The Association between Colors and Emotions among Japanese Adults and Children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore how adults and children perceive colors. During the 3-task experiment, first a questionnaire regarding subjects’ color preferences was prepared. Next, they were presented with 8 emotional facial expressions, each presented in 11 colors and were asked to select the most appropriate answer. Finally, they were presented with 11 color card boards(same colors as task 2)and were asked to rate how they feel about the represented color. Yellow was associated with happiness and blue with sadness(P<0.05).Children associated black with all the negative facial emotions(P<0.05).57.5% of the children associated white with unhappy, although white was a preferred color for bedroom for all the subjects(P<0.01).