6533b86dfe1ef96bd12c9504
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Universal Patterns in Color-Emotion Associations Are Further Shaped by Linguistic and Geographic Proximity
Marietta Papadatou-pastouMarietta Papadatou-pastouEka ChkoniaAhmad Abu-akelAmer ChamseddineAya Ahmed HasanLyudmyla RomanyukLyudmyla RomanyukLyudmyla RomanyukDaniel OberfeldEduardo Fonseca-pedreroGrażyna WąsowiczGina M. GrimshawSunčica ZdravkovićSunčica ZdravkovićMarjaana LindemanEric LaurentMari UuskülaNiloufar PouyanAlicia Pérez-albénizPhilip C. MefohAhmed M. Abdel-khalekAlejandro Salgado MontejoAlejandro Salgado MontejoAbdulrahman S. Al-rasheedVioleta CoronaVioleta CoronaNele DaelBodil S.a. KarlssonMaya RoinishviliJelena HavelkaYulia A. GriberJean-philippe AntoniettiLynn MarquardtSuvi VainioYann SchragChristine MohrVictoria BogushevskayaMarco HirnsteinDomicele JonauskaiteMeng ZhangAygun Sultanovasubject
cultural relativitylanguagesCultural relativismColor vision515 PsychologyGeneral Psychology; affect; color perception; cross-cultural; universality; cultural relativity; pattern analysis; open data; open materialsEmotionsSettore L-LIN/01 - GLOTTOLOGIA E LINGUISTICAGeographic proximityPattern analysisColoropen data050109 social psychologyLinguisticred050105 experimental psychologyMachine LearningJealousycross-culturalcolor perceptionpattern analysisCross-culturalHumans0501 psychology and cognitive sciencesuniversalityGeneral PsychologyLanguageEmotionCommunicationbusiness.industryopen material05 social sciencesLinguisticsCognitive architectureopen materialsColor emotionpattern analysimeaningsaffectAffect (linguistics)PsychologybusinessHumandescription
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.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-10-01 |