Color and psychological functioning: a review of theoretical and empirical work

Abstract

In the past decade there has been increased interest in research on color and psychological functioning. Important advances have been made in theoretical work and empirical work, but there are also important weaknesses in both areas that must be addressed for the literature to continue to develop apace. In this article, I provide brief theoretical and empirical reviews of research in this area, in each instance beginning with a historical background and recent advancements, and proceeding to an evaluation focused on weaknesses that provide guidelines for future research. I conclude by reiterating that the literature on color and psychological functioning is at a nascent stage of development, and by recommending patience and prudence regarding conclusions about theory, findings, and real-world application.

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MINI REVIEW
published: 02 April 2015
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00368
Edited by:
Gregory R. Maio,
Cardiff University, UK
Reviewed by:
Netta Weinstein,
University of Essex, UK
Ian Stephen,
Macquarie University, Australia
*Correspondence:
Andrew J. Elliot,
Department of Clinical and Social
Sciences in Psychology, University of
Rochester, Intercampus Drive,
Rochester, NY 14627, USA
andye@psych.rochester.edu
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to
Personality and Social Psychology, a
section of the journal Frontiers in
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Received: 25 November 2014
Accepted: 16 March 2015
Published: 02 April 2015
Citation:
Elliot AJ (2015) Color and
psychological functioning: a review of
theoretical and empirical work.
Front. Psychol. 6:368.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00368
Color and psychological functioning:
a review of theoretical and empirical
work
Andrew J. Elliot*
Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
In the past decade there has been increased interest in research on color and
psychological functioning. Important advances have been made in theoretical work and
empirical work, but there are also important weaknesses in both areas that must be
addressed for the literature to continue to develop apace. In this article, I provide brief
theoretical and empirical reviews of research in this area, in each instance beginning with
a historical background and recent advancements, and proceeding to an evaluation
focused on weaknesses that provide guidelines for future research. I conclude by
reiterating that the literature on color and psychological functioning is at a nascent stage
of development, and by recommending patience and prudence regarding conclusions
about theory, findings, and real-world application.
Keywords: color, psychological functioning, hue, lightness, chroma
The past decade has seen enhanced interest in research in the area of color and psychological
functioning. Progress has been made on both theoretical and empirical fronts, but there are also
weaknesses on both of these fronts that must be attended to for this research area to continue to
make progress. In the following, I briefly review both advances and weaknesses in the literature on
color and psychological functioning.
Theoretical Work
Background and Recent Developments
Color has fascinated scholars for millennia (Sloane, 1991;Gage, 1993). Theorizing on color and
psychological functioning has been present since Goethe (1810) penned his Theory of Colors, in
which he linked color categories (e.g., the “plus” colors of yellow, red–yellow, yellow–red) to emo-
tional responding (e.g., warmth, excitement). Goldstein (1942) expanded on Goethe’s intuitions,
positing that certain colors (e.g., red, yellow) produce systematic physiological reactions manifest in
emotional experience (e.g., negative arousal), cognitive orientation (e.g., outward focus), and overt
action (e.g., forceful behavior). Subsequent theorizing derived from Goldstein’s ideas has focused
on wavelength, positing that longer wavelength colors feel arousing or warm, whereas shorter wave-
length colors feel relaxing or cool (Nakashian, 1964;Crowley, 1993). Other conceptual statements
about color and psychological functioning have focused on general associations that people have
to colors and their corresponding influence on downstream affect, cognition, and behavior (e.g.,
black is associated with aggression and elicits aggressive behavior; Frank and Gilovich, 1988;Soldat
et al., 1997). Finally, much writing on color and psychological functioning has been completely
atheoretical, focused exclusively on finding answers to applied questions (e.g., “What wall color
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Elliot Color and psychological functioning
facilitates worker alertness and productivity?”). The aforemen-
tioned theories and conceptual statements continue to motivate
research on color and psychological functioning. However, sev-
eral other promising theoretical frameworks have also emerged
in the past decade, and I review these frameworks in the
following.
Hill and Barton (2005) noted that in many non-human
animals, including primate species, dominance in aggressive
encounters (i.e., superior physical condition) is signaled by the
bright red of oxygenated blood visible on highly vascularized bare
skin. Artificial red (e.g., on leg bands) has likewise been shown to
signal dominance in non-human animals, mimicking the natural
physiological process (Cuthill et al., 1997). In humans in aggres-
sive encounters, a testosterone surge produces visible reddening
on the face and fear leads to pallor (Drummond and Quay, 2001;
Levenson, 2003). Hill and Barton (2005) posited that the parallel
between humans and non-humans present at the physiological
level may extend to artificial stimuli, such that wearing red in
sport contests may convey dominance and lead to a competitive
advantage.
Other theorists have also utilized a comparative approach in
positing links between skin coloration and the evaluation of con-
specifics. Changizi et al. (2006)andChangizi (2009)contend
that trichromatic vision evolved to enable primates, including
humans, to detect subtle changes in blood flow beneath the skin
that carry important information about the emotional state of
the conspecific. Increased red can convey anger, embarrassment,
or sexual arousal, whereas increased bluish or greenish tint can
convey illness or poor physiological condition. Thus, visual sensi-
tivity to these color modulations facilitates various forms of social
interaction. In similar fashion, Stephen et al. (2009)andStephen
and McKeegan (2010) propose that perceivers use information
about skin coloration (perhaps particularly from the face, Ta n
and Stephen, 2012) to make inferences about the attractiveness,
health, and dominance of conspecifics. Redness (from blood oxy-
genization) and yellowness (from carotenoids) are both seen as
facilitating positive judgments. Fink et al. (2006)andFink and
Matts (2007) posit that the homogeneity of skin coloration is an
important factor in evaluating the age, attractiveness, and health
of faces.
Elliot and Maier (2012) have proposed color-in-context the-
ory, which draws on social learning, as well as biology. Some
responses to color stimuli are presumed to be solely due to the
repeated pairing of color and particular concepts, messages, and
experiences. Others, however, are presumed to represent a bio-
logically engrained predisposition that is reinforced and shaped
by social learning. Through this social learning, color associ-
ations can be extended beyond natural bodily processes (e.g.,
blood flow modulations) to objects in close proximity to the body
(e.g., clothes, accessories). Thus, for example, red may not only
increase attractiveness evaluations when viewed on the face, but
also when viewed on a shirt or dress. As implied by the name of
the theory, the physical and psychological context in which color
is perceived is thought to influence its meaning and, accordingly,
responses to it. Thus, blue on a ribbon is positive (indicating first
place), but blue on a piece of meat is negative (indicating rot-
ten), and a red shirt may enhance the attractiveness of a potential
mate (red =sex/romance), but not of a person evaluating one’s
competence (red =failure/danger).
Meier and Robinson (2005)andMeier (in press)haveposited
a conceptual metaphor theory of color. From this perspective,
people talk and think about abstract concepts in concrete terms
grounded in perceptual experience (i.e., they use metaphors) to
help them understand and navigate their social world (Lakoff
and Johnson, 1999). Thus, anger entails reddening of the face,
so anger is metaphorically described as “seeing red,” and pos-
itive emotions and experiences are often depicted in terms of
lightness (rather than darkness), so lightness is metaphorically
linked to good (“seeing the light”) rather than bad (“in the dark”).
These metaphoric associations are presumed to have implications
for important outcomes such as morality judgments (e.g., white
things are viewed as pure) and stereotyping (e.g., dark faces are
viewed more negatively).
For many years it has been known that light directly influ-
ences physiology and increases arousal (see Cajochen, 2007,for
a review), but recently theorists have posited that such effects
are wavelength dependent. Blue light, in particular, is posited
to activate the melanopsin photoreceptor system which, in turn,
activates the brain structures involved in sub-cortical arousal
and higher-order attentional processing (Cajochen et al., 2005;
Lockley et al., 2006). As such, exposure to blue light is expected to
facilitate alertness and enhance performance on tasks requiring
sustained attention.
Evaluation and Recommendations
Drawing on recent theorizing in evolutionary psychology,
emotion science, retinal physiology, person perception, and
social cognition, the aforementioned conceptualizations repre-
sent important advances to the literature on color and psycho-
logical functioning. Nevertheless, theory in this area remains at a
nascent level of development, and the following weaknesses may
be identified.
First, the focus of theoretical work in this area is either
extremely specific or extremely general. A precise conceptual
proposition such as red signals dominance and leads to compet-
itive advantage in sports (Hill and Barton, 2005)isvaluablein
that it can be directly translated into a clear, testable hypothe-
sis; however, it is not clear how this specific hypothesis connects
to a broader understanding of color–performance relations in
achievement settings more generally. On the other end of the
spectrum, a general conceptualization such as color-in-context
theory (Elliot and Maier, 2012)isvaluableinthatitofferssev-
eral widely applicable premises; however, these premises are
only vaguely suggestive of precise hypotheses in specific con-
texts. What is needed are mid-level theoretical frameworks that
comprehensively, yet precisely explain and predict links between
color and psychological functioning in specific contexts (for
emerging developments, see Pazda and Greitemeyer, in press;
Spence, in press;Stephen and Perrett, in press).
Second, the extant theoretical work is limited in scope in
terms of range of hues, range of color properties, and direction
of influence. Most theorizing has focused on one hue, red, which
is understandable given its prominence in nature, on the body,
and in society (Changizi, 2009;Elliot and Maier, 2014); however,
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Elliot Color and psychological functioning
other hues also carry important associations that undoubtedly
have downstream effects (e.g., blue: Labrecque and Milne, 2012;
green: Akers et al., 2012). Color has three basic properties: hue,
lightness, and chroma (Fairchild, 2013).Variationinanyorall
of these properties could influence downstream affect, cogni-
tion, or behavior, yet only hue is considered in most theorizing
(most likely because experientially, it is the most salient color
property). Lightness and chroma also undoubtedly have impli-
cations for psychological functioning (e.g., lightness: Kareklas
et al., 2014; chroma: Lee et al., 2013); lightness has received
some attention within conceptual metaphor theory (Meier, in
press;seealsoPrado-León and Rosales-Cinco, 2011), but chroma
has been almost entirely overlooked, as has the issue of combi-
nations of hue, lightness, and chroma. Finally, most theorizing
has focused on color as an independent variable rather than a
dependent variable; however, it is also likely that many situa-
tional and intrapersonal factors influence color perception (e.g.,
situational: Bubl et al., 2009; intrapersonal: Fetterman et al.,
2015).
Third, theorizing to date has focused primarily on main
effects, with only a modicum of attention allocated to the impor-
tant issue of moderation. As research literatures develop and
mature, they progress from a sole focus on “is” questions (“Does
X influence Y?”) to additionally considering “when” questions
(“Under what conditions does X influence Y and under what
conditions does X not influence Y?”). These “second generation”
questions (Zanna and Fazio, 1982, p. 283) can seem less excit-
ing and even deflating in that they posit boundary conditions
that constrain the generalizability of an effect. Nevertheless, this
step is invaluable in that it adds conceptual precision and clar-
ity, and begins to address the issue of real-world applicability. All
color effects undoubtedly depend on certain conditions – culture,
gender, age, type of task, variant of color, etc. – and acquiring
an understanding of these conditions will represent an impor-
tant marker of maturity for this literature (for movement in this
direction, see Schwarz and Singer, 2013;Tracy and Beall, 2014;
Bertrams et al., 2015;Buechner et al., in press;Young, in press).
Another, more succinct, way to state this third weakness is that
theorizing in this area needs to take context, in all its forms, more
seriously.
