). An arousal effect of colors saturation: A study of self-reported ratings and electrodermal responses. Journal of Psychophysiology, 30 (1), 9–16. doi: 10.1027/0269-8803/a000149 .

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Gerhard Vossel for helpful suggestions concerning the experimental setup and the registration of the physiological parameters. We thank Agnes Münch for her valuable help with the technical implementation of the experiment and with the analysis of the physiological data. We are grateful to Martin Happ for extending his HRM R package ( https://cran.r-project.org/package=HRM ), so that we could use it for analyses involving three within-subjects factors. Two anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Institute of Psychology, Section Experimental Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, 55099, Mainz, Germany

Lisa Wilms & Daniel Oberfeld

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Oberfeld .

Ethics declarations

No external funding received.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Wilms, L., Oberfeld, D. Color and emotion: effects of hue, saturation, and brightness. Psychological Research 82 , 896–914 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-017-0880-8

Download citation

Received : 03 November 2016

Accepted : 08 June 2017

Published : 13 June 2017

Issue Date : September 2018

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-017-0880-8

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Find a journal
Publish with us
Track your research

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

We're Hiring!
Help Center

Color Psychology Research Paper

Related Papers

Dr Nawaz Ahmad

The purpose of present research is to identify variety of meanings imparted by colors and its effects on emotions and moods. Traditional literature is linguistically intertwined with explication of colors and their meanings spurring from imaginative spheres of human mind to determine their moods. The present study delves deep into psycholinguistic perspectives of color, mood and language and thus invites causal profile of exploration. Communicative qualities of colors strengthen their grounds on the basis of cultural, social, historical, affective, political and linguistic compasses therefore interpret a variety of connotations having expressed in the form of moods. In this study, survey technique was employed through questionnaires to gather relevant information. Both closed-ended and open-ended questions were included to ensure validity. Data were gathered from a random sample of 100 respondents including males and females. Non-Probability Quota sampling technique and statistical analysis were used for analyses. The questionnaires were distributed in Pakistani academic institutions. This reveals that colors convey different connotations which are expressed by means of language and types of moods.

SAGE Open; DOI: 10.1177/2158244014525423

sevinc kurt

This research aims to discover the psychological effects of colors on individuals, using the students’ union complex in a university campus. This building was chosen due to its richness in color variances. The research method is survey, and questionnaires were drawn up and distributed to an even range of students, comprising both international and local students; undergraduate and graduate. Questionnaires have been collected and analyzed to find out the effects different colors had on students’ moods in different spaces of the students’ union complex. This research would contribute to understand more about colors and how they affect our feelings and therefore to make better decisions and increase the use of spaces when choosing colors for different spaces to suit the purpose for which they are designed.

Editorial Department

The Color of Sex is a significant tool that has the ability to bring love in an individual’s life as well as offer higher levels of self-confidence for the individuals that need it. The authors have focused on various factors of confidence and sensuality like ‘how colors influence the moods of people’, ‘the sensuality and color rating of someone’s favorite underwear’, as well as ‘what a bedroom color reveals about an individual’s intimacy’. Overall, the paper will touch on the plot of the book whereby the overall idea presented in the book will be highlighted, I will also point out my favorite parts of the book and give opinions on them and finally recommendations will be given on what should have been done differently.

International Journals for Researchers [ER Publication, WOAR Journals, IJEAS and IJEART]

Abstract— Focus of this paper is to find out the impact of colour produced by different printing processes and to analyze the same to come out with the clear indication regarding impact of different colour on normal observer. A test chart was prepared containing different types of images such as natural scene images, cartoons type pictures, logo of different colours that captures the attention of people and it was printed through offset, screen, inkjet and digital printing processes. After all a survey was conducted in sample size of hundred people to recognise the printing process that gives maximum impact of colours.

yody stiawan

Ninety-eight college students were asked to indicate their emotional responses to five principle hues (i. and black) and the reasons for their choices. The color stimuli were referenced from the Munsell Color System. The results revealed that the principle hues comprised the highest number of positive emotional responses, followed by the intermediate hues and the achromatic colors. The color green evoked mainly positive emotions such as relaxation and comfort because it reminded most of the respondents of nature. The color green-yellow had the lowest number of positive responses because it was associated with vomit and elicited the feelings of sickness and disgust. For the achromatic colors, white attained a large number of positive responses, followed by the colors black and gray. The reasons for the color-emotion associations are discussed and future research areas are suggested.

Mels Alcantara

Joey Boy David , Joeyboy David

In this experimental study, the researchers seek to find out whether the red color of light has a significant effect on the mood of person. The researchers used between subjects design with the independent groups. The subject were obtained from twenty (20) using ten (10) subjects were randomly assigned to the control group while ten (10) subjects were similarly assigned to the experimental group. The Mood Self-Assessment test was administered in the subjects. Using t-test on the data obtained a t-value of 1.11 was yielded. At 0.5 level of significance, the t-critical is 2.101. Because t-value is lower than the t-critical, the researchers found no significant difference between the scores of the control and experimental groups. Therefore, it was inferred that the color has no significant effect on the mood of the subjects.

