Issues in colour-emotion research

As a design semantics researcher I duly try to keep tabs on studies that set out to shed light on the connections people make between emotions and colours. A new and extensive cross-cultural research, The International Color-Emotion Association Survey, was recently discussed in Psychology Today under the heading: “Associations Between Colors and Emotions Are Universal''. Christine Mohr and Domicele Jonauskaite from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland explain how the survey was set up: participants are presented with 12 terms, each of which designates a colour (terms: black, white, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, purple, brown, grey, pink, and turquoise). Participants then have to allocate one, several, or none of the colour-words to any number of the 20 words laid out in the shape of a wheel with each conveying a specific emotion. The emotion terms are grouped according to three dimensions: valence, ranging from the most positive to the most negative emotion; affective power, with empowering and dis-empowering emotions; and arousal.?

Figure 1. Emotions and their most common associations with colours as presented in the study (Jonauskaite et al, 2020). Source: Figure by Alessia Garzilli for Domicele Jonauskaite and Christine Mohr

The results of this impressive survey, with 4,598 participants from 30 nations speaking 22 native languages, are presented in a beautiful infographic (Fig.1) in which percentages of colours to relating emotions are neatly displayed. I would like to address, however, some issues concerning the set-up of the study that complicate the interpretation of the results.

1: No colour samples are shown, only colour names. This can give rise to inconsistencies in interpretation. Paul Kay and Terry Regier (2006) show that the number of colour terms varies drastically across languages. "There are universal constraints on colour naming, but at the same time, differences in colour naming across languages cause differences in colour cognition and/or perception." For example, the term pink is problematic in the sense that for some people it is a purplish shade whereas for others it is a pastel rose. The word purple also evokes different shades, ranging from fuchsia to aquamarine, all the while taking into account that these colour names too evoke a variety of intersubjective imagining.?

2: Too few colours. Only 8 primary (black, white, red, blue, green, yellow, purple, orange) and 4 composite hues (turquoise, grey, brown, pink) are put forward. Not only is the range of composite hues limited, saturation and lightness are not introduced into the equation either, whereas these parameters can have a major impact on the emotional experience. In Jung’s (2018) cross-cultural research 27 colour samples were used and twelve pairs of words to connect with. The collected data were analysed by hue, chromaticity, and the degree of blackness and whiteness. Specific keywords were proven to correlate with specific colour parameters. Other research shows the importance of chroma level on emotional response. The brighter the colour, the more a sense of dynamism will emerge (Valdez & Mehrabian, 1994, Miyamoto, 2003). The psychologists da Pos and Green-Armytage (2007) obtained the same result in their study into colours and basic emotions. Passive feelings such as sadness and fear are associated with very unsaturated monochrome colours, while active feelings such as happiness, surprise and anger are linked to bright and very contrasting colours.

3: The evolutionary stages of colour naming are not taken into account. The language researchers Berlin and Kay (1969) found in their famous study Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution that after the introduction of descriptive terms such as dark and light, and names for the primary colours, colour names that are combinations of primary colours will enter the language. These indicate more specific hues of a primary colour. This way colour names such as blue-green, red-orange, etc. come into use, some of which in a later stage acquire a more prosaic name sometimes referring to an object from nature with the same colour, as with “turquoise”. Turquoise, grey, brown, and pink from the survey are not primary but composite colours and cannot be treated as being on par with the remaining 8 primary colours.?

Table 1: Evolutionary stages of colour naming, eg. turquoise.

4: Relationships between emotion terms are not taken into account either. Similarly to the evolution of colour names, emotional terms can be divided into descriptive, primary, and composite terms. For elaboration on this argument cfr. The semantic color space (Alpaerts & Michiels, 2019). According to the Bio-informational theory of emotion (Bradley & Lang, 1994; Detenber & Reeves, 1996; Mehrabian, 1995-2010) emotional reactions are determined by three autonomous, binary dimensions: pleasure/displeasure, arousal/sleepiness, and dominance/submission. Affect is defined as the extent to which stimuli are assessed as (un)pleasant, dominating and stimulating. The keyword pleasure as it appears as an emotion term in Christine Mohr and Domicele Jonauskaite (2020) is a dimensional term that belongs to a range separate from the one containing emotions such as anger, sadness, pride. Pleasure/displeasure is a basic dimensional shifter triggered by its specific determining colours. This could explain why pleasure was associated with multiple colours such as red but also yellow, orange, pink, purple, and turquoise. According to Mehrabian’s eight spaces’ theory (1995-2010), primary emotions belong to eight groups of meaning: exuberant vs. boring, dependent vs. disdainful, relaxed vs. anxious, and docile vs. hostile. Anxious eg. is made up of unpleasant+submission+stimulating. Other words such as compassion, pride, or disappointment seem more complex in meaning. They, in turn, may be compositions of primary concepts.?