Empirical Work
Background and Recent Developments
Empirical work on color and psychological functioning dates
back to the late 19th century (Féré, 1887;seePressey, 1921,
for a review). A consistent feature of this work, from its incep-
tion to the past decade, is that it has been fraught with major
methodological problems that have precluded rigorous testing
and clear interpretation (O’Connor, 2011). One problem has
been a failure to attend to rudimentary scientific procedures
such as experimenter blindness to condition, identifying, and
excluding color deficient participants, and standardizing the
duration of color presentation or exposure. Another problem
has been a failure to specify and control for color at the spec-
tral level in manipulations. Without such specification, it is
impossible to know what precise combination of color proper-
ties was investigated, and without such control, the confounding
of focal and non-focal color properties is inevitable (Whitfield
and Wiltshire, 1990;Valdez and Mehrabian, 1994). Yet another
problem has been the use of underpowered samples. This prob-
lem, shared across scientific disciplines (Maxwell, 2004), can
lead to Type I errors, Type II errors, and inflated effect sizes
(Fraley and Vazire, 2014;Murayama et al., 2014). Together, these
methodological problems have greatly hampered progress in this
area.
Although some of the aforementioned problems remain (see
“Evaluation and Recommendations” below), others have been
rectified in recent work. This, coupled with advances in theory
development, has led to a surge in empirical activity. In the fol-
lowing, I review the diverse areas in which color work has been
conducted in the past decade, and the findings that have emerged.
Space considerations require me to constrain this review to a
brief mention of central findings within each area. I focus on
findings with humans (for reviews of research with non-human
animals, see Higham and Winters, in press;Setchell, in press)that
have been obtained in multiple (at least five) independent labs.
Tab l e 1 provides a summary, as well as representative examples
and specific references.
In research on color and selective attention, red stimuli have
been shown to receive an attentional advantage (see Folk, in
press, for a review). Research on color and alertness has shown
that blue light increases subjective alertness and performance on
attention-based tasks (see Chellappa et al., 2011,forareview).
Studies on color and athletic performance have linked wearing
red to better performance and perceived performance in sport
competitions and tasks (see Maier et al., in press,forareview).
In research on color and intellectual performance, viewing red
prior to a challenging cognitive task has been shown to under-
mine performance (see Shi et al., 2015, for a review). Research
focused on color and aggressiveness/dominance evaluation has
shown that viewing red on self or other increases appraisals of
aggressiveness and dominance (see Krenn, 2014,forareview).
Empirical work on color and avoidance motivation has linked
viewing red in achievement contexts to increased caution and
avoidance (see Elliot and Maier, 2014,forareview).Inresearch
on color and attraction, viewing red on or near a female has been
shown to enhance attraction in heterosexual males (see Pazda
and Greitemeyer, in press, for a review). Research on color and
store/company evaluation has shown that blue on stores/logos
increases quality and trustworthiness appraisals (see Labrecque
and Milne, 2012, for a review). Finally, empirical work on color
and eating/drinking has shown that red influences food and bev-
erage perception and consumption (see Spence, in press,fora
review).
Evaluation and Recommendations
The aforementioned findings represent important contributions
to the literature on color and psychological functioning, and
highlight the multidisciplinary nature of research in this area.
Nevertheless, much like the extant theoretical work, the extant
empirical work remains at a nascent level of development, due, in
part, to the following weaknesses.
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Elliot Color and psychological functioning
TABLE 1 | Research on color and psychological functioning.
Area of research Central finding Example References
Color and Selective Attention Red stimuli have been shown to receive an
attentional advantage
Participants’ visual search times were faster
for desaturated red (relative to several other
colored) targets
Lindsay et al., 2010;Tchernikov and Fallah, 2010;
Buechner et al., 2014;Pomerleau et al., 2014;Sokolik
et al., 2014 (cf. Becker et al., 2014;Folk, in press)
Color and Alertness Blue light has been shown to increase
subjective alertness and performance on
attention-based tasks
Participants exposed to blue (relative to
yellow) illumination reported greater mental
alertness
Lockley et al., 2006;Lehrl et al., 2007;Viola et al.,
2008;Cajochen et al., 2011;Taillard et al., 2012 (cf.