Gary Fine , Bonnie Semora , Dane S Claussen

Although color has rarely been examined as a sociological topic, the meaning of color is linked to numerous social domains and serves as a collective representation. Color contributes to social meanings in institutional orders, stratification systems, and identity. While color has some meaning separate from its linkage to particular objects, in most cases colors are situated. We perceive not color, but colored objects. Any given color has multiple meanings that are understood in context. Through our examination of a range of domains in which color has social significance, we suggest that the examination of this field has considerable promise. We conclude by linking the analysis of color to the model of cultural formation suggested by Schudson (1989). focusing on retrievability, rhetorical force, resonance, institutional retention, and resolution.

Antonio Fernández-Caballero

Light and color are ubiquitous environmental factors which have an influence on the human being. Hence, light and color issues have to be considered especially significant in human-computer interaction (HCI) and fundamental in affective computing. Affective computing is an interdisciplinary research field which aims to integrate issues dealing with emotions and computers. As a consequence, it seems important to provide an updated review on the significance of light and color in affective computing. With this purpose, the relationship between HCI/affective computing and the emotions affected by light and color are introduced in first place. So far, there is a considerable number of studies and experiments that offer empirical results on the topic. In addition, the color models generally used in affective computing are briefly described. The review on the usage of color and light in affective computing includes a detailed study of the characteristics of methods and the most recent research trends. The paper is complemented with the study of the importance of light and color from demographic, gender and cultural perspectives.

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

This article has been retracted.

The application of color psychology in community health environment design, jicheng yang.

1 School of Design, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, Guangdong 519087, China

Xiaoying Shen

2 Wuxi Vocational College of Science and Technology, No. 8 Xinxi Road, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214000, China

Associated Data

The labeled data sets used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

The topic of health has gained importance in today's society in the context of a healthy China. The success of community environmental design is intimately correlated with everyone's physical and mental health since it is the setting for people's daily lives. At present, although the facilities and equipment of the community environment in our country are improving day by day, the important role of color psychology in the community environment has been neglected. Color has always been a part of human life and a very important component of the community environment. When it comes to the design of communal environments, the color design of various areas will have variable degrees of influence on the psychological space and perspective of individuals. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the application value of color psychology in the design of community health environments using color psychology as a scientific foundation. Additionally, the paper attempts to use color psychology as a scientific basis to study the thinking of health issues in the community environment. In addition, the results of the questionnaire survey are used to perform analysis and discussion in order to investigate the regular characteristics of the various research objects, as well as their preferences and psychological needs for color. This is done with the goal of providing empirical support for the improvement of the community environment and the health of the people living in it. In the end, the results of the questionnaire survey are compiled with four different design concepts. These design principles include functionality, naturalness, beauty, and safety. And the design intention and optimization strategy from the three directions the overall building, planting, and paving in the community healthy environment are then presented. This is done in order to create a colorful and comfortable healthy environment for the community life of people and to support the development of people's physical and mental health.

1. Introduction

The growth of modern industrial cities has contributed to deterioration in the quality of the living environment in which people live, which in turn has led to a number of issues relating to public health. Residents of metropolitan communities are increasingly concentrating their attention on health concerns. The biopsychosocial medical concept suggests that the environment (both physical and social) in which an individual lives has a significant impact on both the individual's mental and physical health. Community, as the most fundamental component of urban planning, serves as an essential space carrier for the daily activities and social interactions of its members. It is not just one of the factors that contribute to issues with mental health, but it is also an essential venue for the improvement of the inhabitants' mental health [ 1 ]. According to the community environment and health relationship model proposed in literature [ 2 ], the individual characteristics of inhabitants are thought to be the primary determinants of their mental health. Both the community's social and physical environments can have an effect on the people' mental health. This is especially true of the former. To put it another way, in order to protect people's health, we need a healthy environment. It is self-evident how important the environment of the community is to the health of its residents, and it can have an effect on the health of the entire city as well as its residents.

In addition, as a result of the growth and advancement of society as a whole as well as the increase of community residents' health awareness, the aspiration and yearning of community residents for a healthy community have become increasingly acute. Therefore, in the context of a healthy China and healthy cities, the question of how to break through the current community construction, which primarily focuses on the renewal of physical spaces such as buildings, has become an urgent problem that needs to be solved. At the same time, thinking about community environmental design issues from the perspective of health and from a deeper and more comprehensive perspective is essential. At the moment, it is turning into a hot point for study in order to improve the community environment, exert community health efficiency, improve public health status, and promote well-being for the members of the community by means of environmental intervention. The planning and design of green open space will bring direct health advantages to urban residents, according to research [ 3 , 4 ], and studies have demonstrated that people's health is affected by the design of natural environments [ 3 , 4 ]. In addition, a number of studies have demonstrated that having access to green space in a community can improve people's physical, mental, and social health [ 5 ].

