Color Preference as a Function of Background and Illumination

Abstract

90 students n-ith normal color vision reported color preferences for 10 3-in. x 5-in. Munsell papers with a Munsell value/chroma of 5 / 6 on white, gray, or black backgrounds with a 5-in. x 7-in. visual field exposed for 2-sec. intervals. Colors of short wave lengths tended to be preferred. Preferences for colors were less extreme when colors were viewed on a black background. Illumination intensity did not reliably affect color preferences. The importance of evaluating the extent of preference differences between colors adjacent in preference orders was discussed. Background brightness and illumination did not clearly resolve differences in preference orders found i n earlier studies, and the possible influence of ocher stimulus variables was discussed.

A Historically Based Review of Empirical Work on Color and Psychological Functioning: Content, Methods, and Recommendations for Future Research

“…This was also recognized as important in early research and reviews (Baker, 1900; Bullough, 1908; Gordon, 1912; Lane, 1900; McDougall, 1908; Titchner, 1901; Valentine, 1914), and has been repeatedly highlighted throughout the decades (Child et al, 1968; Crozier, 1999; Dorcus, 1926; Elliot & Aarts, 2011; Erwin et al, 1961; Gelineau, 1981; Guilford, 1940; Hagtvedt & Brasel, 2017; Labrecque, Patrick, & Milne, 2013; Nourse & Welch, 1971; O’Connor, 2011; Pressey, 1921; Sorokowski & Wrembrel, 2014; Staples, 1932; Taft, 1997; Takahashi, 2005; Thönes et al, 2018; Werner & Wooten, 1979). Nevertheless, it has been largely ignored until the present decade (the 1970s being an exception; e.g., Helson & Lansford, 1970; Hopson, Cogan, & Batson, 1971), and even in current empirical work, controlling color properties remains the distinct exception rather than the rule.…”

“…From the beginning of the 20th century through the 1960s, more than half of the extant studies specified the background color on which the target color stimuli were viewed; this is a noteworthy increase over the initial, 19th century work that was critiqued for inattention to this issue (Holden & Bosse, 1900; Lane, 1900). Surprisingly, since the 1960s, the distinct majority of studies have failed to specify background color, despite empirical demonstrations of the importance of doing so (Helson & Lansford, 1970; Hopson et al, 1971) and encouragements accordingly (Crozier, 1999; Taft, 1997; Whitfield & Wiltshire, 1990). The physiological arousal and physical strength literatures have been particularly inattentive to this issue; the infant and adult/child color preference literatures stand out as being most attentive.…”

“…The only variability across decades appears to be a slight tendency for there to be even less attention to this issue during the past four decades relative to the preceding decades. As with background color, this more recent inattention to illumination is surprising given empirical demonstrations of its importance (Helson & Lansford, 1970; Lin et al, 2017; Luckiesh, 1916) and repeated acknowledgments over the years of the need to attend to it (Crozier, 1999; Gelineau, 1981; Guilford, 1934; Hopson et al, 1971; Luckiesh, 1916; Whitfield & Wiltshire, 1990). Inattention to illumination is particularly prevalent in the psychological arousal and physical strength literatures, and noticeably less prevalent in the adult/child color preference literature.…”

“…The lack of precise information (or information at all) on both background color and illumination represent critical weaknesses for the same reasons noted for inattention to color specification and control—both are essential for research methods to be reproduced and for findings to be clearly interpreted. A number of researchers over the years have pointed to the lack of information on background color and/or illumination as a likely reason for the inconsistent empirical patterns observed (Ball, 1965; Dunwoody, 1991: Gelineau, 1981; Guilford, 1934; Hopson et al, 1971; Hurlbert & Ling, 2012; Taft, 1997).…”