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Jonauskaite D, Abu-Akel A, Dael N, Oberfeld D, Abdel-Khalek AM, Al-Rasheed AS, Antonietti JP, Bogushevskaya V, Chamseddine A, Chkonia E, Corona V, Fonseca-Pedrero E, Griber YA, Grimshaw G, Hasan AA, Havelka J, Hirnstein M, Karlsson BSA, Laurent E, Lindeman M, Marquardt L, Mefoh P, Papadatou-Pastou M, Pérez-Albéniz A, Pouyan N, Roinishvili M, Romanyuk L, Salgado Montejo A, Schrag Y, Sultanova A, Uusküla M, Vainio S, Wąsowicz G, Zdravković S, Zhang M, Mohr C. Universal Patterns in Color-Emotion Associations Are Further Shaped by Linguistic and Geographic Proximity. Psychol Sci 2020; 31:1245-1260. [DOI: 10.1177/0956797620948810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Nele Dael
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne
- Department of Organizational Behavior, University of Lausanne
| | - Daniel Oberfeld
- Institute of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
| | | | | | | | - Victoria Bogushevskaya
- Department of Linguistic Sciences and Foreign Literatures, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
| | - Amer Chamseddine
- School of Computer and Communication Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne
| | - Eka Chkonia
- Department of Psychiatry, Tbilisi State Medical University
| | - Violeta Corona
- Escuela de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad Panamericana
- Business Management Department, Universitat Politècnica de València
| | | | - Yulia A. Griber
- Department of Sociology and Philosophy, Smolensk State University
| | - Gina Grimshaw
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington
| | - Aya Ahmed Hasan
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University
| | | | - Marco Hirnstein
- Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen
| | - Bodil S. A. Karlsson
- Division of Built Environment, Research Institutes of Sweden AB, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Eric Laurent
- Laboratory of Psychology, University Bourgogne Franche–Comté
- Maison des Sciences de l’Homme et de l’Environnement, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and University of Franche-Comté
| | | | - Lynn Marquardt
- Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen
| | | | - Marietta Papadatou-Pastou
- School of Education, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
- Biomedical Research Foundation (BRFaa), Academy of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | | | | | - Maya Roinishvili
- Laboratory of Vision Physiology, I. Beritashvili Center of Experimental Biomedicine, T’bilisi, Georgia
| | - Lyudmyla Romanyuk
- Faculty of Psychology, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
- Department of Psychology, V. I. Vernadsky Taurida National University
- Department of Psychology, Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts
| | - Alejandro Salgado Montejo
- Escuela Internacional de Ciencias Económicas y Administrativas, Universidad de La Sabana
- Center for Multisensory Marketing, BI Norwegian Business School
- Neurosketch, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Yann Schrag
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne
| | - Aygun Sultanova
- National Mental Health Centre, Ministry of Health, Baku, Azerbaijan
| | | | - Suvi Vainio
- Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
| | | | - Sunčica Zdravković
- Department of Psychology, University of Novi Sad
- Laboratory for Experimental Psychology, University of Belgrade
| | - Meng Zhang
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University
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