Colors

[mrow]

I was reading an article in Scientific American Mind the other day about how psychologists think that rather than people feeling a certain way about certain colors because of biological reasons, people like or dislike colors because of how they are used when they are children.

For example, they mentioned schools in which color coded report cards are given to elementary school kids. As are red, Bs are blue, Cs are green, Ds are orange, and Fs are brown. The study showed that reds, blues, greens, and purples are among the majority of people's favorite colors, while oranges, yellows, and browns are among the least favorite.

Do you agree? Or do you think these colors are chosen based on our biological tendency as humans to like certain colors more than others?

[whitewolf]

How is this a new discovery? I'll give you an example: in Russian language, красный - red - can either mean "beautiful" or "red," while in other cultures red is usually associated with danger. I estimate similar examples are known to anyone who is mildly interested in linguistics and culture studies.

[superluminal]

It's likely that the nearly universal association of RED with danger stems from the fact that our blood is red. I agree that there is probably no inherent biological bias toward one color or another (as your report card study indicates). It's likely more of an associative thing.

[superluminal]

I'll ammend that to say that it is possible that, having evolved to recognize color, there may be a biological component to the association of red with danger or "bad". While greens (vegitation) and blues (clear skies and water) may indeed be inherently associated with "good".

I think I just completely reversed my position.

[mrow]

How is this a new discovery? I'll give you an example: in Russian language, красный - red - can either mean "beautiful" or "red," while in other cultures red is usually associated with danger. I estimate similar examples are known to anyone who is mildly interested in linguistics and culture studies.

In many cultures red is associated with danger, yes. And in the U.S. we use it for stop signs and stop lights and Xs on wrong answers. Yet red is still considered quite beautiful here and is a favorite color of many. How would you account for that?

[whitewolf]

In many cultures red is associated with danger, yes. And in the U.S. we use it for stop signs and stop lights and Xs on wrong answers. Yet red is still considered quite beautiful here and is a favorite color of many. How would you account for that?

I'd say it's cultural, not genetic. Meaning, yes, you grow up with it starting with childhood. It wouldn't be a new idea though. A new idea would be that such associations are genetic; and I've never heard of that.

[mrow]

In addition, the study stated that statistically, blue is the most common favorite color of people in north american, south american, asian, and european cultures. Since the colors represent different things in each of these cultures, why is favoring blue so common?

[mrow]

I'd say it's cultural, not genetic. Meaning, yes, you grow up with it starting with childhood. It wouldn't be a new idea though. A new idea would be that such associations are genetic; and I've never heard of that.

Not genetic, as in if you're father's favorite color is purple yours will be as well. I've never heard a theory like that either. But I have heard it thought of as a universal trait among humans. How many people's favorite color is brown, for example? That's what I mean by biological.