Vandewalle et al., 2007;Sahin and Figuerio, 2013)
Color and Athletic Performance Wearing red has been shown to enhance
performance and perceived performance in
sport competitions and tasks
Tae kwon do competitors wearing red
outperformed those wearing blue
Hill and Barton, 2005;Hagemann et al., 2008;Ilie et al.,
2008;Greenlees et al., 2013;Sorokowski et al., 2014
(cf. Caldwell and Burger, 2011;Garcia-Rubio et al.,
2011)
Color and Intellectual Performance Viewing red prior to a challenging cognitive
task has been shown to undermine
performance
Participants who viewed red (relative to
green or gray) on an intelligence test cover
performed worse on the test
Elliot et al., 2007;Gnambs et al., 2010;Zhang and Han,
2014;Shi et al., 2015;Thorstenson, in press (cf.
Yamazaki, 2010;Smajic et al., 2014)
Color and Aggressiveness/Dominance
Evaluation
Viewing red on self or other has been
shown to increase appraisals of
aggressiveness/dominance
Participants rated males wearing red
(relative to other chromatic colors) as more
dominant
Greenlees et al., 2008;Little and Hill, 2007;Feltman
and Elliot, 2011;Stephen et al., 2012a;Aiken and
Pascal, 2013 (cf. Sorokowski and Szmajke, 2007;
Furley et al., 2012)
Color and Avoidance Motivation Viewing red in achievement contexts has
been shown to increase caution and
avoidance
Participants who viewed red (relative to
green or gray) prior to an ostensible
intelligence test evidenced greater right
(versus left) frontal cortical activation
Elliot et al., 2007;Mehta and Zhu, 2009;Rutchick et al.,
2010;Tanaka and Tokuno, 2011;TenVeldenetal.,
2012 (cf. Elwood and Bode, 2014;Steele, 2014)
Color and Attraction Viewing red on or near a female has been
shown to increase attraction in
heterosexual males
Heterosexual males rated females wearing
red (relative to other chromatic colors) as
more attractive
Elliot and Niesta, 2008;Roberts et al., 2010;Stephen
and McKeegan, 2010;Guéguen and Jacob, 2014;Lin,
2014 (cf. Lynn et al., in press;Stephen et al., 2012b)
Color and Store/Company Evaluation Blue stores/logos have been shown to
increase quality and trustworthiness
appraisals
Participants rated websites featuring blue
(relative to green) as more trustworthy
Yüksel, 2009;Lee and Rao, 2010;Alberts and van der
Geest, 2011;Labrecque and Milne, 2012;Ridgway
and Myers, 2014 (cf. Barli et al., 2006;Chebat and
Morrin, 2007)
Color and Eating/Drinking Red has been shown to influence food and
beverage perception and consumption
Participants ate less chocolate chips from a
red (relative to blue or white) plate
Ross et al., 2008;Genschow et al., 2012;Guéguen,
2012;Bruno et al., 2013;Spence et al., 2014 (cf.
Piqueras-Fiszman et al., 2012;Van Ittersum and
Wansink, 2012)
The review of findings was restricted to those that have been supported by a minimum of five independent laboratories. The references are to representative articles within each area of research; articles with supportive
findings area listed first, followed by articles with non-supportive findings (indicated by cf.).
