Cover not available

In:Progress in Colour Studies: Colour Expression and Cognition
Edited by Carole P. Biggam, Domicele Jonauskaite, Mari Uusküla and Dimitris Mylonas
[Not in series 244] 2026
► pp. 29–57

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Beware! Colour and emotion correspondences are rarely about feelings

 | University of Lausanne | University of Vienna
 | University of Lausanne
 | University of Lausanne
 | University of Lausanne
Published online: 20 February 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/z.244.03jon
Abstract
Colours are regularly linked to emotions in behaviour and languages. While research on conceptual colour-emotion correspondences is accumulating, we know little as to whether colour influences felt affective states. Such research should inquire about what people currently feel (self-reported emotions) or assess psychophysiological changes. We reviewed thirty-one studies targeting colour and felt affective states. Only eight of them immersed participants in coloured environments, real or virtual, and accounted for lightness and/or chroma in addition to hue. Results of these eight studies were inconsistent. We observed tendencies hinting at higher physiological arousal in warm and more chromatic environments. We need more systematic studies before we can conclude that colour impacts felt affective states.
Article outline
  • 1.Methodological challenges in colour and affect
    • 1.1Manipulating colour parameters
    • 1.2Manipulating colour in physical spaces
    • 1.3Measuring felt affective states
  • 2.Relevant empirical studies on colour and felt affective states
    • 2.1Colour patches
      • 2.1.1Self-reported affective states
      • 2.1.2Manipulated affective states
      • 2.1.3Psychophysiologically assessed affective states
    • 2.2Presenting pictures of coloured spaces
      • 2.2.1Self-reported affective states
    • 2.3Changing colours in virtual reality (VR)
      • 2.3.1Self-reported affective states
      • 2.3.2Self-reported and psychophysiologically assessed affective states
    • 2.4Changing colours in physical rooms
      • 2.4.1Self-reported affective states
      • 2.4.2Self-reported and psychophysiologically assessed affective states
      • 2.4.3Psychophysiologically assessed affective states
  • 3.Putting the evidence together
  • 4.Conclusions and future directions
  • References
  • Appendix
References (97)
References
Adams, F. M., and C. E. Osgood. 1973. “A cross-cultural study of the affective meanings of color”. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 4(2): 135–157. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ainsworth, R. A., L. Simpson, and D. Cassell. 1993. “Effects of three colors in an office interior on mood and performance”. Perceptual and Motor Skills 76(1): 235–241. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Al-Ayash, A., R. T. Kane, D. Smith, and P. Green-Armytage. 2016. “The influence of color on student emotion, heart rate, and performance in learning environments”. Color Research & Application 41(2): 196–205. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ault, J. T., and S. T. Barney. 2007. “Construct validity and reliability of Hartman’s Color Code Personality Profile”. International Journal of Selection and Assessment 15(1): 72–81. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biggam, C. P. 2012. The Semantics of Colour: A Historical Approach, 21–43. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bosten, J. M. 2022. “Do you see what I see? Diversity in human color perception”. Annual Review of Vision Science 8(1): 101–133. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bower, I. S., G. M. Clark, R. Tucker, A. T. Hill, J. A. G. Lum, M. A. Mortimer, and P. G. Enticott. 2022. “Built environment color modulates autonomic and EEG indices of emotional response”. Psychophysiology 59(12): 1–17. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bradley, M. M., and P. J. Lang. 1994. “Measuring emotion: The self-assessment manikin and the semantic differential”. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 25(1): 49–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Caldwell, J. A., and G. E. Jones. 1985. “The effects of exposure to red and blue light on physiological indices and time estimation”. Perception 14(1): 19–29. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carruthers, H. R., L. Magee, S. Osborne, L. K. Hall, and P. J. Whorwell. 2012. “The Manchester Color Wheel: Validation in secondary school pupils”. BMC Medical Research Methodology 12(1): 136. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carruthers, H. R., J. Morris, N. Tarrier, and P. J. Whorwell. 2010. “The Manchester Color Wheel: Development of a novel way of identifying color choice and its validation in healthy, anxious and depressed individuals”. BMC Medical Research Methodology 10(12): 1–13. