EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TO SIMPLE COLOR STIMULI

Abstract

The emotional responses to colors were examined in two experiments in order to discover the effect of stimulus contexts. In Experiment I, the emotional responses to 36 color stimuli were profiled in terms of valence (Cronbach’s a=0.793), arousal (a=0.880), and dominance (a=0.904) dimensions of emotion using the Self-Assessment-Manikin (SAM) scale (N=46). From the 36 color stimuli, 17 were selected in Experiment II, where subjects were shown not only 17 colors, but also other types of visual stimuli, such as eight pictures, nine film-clips, and nine adjectives (N=45). Between the two experiments, a Preliminary Test was conveyed in order to collect film-clips. Based on the SAM ratings, the emotional profiles of visual stimuli were characterized by dimensions of emotion, and the context effect was investigated by comparison to prior results: SAM ratings of the 17 identical colors from both experiments were compared. Judgmental shifts of the 17 colors were found out to be less arousing as color stimuli were shown in a stimulus context of Experiment II than in that of Experiment I (p<.05, two-tailed).