Therefore, to design a healthy community environment, it is necessary to deal with the relationship between people's psychology, physiology, and various spaces. Color is a very important component of the community environment. The study of color on people's psychology and behavior can help improve people's activity experience in different environments [ 6 ]. In the early days of human development, human beings realized the special charm of color, and at that time they began to use color to decorate life. The discovery of the seven-color spectrum gave humans a deeper understanding of color, and people gradually realized the influence of color on people's psychology, and color psychology was born [ 7 ]. Color psychology is a science that studies the relationship between color and people's psychology. In recent years, more and more research has been carried out in the field of color psychology, and it has been widely used in many fields, further deepening people's understanding of lifestyle and life values [ 8 , 9 ]. Literature [ 10 ] expounds the relationship between color and space from the three perspectives color, greening, and furnishings and applies relevant theories to practical projects. They hope to use color, green vegetation, and space to design a plan for an office leisure area with a “healing system” effect. Literature [ 11 ] discusses how to combine it with urban road greening design by analyzing the relevant theoretical knowledge of color psychology. According to the psychological characteristics of users and the psychological effect of color, a humanized urban road green space is designed. Literature [ 12 ] studies the application of color psychology in hospital interior design. From the perspective of color psychology, the author conducts sufficient research on color and psychology of indoor design and analyzes how to use color psychology in hospital indoor design. Literature [ 13 ] carried out space color design from the perspective of old-age care, focusing on analyzing the particularity of old-age buildings. They make full use of the theoretical basis of color psychology and color physiology and analyze various design problems of old-age buildings and indoor public spaces from the perspective of color design and then hope to use the role of color to effectively affect the psychology of the elderly.

To sum up, color is the main factor affecting the human senses and also affects the physiology and psychology of the human body. It will inevitably affect the effect and function of the community environment design. Therefore, in the design of community health environment, it is necessary to deeply study the principles of color psychology in order to better meet people's psychological needs. But at present, it still lacks scientific theoretical guidance for the color design in the community environment of our country. The existing research on the color design of the community environment is still immature, and there are differences in the application of color in the community environment, and a complete color system has not yet been formed. In view of this, through the research of related theories, this paper tries to design the community health environment based on color psychology. Through the effective combination of the two, the principles and strategies of community health environment design under the guidance of color psychology theory are proposed. The main research contents of this paper are as follows: first, the application value of color psychology in community health environment design is discussed; second, through the method of questionnaire survey, the regular characteristics of different research objects, their preferences and psychological needs for color are explored, so as to provide empirical reference for community environment optimization and population health; and finally, combined with the results of the questionnaire survey, the design principles and optimization strategies of community health environment under the guidance of color psychology are summarized. It is hoped that through the research of this topic, the color design in the community health environment will be enriched, and a healthy, natural, and comfortable community color space will be created, in order to create a high-quality, high-level living and leisure and entertainment environment for people, promote people's physical and mental development, and ultimately realize the beautiful vision of a healthy China.

2. Related Theory

2.1. the concept and development of color psychology.

A significant subfield of psychology and a rising academic field, color psychology is becoming increasingly popular. The primary focus of color psychology is the investigation of the impact that color has on the psyche and behavior of humans [ 14 ]. Color is capable of fully expressing a wide range of human emotions, and the combination of brightness and color is the source of all visible phenomena. Through human visual contact, color will have many different and complicated effects on people's psychology, physiology, and imagination. Additionally, people's psychological and physiological states will affect how they perceive and think about color. According to the theory of color psychology, different hues are thought to have varied effects on the psychology and emotions of people, and certain regular causal correlations are considered to exist between colors and the psychological reactions of people. In addition, in terms of its emergence and progression, color psychology has gone through a period of rapid expansion, which has been primarily driven by the advancement of economic growth. The Munsell color system in the United States [ 15 ], the Ostwald color system in Germany [ 16 ], and the PCCS (practical color coordinate system) color system in Japan [ 17 ] are the most extensively diffused and used systems in the world as far as is known about color psychology's extant theoretical systems.

Although the current research on color psychology is still immature, it has not been formally defined in the research of psychology. It is undeniable that its influence on human psychology exists objectively and is spontaneously applied to real life by human beings. For example, shopping malls use color matching to upgrade their brand, attract customers, and increase their desire to buy. The restaurant and bar use color matching to create their atmosphere and highlight the characteristics. In addition, color psychology has also been widely used in architectural design, painting, graphic design, animation, industrial design, etc. [ 18 – 20 ]. There is also color therapy in medicine, that is, using the psychological effects of color to carry out adjuvant treatment at different levels for patients [ 21 ].

2.2. The Main Theories of Color Psychology

2.2.1. color emotion.

Colors are able to communicate not just visual information but also feelings. One of the functions of color is to convey a range of feelings to people while also providing them with a striking visual impression. The field of color psychology has conducted pertinent study on the laws of people's psychological effects on color. This research has provided a scientific basis for us to assess and create colors in community health environments, thanks to the work that was done in color psychology. The human imagination and memory can be stimulated by color, which can then further raise human emotional resonance. Figure 1 provides a synopsis of the psychological qualities associated with a selection of representative colors.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is JEPH2022-7259595.001.jpg

Emotional characteristics of several representative colors.