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cha, S. H., S. Zhang, and T. W. Kim. 2020. “Effects of interior color schemes on emotion, task performance, and heart rate in immersive virtual environments”. Journal of Interior Design 45(4): 51–65. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ciuk, D., A. K. Troy, and M. C. Jones. 2015. “Measuring emotion: Self-reports vs. physiological indicators”. Social Science Research Network Electronic Journal 1–28. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Costa, M., S. Frumento, M. Nese, and I. Predieri. 2018. “Interior color and psychological functioning in a university residence hall”. Frontiers in Psychology 9: 1580. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cubukcu, E., and I. Kahraman. 2008. “Hue, saturation, lightness, and building exterior preference: An empirical study in Turkey comparing architects’ and nonarchitects’ evaluative and cognitive judgments”. Color Research & Application 33(5): 395–405. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Delcampo-Carda, A., A. Torres-Barchino, and J. Serra-Lluch. 2019. “Chromatic interior environments for the elderly: A literature review”. Color Research & Application 44(3): 381–395. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Desmet, P. M. A., N. Romero, and M. H. Vastenburg. 2016. “Mood measurement with Pick-A-Mood: Review of current methods and design of a pictorial self-report scale”. Journal of Design Research, 14(3): 241. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Divers, E. 2023. “Theory to practice: Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance (PAD) theory for architectural color design”. Color Research & Application, 48(5): 445–452. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elliot, A. J., and M. A. Maier. 2007. “Color and psychological functioning”. Current Directions in Psychological Science 16(5): 250–254. [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. “Color psychology: effects of perceiving color on psychological functioning in humans”. Annual Review of Psychology 65(1): 95–120. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fugate, J., M. Binzak, and C. L. Franco. 2019. “What color is your anger? Assessing color-emotion pairings in English speakers”. Frontiers in Psychology 10: 206. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gilbert, A. N., A. J. Fridlund, and L. A. Lucchina. 2016. “The color of emotion: A metric for implicit color associations”. Food Quality and Preference 52: 203–210. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gilchrist, A. L. 2007. “Lightness and brightness”. Current Biology 17(8): 267–269. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Griber, Y. A., V. V. Selivanov, and R. Weber. 2020. “Color in the educational environment for older people: Recent research review”. Perspektivy Nauki i Obrazovania, 47(5): 368–383. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Güneş, E., and N. Olguntürk. 2020. “Color-emotion associations in interiors”. Color Research & Application 45(1): 129–141. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hanada, M. 2018. “Correspondence analysis of color–emotion associations”. Color Research & Application 43(2): 224–237. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hemphill, M. 1996. “A note on adults’ color–emotion associations”. The Journal of Genetic Psychology 157(3): 275–280. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hogg, J., S. Goodman, T. Porter, B. Mikellides, and D. E. Preddy. 1979. “Dimensions and determinants of judgements of colour samples and a simulated interior space by architects and non-architects”. British Journal of Psychology 70(2): 231–242. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hunt, R. W. G., and M. R. Pointer. 2011. Measuring colour, 155–195. 4th ed. John Wiley. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jacobs, K. W., and F. E. Hustmyer. 1974. “Effects of four psychological primary colors on GSR, heart rate and respiration rate”. Perceptual and Motor Skills 38(3): 763–766. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jacobs, K. W., and J. F. Suess. 1975. “Effects of four psychological primary colors on anxiety state”. Perceptual and Motor Skills 41(1): 207–210. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jiang, A., X. Yao, C. Hemingray, and S. Westland. 2022. “Young people’s colour preference and the arousal level of small apartments”. Color Research & Application 47(3): 783–795. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jonauskaite, D., A. M. Abdel-Khalek, A. Abu-Akel, A. S. Al-Rasheed, J.-P. Antonietti, Á. G. Ásgeirsson, K. A. Atitsogbe, et al. 2019. “The sun is no fun without rain: Physical environments affect how we feel about yellow across 55 countries”. Journal of Environmental Psychology 66: 101350. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jonauskaite, D., A. Abu-Akel, N. Dael, D. Oberfeld, A. M. Abdel-Khalek, A. S. Al-Rasheed, J.-P. Antonietti, et al. 2020. “Universal patterns in color-emotion associations are further shaped by linguistic and geographic proximity”. Psychological Science 31(10): 1245–1260. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jonauskaite, D., B. Althaus, N. Dael, E. Dan-Glauser, and C. Mohr. 2019. “What color do you feel? Color choices are driven by mood”. Color Research & Application 44(2): 272–284. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jonauskaite, D., L. Camenzind, C. A. Parraga, C. N. Diouf, M. Mercapide Ducommun, L. Müller, M. Norberg, and C. Mohr. 2021. “Colour-emotion associations in individuals with red-green colour blindness”. PeerJ 9: e11180. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jonauskaite, D., D. Epicoco, A. S. Al-Rasheed, J. J. B. R. Aruta, V. Bogushevskaya, S. G. Brederoo, V. Corona, et al. 2024. “A comparative analysis of colour–emotion associations in 16–88-year-old adults from 31 countries”. British Journal of Psychology 115: 275–305. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jonauskaite, D., and C. Mohr. 2022. “Discussing color representations and implicit assumptions in Schloss et al.’s (2020) study on conventional notions of color-emotion associations”. Color Research & Application 47(6): 1224–1228. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jonauskaite, Domicele & Christine Mohr. 2025. Do we feel colours? A systematic review of 128 years of psychological research linking colours and emotions. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 32(4). 1457–1486. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jonauskaite, D., C. A. Parraga, M. Quiblier, and C. Mohr. 2020. “Feeling blue or seeing red? Similar patterns of emotion associations with colour patches and colour terms”. i-Perception 11(1): 1–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jonauskaite, D., A. G. Thalmayer, L. Müller, and C. Mohr. 2021. “What does your favourite colour say about your personality? Not much”. Personality Science 2: e6297. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jonauskaite, D., I. Tremea, L. Bürki, C. N. Diouf, and C. Mohr. 2020. “To see or not to see: Importance of color perception to color therapy”. Color Research & Application 45(3): 450–464. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jonauskaite, D., J. Wicker, C. Mohr, N. Dael, J. Havelka, M. Papadatou-Pastou, M. Zhang, and D. Oberfeld. 2019. “A machine learning approach to quantify the specificity of colour–emotion associations and their cultural differences”. Royal Society Open Science 6(9): 190741. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Joseph, D. L., M. Y. Chan, S. J. Heintzelman, L. Tay, E. Diener, and V. S. Scotney. 2020. “The manipulation of affect: a meta-analysis of affect induction procedures”. Psychological Bulletin 146(4): 355–375. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kaiser, P. K. 1984. “Physiological response to color: A critical review”. Color Research & Application 9(1): 29–36. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kaya, N., and H. H. Epps. 2004. “Relationship between color and emotion: a study of college students”. College Student Journal 38(3): 396–406. [URL]
Kreibig, S. D. 2010. “Autonomic nervous system activity in emotion: A review”. Biological Psychology 84(3): 394–421. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Küller, R., B. Mikellides, and J. Janssens. 2009. “Color, arousal, and performance — A comparison of three experiments”. Color Research & Application 34(2): 141–152. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kwallek, N., and C. M. Lewis. 1990. “Effects of environmental colour on males and females: A red or white or green office”. Applied Ergonomics 21(4): 275–278. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kwallek, N., C. M. Lewis, J. W. D. Lin-Hsiao, and H. Woodson. 1996. “Effects of nine monochromatic office interior colors on clerical tasks and worker mood”. Color Research & Application 21(6): 448–458. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kwallek, N., H. Woodson, C. M. Lewis, and C. Sales. 1997. “Impact of three interior color schemes on worker mood and performance relative to individual environmental sensitivity”. Color Research & Application 22(2): 121–132. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lang, P. J., M. K. Greenwald, M. M. Bradley, and A. O. Hamm. 1993. “Looking at pictures: Affective, facial, visceral, and behavioral reactions”. Psychophysiology 30(3): 261–273. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, H., and E. Lee. 2022. “Effects of coloured lighting on pleasure and arousal in relation to cultural differences”. Lighting Research and Technology 54(2): 145–162. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levenson, R. W. 2014. “The autonomic nervous system and emotion”. Emotion Review 6(2): 100–112. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liao, S., K. Sakata, and G. V. Paramei. 2022. “Color affects recognition of emoticon expressions”. i-Perception 13(1): 1–23. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lindsey, D. T., and A. M. Brown. 2014. “The color lexicon of American English”. Journal of Vision 14(2): 1–25. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lipson-Smith, R., J. Bernhardt, E. Zamuner, L. Churilov, N. Busietta, and D. Moratti. 2021. “Exploring colour in context using Virtual Reality: Does a room change how you feel?” Virtual Reality 25(3): 631–645. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mauss, I. B., and M. D. Robinson. 2009. “Measures of emotion: A review”. Cognition & Emotion 23(2): 209–237. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mayer, J. D., J. P. Allen, and K. Beauregard. 1995. “Mood inductions for four specific moods: A procedure employing guided imagery vignettes with music”. Journal of Mental Imagery 19(1–2): 133–150.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McNair, D. M., M. Lorr, and L. F. Droppleman. 1971. Profile of Mood States. 2nd ed. Educational and Industrial Testing Service.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mikellides, B. 1990. “Color and physiological arousal”. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 7(1): 13–20. [URL]
Mohr, C., and D. Jonauskaite. 2020. Epilogue: From then to now — from now to then: Contemporary research in affective colour psychology might inform research on affective colour meaning in ancient Greek and Roman writings. In Katerina Ierodiakonou and Pascale Derron (eds.), Colour Psychology in the Graeco-Roman World, 347–383. Fondation Hardt.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mohr, C., D. Jonauskaite, E. S. Dan-Glauser, M. Uusküla, and N. Dael. 2018. Unifying research on colour and emotion: Time for a cross-cultural survey on emotion associations with colour terms. In L. W. MacDonald, C. P. Biggam, and G. V. Paramei (eds.), Progress in Colour Studies: Cognition, Language, and Beyond, 209–222. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nolan, R. F., Y. Dai, and P. D. Stanley. 1995. “An investigation of the relationship between color choice and depression measured by the Beck Depression Inventory”. Perceptual and Motor Skills 81(3): 1195–1200. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nourse, J. C., and R. B. Welch. 1971. “Emotional attributes of color: A comparison of violet and green”. Perceptual and Motor Skills 32(2): 403–406. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Connor, Z. 2011. “Colour psychology and colour therapy: Caveat emptor”. Color Research & Application 36(3): 229–234. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oh, J., H. Lee, and H. Park. 2021. “Effects on heart rate variability of stress level responses to the properties of indoor environmental colors: A preliminary study”. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18(17): 9136. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oh, J., and H. Park. 2022. “Effects of changes in environmental color chroma on heart rate variability and stress by gender”. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19(9): 5711. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Osgood, C. E., G. J. Suci, and P. Tannenbaum. 1957. The Measurement of Meaning. University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ou, L. C., M. R. Luo, A. Woodcock, and A. Wright. 2004. “A study of colour emotion and colour preference. Part I: Colour emotions for single colours”. Color Research & Application 29(3): 232–240. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Palmer, S. E., K. B. Schloss, and J. Sammartino. 2013. “Visual aesthetics and human preference”. Annual Review of Psychology 64: 77–107. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Presti, P., D. Ruzzon, P. Avanzini, F. Caruana, G. Rizzolatti, and G. Vecchiato. 2022. “Measuring arousal and valence generated by the dynamic experience of architectural forms in virtual environments”. Scientific Reports 12(1): 1–12. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Salgado, S., and O. S. Kingo. 2019. “How is physiological arousal related to self-reported measures of emotional intensity and valence of events and their autobiographical memories?”. Consciousness and Cognition 75: 102811. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sanchez-Vives, M. V., and M. Slater. 2005. “From presence to consciousness through virtual reality”. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 6(4): 332–339. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scherer, K. R. 2005. “What are emotions? And how can they be measured?” Social Science Information 44(4): 695–729. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schloss, K. B., C. Witzel, and L. Y. Lai. 2020. “Blue hues don’t bring the blues: questioning conventional notions of color–emotion associations”. Journal of the Optical Society of America A 37(5): 813. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shevell, S. K., and F. A. A. Kingdom. 2008. “Color in complex scenes”. Annual Review of Psychology 59(1): 143–166. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shirai, M., and T. Soshi. 2023. “Color features continuously represent negative and positive aspects of sadness”. The Journal of General Psychology 150(1): 96–119. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Simmons, D. R. 2011. Colour and emotion. In C. P. Biggam, C. A. Hough, C. J. Kay, and D. R. Simmons (eds.), New Directions in Colour Studies, 395–413. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Specker, E., H. Leder, R. Rosenberg, L. M. Hegelmaier, H. Brinkmann, J. Mikuni, and H. Kawabata. 2018. “The universal and automatic association between brightness and positivity”. Acta Psychologica 186: 47–53. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sutton, T. M., and J. Altarriba. 2016. “Color associations to emotion and emotion-laden words: A collection of norms for stimulus construction and selection”. Behavior Research Methods 48(2): 686–728. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thorstenson, C. A. 2018. “The social psychophysics of human face color: Review and recommendations”. Social Cognition 36(2): 247–273. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Uluçay, N. Ö. 2019. “An interior design exhibition: An assessment of color scheme preferences and the emotional states of students”. Color Research & Application 44(1): 132–138. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Uusküla, M., C. Mohr, D. Epicoco, and D. Jonauskaite. 2023. “Is purple lost in translation? The affective meaning of purple, violet, and lilac cognates in 16 languages and 30 populations”. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 52: 853–868. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Valdez, P., and A. Mehrabian. 1994. “Effects of color on emotions”. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 123(4): 394–409. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
von Castell, C., D. Stelzmann, D. Oberfeld, R. Welsch, and H. Hecht. 2018. “Cognitive performance and emotion are indifferent to ambient color”. Color Research & Application 43(1): 65–74. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weijs, M. L., D. Jonauskaite, R. Reutimann, C. Mohr, and B. Lenggenhager. 2023. “Effects of environmental colours in virtual reality: Physiological arousal affected by lightness and hue”. Royal Society Open Science 10: 230432. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Westland, S., Q. Pan, and S. J. Lee. 2017. “A review of the effects of colour and light on non-image function in humans”. Coloration Technology 133(5): 349–361. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wexner, L. B. 1954. “The degree to which colors (hues) are associated with mood-tones”. Journal of Applied Psychology 38(6): 432–435. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wilms, L., and D. Oberfeld. 2018. “Color and emotion: Effects of hue, saturation, and brightness”. Psychological Research 82(5): 896–914. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wilson, G. D. 1966. “Arousal properties of red versus green”. Perceptual and Motor Skills 23(3): 947–949. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Witzel, C. 2019. “Misconceptions about colour categories”. Review of Philosophy and Psychology 10(3): 499–540. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Witzel, C., and K. R. Gegenfurtner. 2018. “Color perception: Objects, constancy, and categories”. Annual Review of Vision Science 4(1): 475–499. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yar Bilal, S., R. Aslanoğlu, and N. Olguntürk. 2022. “Colour, emotion, and behavioral intentions in city hotel guestrooms”. Color Research & Application 47(3): 771–782. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yi, F., and J. Kang. 2020. “Impact of environment color on individual responses in public spaces of shopping malls”. Color Research & Application 45(3): 512–526. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yildirim, K., M. L. Hidayetoglu, and A. Capanoglu. 2011. “Effects of interior colors on mood and preference: Comparisons of two living rooms”. Perceptual and Motor Skills 112(2): 509–524. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zieliński, P. 2016. “An arousal effect of colors saturation: A study of self-reported ratings and electrodermal responses”. Journal of Psychophysiology 30(1): 9–16. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue