An ecological valence theory of human color preference

Abstract

Color preference is an important aspect of visual experience, but little is known about why people in general like some colors more than others. Previous research suggested explanations based on biological adaptations [Hurlbert AC, Ling YL (2007) Curr Biol 17:623-625] and color-emotions [Ou L-C, Luo MR, Woodcock A, Wright A (2004) Color Res Appl 29:381-389]. In this article we articulate an ecological valence theory in which color preferences arise from people's average affective responses to color-associated objects. An empirical test provides strong support for this theory: People like colors strongly associated with objects they like (e.g., blues with clear skies and clean water) and dislike colors strongly associated with objects they dislike (e.g., browns with feces and rotten food). Relative to alternative theories, the ecological valence theory both fits the data better (even with fewer free parameters) and provides a more plausible, comprehensive causal explanation of color preferences.

Fig. 1.

(A) The present sample of 32 chromatic colors as defined by eight hues, consisting of four approximately unique hues (Red, Green, Yellow, Blue) and their approximate angle bisectors (Orange, cHartreuse, Cyan, Purple), at four “cuts” (saturation-lightness levels) in color-space: saturated (s, Upper Left), light (l, Upper Right), dark (d, Lower Right), and muted (m, Lower Left). (B) The projections of these 32 colors onto an isoluminant plane in CIELAB color-space. (C) Color preferences averaged over all 48 participants. Error bars show SEM. (D) WAVEs for the 32 chromatic colors estimated using data from independent participants performing three different tasks.

Fig. 2.

Diagram showing a central tenet of the EVT: The correlation between WAVEs and color preferences obtained within a group should be stronger than the correlation between WAVEs and color preferences obtained from different groups. The correlations are obtained from individuals with similar color preferences as determined by hierarchical clustering (21). (Fig. S1 shows plots of the color preferences and WAVEs of these two groups.)