Most and Least Preferred Colours Differ According to Object Context: New Insights from an Unrestricted Colour Range

Abstract

Humans like some colours and dislike others, but which particular colours and why remains to be understood. Empirical studies on colour preferences generally targeted most preferred colours, but rarely least preferred (disliked) colours. In addition, findings are often based on general colour preferences leaving open the question whether results generalise to specific objects. Here, 88 participants selected the colours they preferred most and least for three context conditions (general, interior walls, t-shirt) using a high-precision colour picker. Participants also indicated whether they associated their colour choice to a valenced object or concept. The chosen colours varied widely between individuals and contexts and so did the reasons for their choices. Consistent patterns also emerged, as most preferred colours in general were more chromatic, while for walls they were lighter and for t-shirts they were darker and less chromatic compared to least preferred colours. This meant that general colour preferences could not explain object specific colour preferences. Measures of the selection process further revealed that, compared to most preferred colours, least preferred colours were chosen more quickly and were less often linked to valenced objects or concepts. The high intra- and inter-individual variability in this and previous reports furthers our understanding that colour preferences are determined by subjective experiences and that most and least preferred colours are not processed equally.

What color do you feel? Color choices are driven by mood

“…One should note, however, that the positive association with yellow only stands when yellow is bright and chromatic (i.e., the focal yellow). When yellow is darker and more grayish, it is perceived as the least pleasant color . In the current analyses too, we reported colors matched to joy being the most chromatic of all induced moods or baseline mood and lighter than colors matched to negative induced moods (sadness and fear).…”

“…The RGB values are presented on the screen together with the number of clicks taken to arrive at the final color and the time it took from the first click to the final color choice (also see Refs. 60 and 61 and https://www2.unil.ch/onlinepsylab/ColourPicker/html/colorpicker.html).…”

Computational color combination analysis of Papilionidae butterflies as aesthetic objects

“…In addition, we did not include C * ab values under 10 in the h ab histograms, because these ranges are considered to be achromatic. Although this threshold was 5 in previous study, the standard chroma steps of well‐known color order systems are about 10 (where the lowest step is achromatic), as mentioned above. Moreover, Papilionidae contain many dark colors (see Table ).…”

“…Interestingly, the differences between the second and seventh as well as fifth and tenth hue sections were close to the complementary hue. Additionally, the mean values of the largest components correspond to the orange to yellow‐green hue categories in CIELCh . Thus, in terms of hue angle, the color combinations of human‐preferred Papilionidae butterflies are mainly composed of dominant orange to yellow‐green hues and similar hues.…”

“…Additionally, the mean values of the largest components correspond to the orange to yellow-green hue categories in CIELCh. 45,49 Thus, in terms of hue angle, the color combinations of human-preferred Papilionidae butterflies are mainly…”