According to the hypothesis of the Semantic Color Space (Alpaerts & Michiels, 2019) words in the composite stage can be linked to one of two distinct colour aspects: first as a tint, secondly as a two-colour combination. Compassion, in the sense of compassionate love, could be a mix of docile, with white as the corresponding colour (Heller, 1989. White: goodness 42%, humble 52%, honesty 37%) and exuberant corresponding with red (Heller, 1989. Red: energy 38%, activity 28%, passion 54%) represented by a pink colour as a result of the mixing. (Table 2, Figure 2)?

Table 2: Stages in emotional terms, eg. compassion and mixed colour shade pink.

Figure 2. ACCOLADES. The University of Tennessee’s College of Education, Health & Human Sciences. 3 Minutes On: Compassionate Love.?

Terms such as hate and anger could be a combination of hostile associated with the colour black (Heller, 1989. Black: hard 43%, brutality 41%, threat 51%) together with exuberant (red), resulting in the colour combination black-on-red. (Table 3, Figure 3).

Table 3: Stages in emotional terms, eg. anger and colour combination black-on-red.

Figure 3. New York Times. Who Gets to Be Angry? Keith Negley.

In summary, I suggest that emotion terms are associated with multiple colours (descriptive, dimensional stage), primary colours (primary stage), and colour tints or colour combinations (composite stage).

It is difficult to draw firm conclusions from the data of Mohr and Jonauskaite’s study without taking into account all of the above. The researchers nevertheless succeeded in reaching an important conclusion: “Given our current knowledge, we suggest that color-emotion associations represent a human psychological universal that likely contributes to shared communication and comprehension.” Similar research confirms this observation (Jung, 2018; Heller, 1989). As such, these associations may to an extent be indicative of an evolutionary, biological origin. The intriguing question then arises whether there is an innate structure behind these associations.

Supported by scientific research compounded in the Design Semantic Database, I want to demonstrate the possibility of a language structure as described in The Semantic Colour Space (Alpaerts & Michiels, 2019; Michiels, 2021). A 3-dimensional classification model facilitates the logical determination and connection between meaning, emotional and psychological effect on the one hand, and colours, colour combinations, colour palettes, shapes, compositions, textures, and symbols on the other. It would be interesting to analyse the research results of Mohr’s and Jonauskaite’s study in light of the hypothesis of the Semantic Colour Space. It might well end up demonstrating that, from a global perspective, there are even less cross-cultural differences and other disparities than current observations lead us to believe.

Reviewed by Frank Vlaeminck

Keywords in the Design Semantics Database

(click on a keyword to see its page in the database)

Pleasant, love, violent, hostile. anger, hate, sad, depresssed, cheerful (joy), gay (joy), happy, anxious, compassionate love.

Sources

Alpaerts, F., Michiels, I. (2019) The semantic color space. Proceedings of the International Colour Association (AIC) Conference 2019, p.178-183. read paper

Berlin, B. & Kay, P. (1969). Basic color terms: their universality and evolution. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Bradley, M. M. & Lang, P. J. (1994). Measuring emotion: the self-assessment manikin and the semantic differential. J. Behav. Ther. & Exp. Psychiat., 5 (1), 49-59.

da Pos, O. & Green-Armytage, P. (2007) Facial expression. Colour and basic emotions. Colour: Design and Creativity, 1, 1-15.

Detenber, B. H. & Reeves, B. (1996). A Bio-Informational Theory of Emotion: motion and image size effects. Journal of Communication, 46 (3), 66-84.

Heller E. (1989). Wie Farben wirken. Hamburg, DE: Rowohlt Verlag GmbH.

Jonauskaite, D. et al. (2020) Universal Patterns in Color-Emotion Associations Are Further Shaped by Linguistic and Geographic Proximity. Psychological Science 2020, Vol. 31(10) 1245–1260

Jung, I. et al. (2018) Colour Associations in Different Cultures. Colour & Human Comfort. Abstracts of the International Colour Association (AIC) Conference 2018. p.113.

Kay, P., & Regier, T. (2006). Language, thought and color: recent developments. Trends in cognitive sciences, 10(2), 51-54.

Mehrabian, A. (1996) Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance: a general framework for Describing and measuring individual differences in temperament. Current Psychology: Developmental, Learning, Personality, Social 14 4, 261–292 10.?

Mehrabian, A. (1995) Framework for a comprehensive description and Measurement of emotional states. Genetic, Social and General Psychology Monographs 121 3, 339–361?

Michiels, I. (2021) Design Semantics Database: Towards an analytical and logical approach for meaningful design. Proceedings of the International Colour Association (AIC) Conference 2021, 897-902. read paper

Miyamoto, M. (2003). Effects of Light Sources and Colors of Interior Elements on Atmosphere in the Living Room. University of Shiga Prefecture. Proceedings of AIC 2003 Bangkok: Color Communication and Management.

Mohr, C. & Jonauskaite, D. (2022) Associations Between Colors and Emotions Are Universal. Psychology Today. February 8, 2022 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/color-psychology/202202/associations-between-colors-and-emotions-are-universal

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