An Appraisal of Gracefulness Mediates the Negative Influence of Color Focality on Color Preference in Japan

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the psychological variables that can mediate an influence of color focality on color preference in modern Japanese culture and to specify the pattern of the mediated influence. The potential mediators were 22 appraisal dimensions and the psychological processing fluency (PPF) of colors. We conducted two experiments with native Japanese speakers, which measured these variables. Data analyses showed that gracefulness is the only appraisal dimension that can mediate an effect of color focality on color preference. Specifically, focality negatively influenced the appraisal of gracefulness and gracefulness positively impacted preference. Although a U-shaped quadratic relationship exists between focality and PPF, no relationship was found between PPF and preference. Therefore, PPF’s role as a mediator is not supported. Our literature survey suggests that the focality-gracefulness-preference relationship may be caused by the “noisy color phenomenon,” which is a cultural phenomenon existing in many color-using areas in modern Japan.