2.2.2. Symbols of Colors

The sign of color is the reflection of the mental spectrum of color that is contained in a single hue. It is a reference to the unique connotation that is exhibited between a hue that is widely recognized and the items that are linked with it. On the other hand, people from different eras and walks of life have a tendency to ascribe diverse symbolic meanings to certain hues. It is possible to say that the symbolism of color not only originates from humanism with historical and cultural legacy but also exists in society as a symbolic form. This is something that can be said since it is something that can be said. Table 1 provides a common metaphorical interpretation for each color.

The common symbolic meanings of some colors.

Color	Symbolic meaning
Red	Festive, excited, passionate, dangerous, loving, auspicious, gaudy, enthusiastic, awe-inspiring
Dark red	Noble, solemn, selfless
Pink	Gentle, soft, earthy, reserved
Lavender	Elegant, romantic, dreamy, sexy
Purple	Solemn, deep, mysterious, noble, arrogant, glamorous
Blue	Serenity, lost, peaceful, wisdom, hope, reason, transcendence, refreshing, eternal
Green	Hope, nature, balance, environmental protection, youth, growth, freshness
Light yellow	Quiet, serene, light-hearted
Yellow	Hope, joy, light, confidence, dignity, danger
Orange	Vitality, warmth, joy, kindness, joy, liveliness, leisure
White	Sublime, clean, parting, truth, indifference
Black	Simple, mysterious, composed, insidious, cold, evil, dead, noble

2.2.3. Character Traits of Color

Each color is a complete individual. If anthropomorphic, they represent different characters and have their own personalities. Referring to the relevant color psychology theory, this paper summarizes the personality characteristics represented by each color, as shown in Figure 2 .

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is JEPH2022-7259595.002.jpg

Character traits of color.

3. Investigation and Analysis of Community Health Environment Design Based on Color Psychology

3.1. research objects and methods, 3.1.1. research object.

During the period from March 2022 to June 2022, with the mobilization and assistance of local community staff, the random sampling method was used to recruit local community residents from 10 communities in City A as research object. Paper questionnaires were distributed to them, of which 5 communities or streets were selected in urban and suburban areas. The definition of local residents in the study is as follows: they have the household registration of the local permanent population, have lived in the community or street for 1 year or more, and are between 18 and 75 years old. After a detailed explanation of the purpose of this research study, participants completed a self-administered questionnaire anonymously on the basis of written informed consent. If they have difficulty filling it out, it would be guided by trained investigators.

3.1.2. Questionnaire Design and Survey

A set of questionnaires was designed in the study. The survey content involves the age, occupation, gender, and other basic information of the respondents, as well as their preference for color, the impact of different colors on their emotions, and their inclination to the color of the ideal community space. Through the research, three characteristics of the regular characteristics of different respondents, their preference for color, and their psychological needs for color are summarized.

3.1.3. Quality Control

After the research subjects completed the questionnaires, the trained project team members were responsible for the quality control of the questionnaires. The questionnaires with unreasonable logic, too much missing information, and too many consistent responses were eliminated. In the end, a total of 100 questionnaires were distributed and 89 valid questionnaires were collected.

3.2. Result Analysis

3.2.1. the regular characteristics of the research object.

(1) Basic Situation. A total of 100 questionnaires were distributed in this survey, and 89 valid questionnaires were collected. Among the valid questionnaires, there were 38 males and 51 females, accounting for 42.7% and 57.3% of the total, respectively, as shown in Figure 3 . Due to the random distribution of the questionnaires, the ratio of males to females was not controlled artificially. In addition, the mean age of the research objects was (45.29 ± 15.35) years old.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is JEPH2022-7259595.003.jpg

Male-to-female ratio among respondents.

(2) Education and Career . In terms of educational background, the percentage of high school and technical secondary school (57.3%) is the highest, and the proportion of junior high school and below is 9%, and the proportion of university and above is 33.7%, as shown in Figure 4(a) . Since the vast majority of the research subjects have not received higher education, their cognition of color is still at the level of whether they look good or not. Combining the occupational proportions in Figure 4(b) , according to the survey report, among the survey respondents, government departments, service industries, and manufacturing industries have the highest proportions.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is JEPH2022-7259595.004.jpg

Statistics of educational background and occupation of the respondents. (a) The percentage of educational backgrounds among survey respondents. (b) The percentage of different occupations among survey respondents.

3.2.2. Research Objects' Preferences for Color

In the questionnaire designed in this paper, there are two questions: “What is your preferred color?” and “What is your preferred color tone?” The purpose is to explore the preferences of the research objects on the hue, lightness, and purity of colors. Data statistics were carried out for the selection of different age groups, and the statistical results of the hue, lightness, and purity of the colors of different survey groups were obtained, as shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6 , respectively.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is JEPH2022-7259595.005.jpg

Statistics on hue preference of different respondents.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is JEPH2022-7259595.006.jpg

The choice of brightness and purity for different respondents. (a) The choice of brightness of different respondents. (b) The choice of purity of different respondents.

As shown in Figure 5 , according to statistics, in the hue selection, the number of yellow selections is the most, with a total of 65 times. Hue selection frequency in descending order is as follows: yellow > green > red > blue > orange > purple > white > black. Moreover, respondents of different age groups have different preferences for hue. Young people are more inclined towards green, blue, black, and white. Middle-aged people prefer green, blue, and yellow. The elderly prefer brighter colors such as red, orange, yellow, and green and do not like dark or dark colors such as black and white.

As shown in Figure 6(a) , among the lightness selections, the number of medium lightness selections is the largest, 45 times in total. The lightness selection frequency in descending order is as follows: medium lightness > high lightness > low lightness. Similarly, as shown in Figure 6(b) , among the color purity selections, the medium purity selection is the most frequent, with a total of 49 times. The purity selection frequency is sorted from large to small: medium purity > high purity > low purity.

3.2.3. Research Objects' Psychological Needs for Color

(1) Character Analysis . According to the survey analysis, most people tend to be low-key and restrained, as shown in Figure 7 . Therefore, in the design of community health environment, in order to relieve people's tension, anxiety, and depression, more warm, bright, and soothing colors should be used to provide people with a comfortable and relaxing activity environment.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is JEPH2022-7259595.007.jpg

Character statistics of respondents.

(2) Sentiment Analysis . According to the analysis of the survey questionnaire, the categories that account for the biggest proportion of respondents when people feel anxious, lonely, and emotionally unstable are presented in Figure 8 as having the orange-yellow, blue-green, and red-pink color combinations. This demonstrates that various respondents have a tendency to favor warm colors when they are not in a good emotional state. The color combinations black-white and blue-purple were the ones that received the fewest votes, with only 4% and 3% of the total, respectively. This demonstrates that people are most likely to feel dejected and melancholy when exposed to any of these two hues. As a result of this, it is clear that the indoor humanistic space of the community healthy environment should select colors that are vibrant, bright, and cheerful. Green is the color that should be used for the natural outside surroundings. These hues have a calming effect on people by easing their anxious feelings. In addition, it should not use dark, intense hues like dark purple, dark coffee, dark green, dark blue, or dark gray. These colors should be avoided.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is JEPH2022-7259595.008.jpg

Color preferences of respondents when they are emotionally unstable.

(3) Image Analysis . As shown in Figure 9 , according to the analysis results, most of the survey respondents tend to choose a warm, soft, relaxed, safe, and happy ideal community environment, and fewer people choose a serious, rational, and stable environment. As the current pace of life is getting faster and faster, people's pressure has become greater and greater. They prefer a comfortable and natural environment and pursue the concept of tranquility, far-reaching, and natural behavior. Therefore, the color design in the community health environment should also be warm, soft, soothing, and bright.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is JEPH2022-7259595.009.jpg

The ideal living environment image of the respondents.

Based on the above analysis results, the design style of the interior space in the community environment can be chosen to be more natural. Log-colored wood and milky white latex paint can be used for large-area decoration, and then personalized design can be carried out in different areas according to the color preferences, emotions, and imagination of different groups of people, so as to meet the activity needs of different groups of people.

4. Community Health Environment Design Strategy Based on Color Psychology

When combined with the findings of the analyses of the previous questionnaires, as well as the theory of color psychology and the premise of adhering to the principles of aesthetics, safety, naturalness, and functionality, the design intention and optimization strategy are proposed in three aspects from the building, planting, and paving in the healthy environment of the community. These three aspects include building, planting, and paving. It is anticipated that the colors that are used in the community environment of our country will become more harmonious, comfortable, and beautiful. This will result in the creation of a community environment that is helpful to the leisure and amusement of the people.

4.1. Design Principles

4.1.1. aesthetic principles.

When it comes to the planning of healthy settings for communities, color plays an important role. It is both an artistic expression and a manifestation of the human spirit in the context of the community in which it takes place. People can have a more calm and enjoyable time participating in activities if the colors and aesthetic design elements are coordinated well. The following is a list of aesthetic criteria that should be considered when designing color schemes for community health environments: (1) constancy amidst dynamic motion. The term “unity” most often refers to the uniformity of the primary color that is shared by the color of the building facade and the color of the pavement. The shift focuses mostly on the tonal alterations that are supplemented by the color of the gaming facilities and the color of the plant landscape. To put it another way, the color design of the community health environment is one in which unity and change coexist and accommodate themselves to one another; (2) a combination of contrast and harmony. The concepts of unity and change can be best embodied by contrast and harmony. The contrast of colors has the potential to enhance the impression of contrast that exists between the colors of the various parts of the communal environment. The harmony of colors has the potential to make the colors of the various aspects of the environment appear more similar and harmonious, and it also has the potential to improve the overall impression of the color of the community's environment; and (3) a sense of symmetry and equilibrium. One of the distinguishing features of Chinese art is its emphasis on symmetry and balance. Since ancient times, this aesthetic theory has been the one that has been employed in design projects the majority of the time. People's bodies and minds can be adjusted through the use of the principle of symmetry and balance in color design in community health environments, which also helps create an atmosphere that is cozier, more relaxing, and filled with opportunities for action.

4.1.2. Security Principles

At present, the proportion of people suffering from depression, anxiety, youth myopia, obesity, and other psychological and physical diseases is increasing year by year, affecting people's physical and mental health. Creating a safe and healthy community environment is increasingly important. Although with the improvement of various facilities and equipment in the community environment in our country, it has high safety. However, there is a lack of research guidance and normative requirements for the safety of colors. Therefore, safety design principles should also be an important consideration in designing community health environments. The primary purpose of the safety principle of color design is to pay attention to the color synesthesia effect of community environment color on people and to create a healthier and more comfortable community environment. First of all, it is necessary to rationally apply color and its basic attributes to avoid color pollution in the community environment. Second, the safety of community indoor activity space should be fully considered. For example, in material selection, nonirritating, nonpolluting environmentally friendly materials are used. On the ground pavement, the complementary or contrasting relationship of colors is used to satisfy the spatial orientation. In the guidance and identification, the color system is used for safe instruction guidance and evacuation.

4.1.3. Naturalness Principles

In the color design of community health environment, special attention should be paid to the principle of naturalness of color design. The beauty of many natural landscapes cannot be described in words but can only be experienced personally. By designing large areas of lawns, sloping land, flowers and trees, etc., the number and area ratios of natural landscape colors in community landscape colors are increased, so that people can fully contact nature, so as to cultivate people's sentiments and relax their mood. Studies have shown that, compared with artificial colors commonly used in buildings and pavements, plant landscape colors are more diverse and have seasonal changes. Therefore, the natural principle of community healthy environment design is to change the original design mode, enrich the natural plant landscape in the community, and strengthen greening. In addition, the color elements of different landscapes in the community environment should be matched with each other, while increasing the application of natural colors in building facades, paving, and game facilities.

4.1.4. Functional Principles

Community health environment not only includes outdoor sports and fitness, children's games, and other places but also has many other functions, such as indoor games and entertainment, gathering and distributing activities, sports, and reading and learning. Different functional areas have different requirements for color design. At the same time, color can affect the warmth, light and shade, and volume of a space. Therefore, in the design of community health environment, it is necessary to adhere to the functional principle, make full use of the characteristics of color to serve the space function, and make the color and the space where it is in harmony and unity.

4.2. Specific Strategies

4.2.1. optimal design of overall architectural color.

The architectural color design of community activity venues is the guidance and representative of the overall culture and style of the community and is the main form of displaying community creative design. At present, the architectural color design styles of common community activity venues in China include colorful, simple, and blank. The choice of building color in the community can be summarized into three parts: background color, theme color, and key color. The background color generally chooses a uniform tone, with a soft combination of hue, saturation, and lightness, which is mainly used in the ceiling, floor, wall, and other large space finishes. The theme color is the main color of each functional area, and different areas should choose different hues based on the visual and psychological states of different groups of people. The key color has the role of embellishment and emphasis in the collocation. Most of them use color combinations with very large contrast and strong contrast. It is generally used in forms that require people to pay special attention to identification, and it plays the role of finishing touch in the space.

4.2.2. Optimal Design of Plant Material Color

The colors in nature are the most abundant, and the design of the plant landscape should conform to the principle of color complementarity. Plants exist in nature. They not only purify the air and adjust humidity but also beautify the environment where they are located. In addition, plants can interact with people, while green and yellow plants are beneficial to people's eye health and relieve visual fatigue. Therefore, appropriately increasing the green area in the community environment can make the indoor and outdoor look more dynamic. It can also reduce people's sense of loneliness and loss and bring people closer to nature. Different colors of plants can also cause different feelings. For example, green itself has a calming effect, so many hospitals also use green plants as the embellishment of the environment. Red flowers can make people feel more enthusiastic, while white flowers make people feel elegant. Yellow flowers can make old people feel good. Therefore, the ecological and interesting nature of the community environment can be enhanced by creating a unique natural landscape.

4.2.3. Optimal Design of Paving Color

When people play games, the first environmental information received in the brain is the color of the pavement. Therefore, the pavement color design in the community environment is very important. It can be said that the design of pavement color is the key to the overall color of the community environment. It has the integration of various landscape elements. The design of pavement color can increase the activity of the space through the color tone and transition the overall color matching of the landscape, so as to connect different spaces in the community environment. For example, when selecting the sign material for the community indoor environment, through the unique sign material and the reasonable matching of colors, the softness and cleanliness of the space can be fully displayed.

As mentioned above, the color optimization design of each component in the community environment should ultimately form the consistency of color application. By combining the principles of color psychology and the color design principles of community health environment, and integrating the overall architecture, plant materials, and pavement elements in the community environment, a color optimization strategy for the community health environment is proposed to improve the monotony and proportion incongruity of colors in the current community environment. Through the selection and matching of colors, the activity space is more clearly defined, the environment of the community is improved, and a new type of community health environment with high appearance, high level, and comprehensive benefits is created.

