Abstract
Colours influence the way people feel, think, and behave. The globalising (internet) economy induces traditions and beliefs to be transferred from one society to another. Nevertheless, although people may now act more globally, they also still act locally within their cultural groups. This points to the possibility of continuous change in universal and culturally specific colour associations. Therefore, this study aims to investigate variations in colour associations across cultures. To get a better grip on the global impact on the cultural dynamics, cultural groups are distinguished through self-identified membership, instead of through country and nationality demographics. Specifically, a comparison is made with the colours for trust, emotion, and exclusivity between 1,218 individuals from four cultural (ethnic) groups: Dutch; French; Greek; and Russian. Participating in an online survey, they indicated their associations for colour variations of blue, red, yellow, and black. The results confirm general, universal colour associations. Some distinctive independent cultural specifics through varying colour brightness may possibly render the association more or less strong for the colour–attitude relationships of red for emotion and blue for trust. Pure yellow was a noticeable colour associated with emotion by the Russian group.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 14-21 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Color Culture and Science Journal |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Keywords
- colour
- culture
- emotion
- Trust
- exclusivity