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Elliot Color and psychological functioning
First, although in some research in this area color proper-
ties are controlled for at the spectral level, in most research it
(still) is not. Color control is typically done improperly at the
device (rather than the spectral) level, is impossible to imple-
ment (e.g., in web-based platform studies), or is ignored alto-
gether. Color control is admittedly difficult, as it requires tech-
nical equipment for color assessment and presentation, as well
as the expertise to use it. Nevertheless, careful color control is
essential if systematic scientific work is to be conducted in this
area. Findings from uncontrolled research can be informative in
initial explorations of color hypotheses, but such work is inher-
ently fraught with interpretational ambiguity (Whitfield and
Wiltshire, 1990;Elliot and Maier, 2014)thatmustbesubsequently
addressed.
Second, color perception is not only a function of lightness,
chroma, and hue, but also of factors such as viewing distance
and angle, amount and type of ambient light, and presence of
other colors in the immediate background and general envi-
ronmental surround (Hunt and Pointer, 2011;Brainard and
Radonji´
c, 2014;Fairchild, 2015). In basic color science research
(e.g., on color physics, color physiology, color appearance mod-
eling, etcetera; see Gegenfurtner and Ennis, in press;Johnson,
in press;Stockman and Brainard, in press), these factors are
carefully specified and controlled for in order to establish stan-
dardized participant viewing conditions. These factors have been
largely ignored and allowed to vary in research on color and psy-
chological functioning, with unknown consequences. An impor-
tant next step for research in this area is to move to incor-
porate these more rigorous standardization procedures widely
utilized by basic color scientists. With regard to both this and the
aforementioned weakness, it should be acknowledged that exact
and complete control is not actually possible in color research,
given the multitude of factors that influence color perception
(Committee on Colorimetry of the Optical Society of America,
1953) and our current level of knowledge about and ability to
control them (Fairchild, 2015). As such, the standard that must
be embraced and used as a guideline in this work is to control
color properties and viewing conditions to the extent possible
given current technology, and to keep up with advances in the
field that will increasingly afford more precise and efficient color
management.
Third, although in some research in this area, large, fully
powered samples are used, much of the research remains
underpowered. This is a problem in general, but it is partic-
ularly a problem when the initial demonstration of an effect
is underpowered (e.g., Elliot and Niesta, 2008), because ini-
tial work is often used as a guide for determining sample size
in subsequent work (both heuristically and via power analy-
sis). Underpowered samples commonly produce overestimated
effect size estimates (Ioannidis, 2008), and basing subsequent
sample sizes on such estimates simply perpetuates the prob-
lem. Small sample sizes can also lead researchers to prema-
turely conclude that a hypothesis is disconfirmed, overlooking a
potentially important advance (Murayama et al., 2014). Findings
from small sampled studies should be considered preliminary;
running large sampled studies with carefully controlled color
stimuli is essential if a robust scientific literature is to be devel-
oped. Furthermore, as the “evidentiary value movement” (Finkel
et al., 2015) makes inroads in the empirical sciences, color
scientists would do well to be at the leading edge of imple-
menting such rigorous practices as publically archiving research
materials and data, designating exploratory from confirmatory
analyses, supplementing or even replacing significant testing
with “new statistics” (Cumming, 2014), and even preregistering
research protocols and analyses (see Finkel et al., 2015,foran
overview).
Conclusion
In both reviewing advances in and identifying weaknesses of the
literature on color and psychological functioning, it is impor-
tant to bear in mind that the existing theoretical and empirical
work is at an early stage of development. It is premature to offer
any bold theoretical statements, definitive empirical pronounce-
ments, or impassioned calls for application; rather, it is best to
be patient and to humbly acknowledge that color psychology is a
uniquely complex area of inquiry (Kuehni, 2012;Fairchild, 2013)
that is only beginning to come into its own. Findings from color
research can be provocative and media friendly, and the pub-
lic (and the field as well) can be tempted to reach conclusions
before the science is fully in place. There is considerable promise
in research on color and psychological functioning, but consider-
ably more theoretical and empirical work needs to be done before
the full extent of this promise can be discerned and, hopefully,
fulfilled.
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Conflict of Interest Statement: The author declares that the research was con-
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construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Copyright © 2015 Elliot. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of
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