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Colour and emotion
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David R. Simmons
Abstract
Whilst there are many anecdotal links between particular colours and particular emotions, there is relatively little in the way of systematic research. In this chapter a protocol is proposed for establishing these links empirically which is then tested on the emotional terms “pleasant”, “unpleasant”, “mood-enhancing” and “calming”. It was found that it is possible to establish reliable colour-emotion associations, at least with culturally homogeneous participants. A framework for understanding these associations is proposed.
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Abstract
Whilst there are many anecdotal links between particular colours and particular emotions, there is relatively little in the way of systematic research. In this chapter a protocol is proposed for establishing these links empirically which is then tested on the emotional terms “pleasant”, “unpleasant”, “mood-enhancing” and “calming”. It was found that it is possible to establish reliable colour-emotion associations, at least with culturally homogeneous participants. A framework for understanding these associations is proposed.
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Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface ix
- Abbreviations xi
-
Section 1. Theoretical issues
- Illusions of colour and shadow 3
- Universal trends and specific deviations 13
- Touchy-Feely colour 27
- Towards a semiotic theory of basic colour terms and the semiotics of Juri Lotman 39
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Section 2. Languages of the world
- Preface to Section 2 51
- Basic colour terms of Arabic 53
- Red herrings in a sea of data 59
- Towards a diachrony of Maltese basic colour terms 73
- Rosa Schätze – Pink zum kaufen 91
- Kashubian colour vocabulary 105
- Colour terms 121
- Preliminary research on Turkish basic colour terms with an emphasis on blue 133
- Terms for red in Central Europe 147
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Section 3. Colour in society
- Preface to Section 3 159
- Colours in the community 161
- Hues and cries 171
- Colour appearance in urban chromatic studies 181
- Aspects of armorial colours and their perception in medieval literature 191
- Warm, cool, light, dark, or afterimage 205
- The power of colour term precision 219
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Section 4. Categorical perception of colour
- Preface to Section 4 235
- Investigating the underlying mechanisms of categorical perception of colour using the event-related potential technique 237
- Category training affects colour discrimination but only in the right visual field 251
- Effects of stimulus range on color categorization 265
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Section 5. Individual differences in colour vision
- Preface to Section 5 279
- Colour and autism spectrum disorders 281
- Red-Green dichromats’ use of basic colour terms 293
- Synaesthesia in colour 309
- Towards a phonetically-rich account of speech-sound → colour synaesthesia 319
- Perceiving “grue” 329
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Section 6. Colour preference and colour meaning
- Preface to Section 6 345
- Age-dependence of colour preference in the U.K. population 347
- Ecological valence and human color preference 361
- Look and learn 377
- Effects of lightness and saturation on color associations in the Mexican population 389
- Colour and emotion 395
- Colors and color adjectives in the cortex 415
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Section 7. Colour vision science
- Preface to Section 7 431
- Chromatic perceptual learning 433
- Unique hues 445
- A short note on visual balance judgements as a tool for colour appearance matching 457
- Index 459
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface ix
- Abbreviations xi
-
Section 1. Theoretical issues
- Illusions of colour and shadow 3
- Universal trends and specific deviations 13
- Touchy-Feely colour 27
- Towards a semiotic theory of basic colour terms and the semiotics of Juri Lotman 39
-
Section 2. Languages of the world
- Preface to Section 2 51
- Basic colour terms of Arabic 53
- Red herrings in a sea of data 59
- Towards a diachrony of Maltese basic colour terms 73
- Rosa Schätze – Pink zum kaufen 91
- Kashubian colour vocabulary 105
- Colour terms 121
- Preliminary research on Turkish basic colour terms with an emphasis on blue 133
- Terms for red in Central Europe 147
-
Section 3. Colour in society
- Preface to Section 3 159
- Colours in the community 161
- Hues and cries 171
- Colour appearance in urban chromatic studies 181
- Aspects of armorial colours and their perception in medieval literature 191
- Warm, cool, light, dark, or afterimage 205
- The power of colour term precision 219
-
Section 4. Categorical perception of colour
- Preface to Section 4 235
- Investigating the underlying mechanisms of categorical perception of colour using the event-related potential technique 237
- Category training affects colour discrimination but only in the right visual field 251
- Effects of stimulus range on color categorization 265
-
Section 5. Individual differences in colour vision
- Preface to Section 5 279
- Colour and autism spectrum disorders 281
- Red-Green dichromats’ use of basic colour terms 293
- Synaesthesia in colour 309
- Towards a phonetically-rich account of speech-sound → colour synaesthesia 319
- Perceiving “grue” 329
-
Section 6. Colour preference and colour meaning
- Preface to Section 6 345
- Age-dependence of colour preference in the U.K. population 347
- Ecological valence and human color preference 361
- Look and learn 377
- Effects of lightness and saturation on color associations in the Mexican population 389
- Colour and emotion 395
- Colors and color adjectives in the cortex 415
-
Section 7. Colour vision science
- Preface to Section 7 431
- Chromatic perceptual learning 433
- Unique hues 445
- A short note on visual balance judgements as a tool for colour appearance matching 457
- Index 459
