TY - JOUR
T1 - Universal Patterns in Color-Emotion Associations Are Further Shaped by Linguistic and Geographic Proximity
AU - Jonauskaite, Domicele
AU - Abu-Akel, Ahmad
AU - Dael, Nele
AU - Oberfeld, Daniel
AU - Abdel-Khalek, Ahmed M.
AU - Al-Rasheed, Abdulrahman S.
AU - Antonietti, Jean-Philippe
AU - Bogushevskaya, Victoria
AU - Chamseddine, Amer
AU - Chkonia, Eka
AU - Corona, Violeta
AU - Fonseca-Pedrero, Eduardo
AU - Griber, Yulia A.
AU - Grimshaw, Gina
AU - Hasan, Aya Ahmed
AU - Havelka, Jelena
AU - Hirnstein, Marco
AU - Karlsson, Bodil S. A.
AU - Laurent, Eric
AU - Lindeman, Marjaana
AU - Marquardt, Lynn
AU - Mefoh, Philip
AU - Papadatou-Pastou, Marietta
AU - Pérez-Albéniz, Alicia
AU - Pouyan, Niloufar
AU - Roinishvili, Maya
AU - Romanyuk, Lyudmyla
AU - Salgado Montejo, Alejandro
AU - Schrag, Yann
AU - Sultanova, Aygun
AU - Uusküla, Mari
AU - Vainio, Suvi
AU - Wąsowicz, Grażyna
AU - Zdravković, Sunčica
AU - Zhang, Meng
AU - Mohr, Christine
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Many of us “see red,” “feel blue,” or “turn green with envy.” Are such color-emotion associations fundamental to our shared cognitive architecture, or are they cultural creations learned through our languages and traditions? To answer these questions, we tested emotional associations of colors in 4,598 participants from 30 nations speaking 22 native languages. Participants associated 20 emotion concepts with 12 color terms. Pattern-similarity analyses revealed universal color-emotion associations (average similarity coefficient r =.88). However, local differences were also apparent. A machine-learning algorithm revealed that nation predicted color-emotion associations above and beyond those observed universally. Similarity was greater when nations were linguistically or geographically close. This study highlights robust universal color-emotion associations, further modulated by linguistic and geographic factors. These results pose further theoretical and empirical questions about the affective properties of color and may inform practice in applied domains, such as well-being and design.
AB - Many of us “see red,” “feel blue,” or “turn green with envy.” Are such color-emotion associations fundamental to our shared cognitive architecture, or are they cultural creations learned through our languages and traditions? To answer these questions, we tested emotional associations of colors in 4,598 participants from 30 nations speaking 22 native languages. Participants associated 20 emotion concepts with 12 color terms. Pattern-similarity analyses revealed universal color-emotion associations (average similarity coefficient r =.88). However, local differences were also apparent. A machine-learning algorithm revealed that nation predicted color-emotion associations above and beyond those observed universally. Similarity was greater when nations were linguistically or geographically close. This study highlights robust universal color-emotion associations, further modulated by linguistic and geographic factors. These results pose further theoretical and empirical questions about the affective properties of color and may inform practice in applied domains, such as well-being and design.
KW - affect
KW - color perception
KW - cross-cultural
KW - cultural relativity
KW - open data
KW - open materials
KW - pattern analysis
KW - universality
KW - affect
KW - color perception
KW - cross-cultural
KW - cultural relativity
KW - open data
KW - open materials
KW - pattern analysis
KW - universality
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/162314
U2 - 10.1177/0956797620948810
DO - 10.1177/0956797620948810
M3 - Article
SN - 0956-7976
VL - 31
SP - 1245
EP - 1260
JO - Psychological Science
JF - Psychological Science
ER -