Analysis of cross‐cultural color emotion

TLDR

The study examines how color perceptual attributes relate to color emotions and how cultural background influences this relationship. The authors evaluated 214 color samples on 12 emotion variables with participants from seven regions and calculated factor scores to analyze determinants. Factor analysis revealed three factors—chroma, lightness, and hue—accounting for 80 region‑emotion variables, with chroma and lightness driving color emotion while hue and cultural background had minimal influence, and no significant regional differences were observed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.; Col Res Appl 32:223–229.

Abstract

Abstract This study investigates the relationship between color perceptual attributes and color emotions, as well as the influence of different cultural backgrounds. Totally 214 color samples were evaluated on 12 emotion variables by subjects from seven different region groups in the psychophysical experiment. By factor analysis, it was found that three factors were sufficient to represent 80 “region‐emotion” variables. For each variable, there is no distinct difference among different region groups. The 12 emotion variables could be divided into four categories, namely, activity index, potency index, definition index, and temperature index. Factor scores were further calculated to study the determinants on each factor. The analysis showed that the three factors were mainly related to chroma, lightness, and hue, respectively. It was concluded that chroma and lightness were the most important factors on color emotion, whereas the influences of hue and cultural background were very limited. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 32, 223–229, 2007