5. Conclusion

A community environment that meets health demands is an essential demand of modern community development in the context of healthy China, and it is also an unavoidable trend of future community development. Color is inextricably linked to people's daily lives. Color can be reflected as a language in the human neurological system, activating and influencing people's thoughts and feelings. Color, in other words, is directly linked to people's psychological feelings. As a result, when color is used in community environment design, the color design of different activity spaces will have distinct effects on people's psychology, physiology, and mood. Simultaneously, as color psychology research advances, we become more conscious of the critical function that color plays in people's daily lives. As a result, the focus of this research is on how to combine color psychology with community health environment design to better meet the physical and mental health needs of different groups of color, in order to create a color-comfortable and warm community environment and improve residents' health. This study begins with color psychology, then integrates people's life and spiritual demands, and then successfully blends color psychology with community health environment design to produce a more comfortable and acceptable community activity space. The community environment may not only meet people's everyday requirements, but also their spiritual wants, as well as holistically improve their bodily and mental health.

Although this research has achieved phased results, there are still some problems that need to be further improved and optimized. First, at the theoretical level, this paper simply analyzes the role of color psychology in community health environments. However, there are many elements involved in the construction of a healthy community environment. In the future, we can learn from domestic and foreign research experience and consider factors such as walkable space, natural environment, public service facilities, and the needs of special groups as important content of the construction of a healthy community environment. Second, at the research level, the questionnaire survey employs the random sampling method to recruit research subjects in the community. Moreover, the recruited research subjects ignored the special needs of children and adolescents, and the sample representation was insufficient. In view of this, the follow-up research can consider designing more complex scales, introducing indicators such as health variables, and conducting more in-depth research on different populations and different types of communities. Therefore, combined with more targeted research conclusions, it provides more accurate strategies for the design and optimization of community health environment and constantly enriches and improves the practice cases and basic theories of healthy community building under the “Healthy China” strategy.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Beijing Normal University.

Data Availability

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

COMMENTS

Color and psychological functioning: a review of theoretical and
The past decade has seen enhanced interest in research in the area of color and psychological functioning. Progress has been made on both theoretical and empirical fronts, but there are also weaknesses on both of these fronts that must be attended to for this research area to continue to make progress. In the following, I briefly review both ...
(PDF) The psychological dimension of colors: a systematic literature
Abstract. This paper seeks to contribute to the discussions concerning the study a rea of colors. Bearing in mind that the. psychological effects of colors on indi viduals' cognition are gaining ...
Color psychology: effects of perceiving color on psychological
Abstract. Color is a ubiquitous perceptual stimulus that is often considered in terms of aesthetics. Here we review theoretical and empirical work that looks beyond color aesthetics to the link between color and psychological functioning in humans. We begin by setting a historical context for research in this area, particularly highlighting ...
The Effects of Color on the Moods of College Students
We live in a world of color (Huchendorf, 2007, p. 1).According to the various researches, the color that surrounds us in our daily lives has a profound effect on our mood and on our behavior (e.g., Babin, Hardesty, & Suter, 2003; Kwallek, Lewis, & Robbins, 1988; Kwallek, Woodson, Lewis, & Sales, 1997; Rosenstein, 1985).In clothing, interiors, landscape, and even natural light, a color can ...
PDF Handbook of Color Psychology
color vision and psychology. However, color psychology is now a burgeoning, exciting area and this Handbook provides comprehensive coverage of emerging theory and research. Top scholars in the ﬁeld provide rigorous overviews of work on color categor-ization, color symbolism and association, color preference, reciprocal relations between
Color and Psychological Functioning
Genetic, Social & General Psychology Monographs, 116, 387-412. Color effects on psychological functioning are not thought to be constrained to red. Other colors undoubtedly impact affect, cognition, and behavior as well, and research to examine such possibilities is needed.
The Development of Color Perception and Cognition
Color is a pervasive feature of our psychological experience, having a role in many aspects of human mind and behavior such as basic vision, scene perception, object recognition, aesthetics, and communication. Understanding how humans encode, perceive, talk about, and use color has been a major interdisciplinary effort. Here, we present the current state of knowledge on how color perception ...
Color and psychological functioning: A review of theoretical and
In the past decade there has been increased interest in research on color and psychological functioning. Important advances have been made in theoretical work and empirical work, but there are also important weaknesses in both areas that must be addressed for the literature to continue to develop apace. In this article, I provide brief theoretical and empirical reviews of research in this area ...
Colour psychology: the emotional effects of colour perception
Colour psychology is an area increasingly involving interdisciplinary research towards our better understanding of the influence of light and colour on our emotions (Porter and Mikellides, 2009).It is not surprising to observe that the International Association of Colour (AIC) world conference held in Sydney 2009 attracted over 100 papers submitted on this subject.
Color and emotion: effects of hue, saturation, and brightness
Skin conductance and heart rate were measured continuously. The emotion ratings showed that saturated and bright colors were associated with higher arousal. The hue also had a significant effect on arousal, which increased from blue and green to red. The ratings of valence were the highest for saturated and bright colors, and also depended on ...
Frontiers
In research on color and selective attention, red stimuli have been shown to receive an attentional advantage (see Folk, in press, for a review).Research on color and alertness has shown that blue light increases subjective alertness and performance on attention-based tasks (see Chellappa et al., 2011, for a review).Studies on color and athletic performance have linked wearing red to better ...
A review study of cognitive design research on colors from a visual
Abstract: This review study aims to explore the relationship between color psychology and. cognitive design in various environments, w ith a focus on human perception and vi sual. comfort. By ...
Color Psychology: Effects of Perceiving Color on Psychological
This paper offers an analysis of research done by professionals and studies of said professionals recreated by an undergraduate student. The goal of this research was to identify a connection between colors and emotions. ... Color psychology is a matter of debate, to say the least. There are very few (if any) undisputed scientific research ...
The psychological dimension of colors: a systematic literature review
1 Expanded from the conference paper "A systematic bibliographic review into color psychology: the main researched items", published in 2020 during the XVI Color Conference at Bergamo (Italy). Research, Society and Development, v. 11, n. 5, e34111528027, 2022
Color Psychology: Effects of Perceiving Color on Psychological
Color is a ubiquitous perceptual stimulus that is often considered in terms of aesthetics. Here we review theoretical and empirical work that looks beyond color aesthetics to the link between color and psychological functioning in humans. We begin by setting a historical context for research in this area, particularly highlighting methodological issues that hampered earlier empirical work. We ...
PDF Color Psychology: Effects of Perceiving Color on Psychological
for a review of this research. Several Annual Review of Psychology(ARP) articles have been written on color. Until 1989, each ... Bradley color papers) or picked colors by visually matching (i.e., "eyeballing") them to systematic sets without independent veriﬁcation. In addition to this critical ﬂaw, many of the studies con-
Color and emotion: effects of hue, saturation, and brightness
Previous studies on emotional effects of color often failed to control all the three perceptual dimensions of color: hue, saturation, and brightness. Here, we presented a three-dimensional space of chromatic colors by independently varying hue (blue, green, red), saturation (low, medium, high), and brightness (dark, medium, bright) in a factorial design. The 27 chromatic colors, plus 3 ...
Exploring the relationships between personality and color preferences
Color stimuli and preference calculation. We used the 10 primary colors described by Zhang et al. (2019) and Kim (2006), including red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue, purple, white, black, and gray.We chose these colors for the following reasons. First, although colors can be presented in many different ways depending on hue, chroma, or brightness, research regarding color ...
PDF The Psychology of Color
The bulk of Dr. Goldstein's work was done in the late 1950's and early 1960's. About the aspects of color in our everyday lives he wrote: "Life is a condition alternating between excitation, destruc tion, and unbalance [followed by] reorganization1 equilibrium and rest. In the course of life colors play their role.
(PDF) Color Psychology Research Paper
The review on the usage of color and light in affective computing includes a detailed study of the characteristics of methods and the most recent research trends. The paper is complemented with the study of the importance of light and color from demographic, gender and cultural perspectives. Download Free PDF. View PDF.
PDF , 2 1- DOI: 10.21694/2378-7031.16009 Research Article Open Access Color
In this paper, the researcher will facilitate the impact of color on many aspects from different culture views. Keywords: The perception of colors, Cultural reference, Verbal and nonverbal influence. Color Psychology American Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (ARJHSS) ISSN (Online) : 2378-7031 Volume 2, 2016, 1- 6 pages
The Effects of Color on the Moods
Yellow is thought of as joyful, outgoing, open, and friendly. Psychologically, yellow is the strongest color. In color-mood association studies, yellow is associated with comedy, a happy mood, and playfulness. Yellow ribbons have been used as a sign of hope and optimism since the nineteenth century (p. 45).
The Application of Color Psychology in Community Health Environment
Additionally, the paper attempts to use color psychology as a scientific basis to study the thinking of health issues in the community environment. In addition, the results of the questionnaire survey are used to perform analysis and discussion in order to investigate the regular characteristics of the various research objects, as well as their ...

Save citation to file

Add to My Bibliography

Color and emotion: effects of hue, saturation, and brightness

Similar articles

LinkOut - more resources

MINI REVIEW article

Theoretical Work

Evaluation and Recommendations

Empirical Work

Conflict of Interest Statement

A review study of cognitive design research on colors from a visual psychological perspective

Abstract and Figures

Annual Review of Psychology

Most Read This Month

Online Option

Color and emotion: effects of hue, saturation, and brightness

Cite this article

Access this article

Similar content being viewed by others

Interactions of Color Vision with Other Visual Modalities

Acknowledgements

Author information

Corresponding author

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Ethical approval

Informed consent

Rights and permissions

About this article

Share this article

Color Psychology Research Paper

Related Papers

RELATED PAPERS

This article has been retracted.

Xiaoying Shen

Associated Data

1. Introduction

2. Related Theory

2.2. The Main Theories of Color Psychology

2.2.2. Symbols of Colors

2.2.3. Character Traits of Color

3. Investigation and Analysis of Community Health Environment Design Based on Color Psychology

3.1.2. Questionnaire Design and Survey

3.1.3. Quality Control

3.2. Result Analysis

3.2.2. Research Objects' Preferences for Color

3.2.3. Research Objects' Psychological Needs for Color

4. Community Health Environment Design Strategy Based on Color Psychology

4.1. Design Principles

4.1.2. Security Principles

4.1.3. Naturalness Principles

4.1.4. Functional Principles

4.2. Specific Strategies

4.2.2. Optimal Design of Plant Material Color

4.2.3. Optimal Design of Paving Color

5. Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Data Availability

COMMENTS