Context and Color Preferences: Does The Preference for Red Vary Across Romance and Achievement Contexts?

Color psychology has a long empirical history. Unfortunately, much of the existing research in this area suffers from methodological problems and lacks a theoretical foundation. The recently proposed Color-In-Context theory attempts to remedy both of these shortcomings by specifying rigorous methodological standards for color psychology research and by offering a broad theory of color and psychological functioning. The most comprehensive tests of the theory to date have been conducted by researchers examining how perceiving the color red can influence psychological functioning in achievement and romance contexts. The present research sought to expand upon these findings by testing the reverse causal path. Specifically, color preferences were measured after various contexts were primed. It was hypothesized, based on previous research and the Color-In-Context theory, that achievement contexts would decrease preference for red, whereas romantic contexts would increase preference for red. Five experiments were conducted which tested these predictions. Although Experiment 1 provided support for the hypotheses, Experiments 2-5 did not. Possible reasons for the unexpected results in Experiments 2-5 are discussed and suggestions are provided for improvements that could be made in future tests of these hypotheses. Overall, the present research did not provide compelling evidence in support of the premise that psychological functioning can influence color perception.