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The good, the bad, and the red: implicit color-valence associations across cultures. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2023; 87:704-724. [PMID: 35838836 PMCID: PMC10017663 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-022-01697-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2021] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
Cultural differences-as well as similarities-have been found in explicit color-emotion associations between Chinese and Western populations. However, implicit associations in a cross-cultural context remain an understudied topic, despite their sensitivity to more implicit knowledge. Moreover, they can be used to study color systems-that is, emotional associations with one color in the context of an opposed one. Therefore, we tested the influence of two different color oppositions on affective stimulus categorization: red versus green and red versus white, in two experiments. In Experiment 1, stimuli comprised positive and negative words, and participants from the West (Austria/Germany), and the East (Mainland China, Macau) were tested in their native languages. The Western group showed a significantly stronger color-valence interaction effect than the Mainland Chinese (but not the Macanese) group for red-green but not for red-white opposition. To explore color-valence interaction effects independently of word stimulus differences between participant groups, we used affective silhouettes instead of words in Experiment 2. Again, the Western group showed a significantly stronger color-valence interaction than the Chinese group in red-green opposition, while effects in red-white opposition did not differ between cultural groups. Our findings complement those from explicit association research in an unexpected manner, where explicit measures showed similarities between cultures (associations for red and green), our results revealed differences and where explicit measures showed differences (associations with white), our results showed similarities, underlining the value of applying comprehensive measures in cross-cultural research on cross-modal associations.
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Christensen AP, Cardillo ER, Chatterjee A. What kind of impacts can artwork have on viewers? Establishing a taxonomy for aesthetic impacts. Br J Psychol 2022; 114:335-351. [PMID: 36519205 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2022] [Accepted: 12/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
What kinds of impacts can visual art have on a viewer? To identify potential art impacts, we recruited five aesthetics experts from different academic disciplines: art history, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology and theology. Together, the group curated a set of terms that corresponded to descriptive features (124 terms) and cognitive-affective impacts (69 terms) of artworks. Using these terms as prompts, participants (n = 899) were given one minute to generate words for each term related to how an artwork looked (descriptive features) or made them think or feel (cognitive-affective impacts). Using network psychometric approaches, we identified terms that were semantically similar based on participants' responses and applied hierarchical exploratory graph analysis to map the relationships between the terms. Our analyses identified 17 descriptive dimensions, which could be further reduced to 5, and 11 impact dimensions, which could be further reduced to 4. The resulting taxonomy demonstrated overlap between the descriptive and impact networks as well as consistency with empirical evidence. This taxonomy could serve as the foundation to empirically evaluate art's impacts on viewers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander P Christensen
- Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.,Psychology and Human Development, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Eileen R Cardillo
- Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Anjan Chatterjee
- Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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Zhang S, Zheng J, Mo L. The effect of the brightness metaphor on memory. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 86:1751-1762. [PMID: 34689220 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-021-01611-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2021] [Accepted: 10/07/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Brightness-based metaphor effects on perception have been widely documented. For example, moral content makes perception brighter. But does moral content make a bright memory brighter? We tested the effect of the moral brightness metaphor on different cognitive processes (perception, working memory, and long-term memory), and extended evidence of the relationship between brightness and moral concepts to the relationship between brightness and positive concepts. Different samples of college students participated in five experiments. In all experiments, moral (immoral) and positive (negative) pictures of varying levels of brightness were presented, and then participants reconstructed the brightness of each picture using a keyboard to adjust the brightness of an picture. Together, the results of ANOVAs across experiments showed that the metaphorical effect of brightness played no role in perception or working memory, but there was a significant increase in brightness in long-term memory. These results support the non-unidirectionality of metaphor, and extend the conceptual metaphor theory and simulating sensorimotor metaphors theory by enhancing the effect of metaphor through the cognitive mechanism of long-term memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shijia Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.,School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, No. 55, West of Zhongshan Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jianhong Zheng
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Development and Education for Special Needs Children, Department of Psychology and Key Laboratory of Psychological Assessment and Rehabilitation for Exceptional Children, Lingnan Normal University, 29 Cunjin Road, Chikan District, Zhanjiang, 524000, Guangdong, China.
| | - Lei Mo
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China. .,School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, No. 55, West of Zhongshan Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, China.
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Polarities influence implicit associations between colour and emotion. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2020; 209:103143. [PMID: 32731010 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2019] [Revised: 05/26/2020] [Accepted: 07/15/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Colours are linked to emotional concepts. Research on the effect of red in particular has been extensive, and evidence shows that positive as well as negative associations can be salient in different contexts. In this paper, we investigate the impact of the contextual factor of polarity. According to the polarity-correspondence principle, negative and positive category poles are assigned to the binary response categories (here positive vs. negative valence) and the perceptual dimension (green vs. red) in a discrimination task. Response facilitation occurs only where the conceptual category (valence) and the perceptual feature (colour) share the same pole (i.e., where both are plus or both are minus). We asked participants (n = 140) to classify the valence of green and red words within two types of blocks: (a) where all words were of the same colour (monochromatic conditions) providing no opposition in the perceptual dimension, and (b) where red and green words were randomly mixed (mixed-colour conditions). Our results show that red facilitates responses to negative words when the colour green is present (mixed-colour conditions) but not when it is absent (monochromatic conditions). This is in line with the polarity-correspondence principle, but colour-specific valence-affect associations contribute to the found effects.
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Specker E, Forster M, Brinkmann H, Boddy J, Immelmann B, Goller J, Pelowski M, Rosenberg R, Leder H. Warm, lively, rough? Assessing agreement on aesthetic effects of artworks. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0232083. [PMID: 32401777 PMCID: PMC7219710 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2019] [Accepted: 04/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The idea that simple visual elements such as colors and lines have specific, universal associations-for example red being warm-appears rather intuitive. Such associations have formed a basis for the description of artworks since the 18th century and are still fundamental to discourses on art today. Art historians might describe a painting where red is dominant as "warm," "aggressive," or "lively," with the tacit assumption that beholders would universally associate the works' certain key forms with specific qualities, or "aesthetic effects". However, is this actually the case? Do we actually share similar responses to the same line or color? In this paper, we tested whether and to what extent this assumption of universality (sharing of perceived qualities) is justified. We employed-for the first time-abstract artworks as well as single elements (lines and colors) extracted from these artworks in an experiment in which participants rated the stimuli on 14 "aesthetic effect" scales derived from art literature and empirical aesthetics. To test the validity of the assumption of universality, we examined on which of the dimensions there was agreement, and investigated the influence of art expertise, comparing art historians with lay people. In one study and its replication, we found significantly lower agreement than expected. For the whole artworks, participants agreed on the effects of warm-cold, heavy-light, and happy-sad, but not on 11 other dimensions. Further, we found that the image type (artwork or its constituting elements) was a major factor influencing agreement; people agreed more on the whole artwork than on single elements. Art expertise did not play a significant role and agreement was especially low on dimensions usually of interest in empirical aesthetics (e.g., like-dislike). Our results challenge the practice of interpreting artworks based on their aesthetic effects, as these effects may not be as universal as previously thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva Specker
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies, Department of Art History, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- * E-mail:
| | - Michael Forster
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Hanna Brinkmann
- Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies, Department of Art History, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Jane Boddy
- Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies, Department of Art History, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Beatrice Immelmann
- Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies, Department of Art History, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Jürgen Goller
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Matthew Pelowski
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Raphael Rosenberg
- Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies, Department of Art History, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- MECS, Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany
| | - Helmut Leder
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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