Color Preference

Average relative color preferences for a given sample of colors are typically measured behaviorally by asking a group of people to perform one of three tasks. First, the observers can be asked to indicate which of two simultaneously presented colors they prefer for each possible pair of colors in the sample. The probability, averaged over observers, of choosing each color versus all other sample colors is then taken as a measure of its average relative preference within that sample. Second, observers can be shown all of the colors in the sample simultaneously and be asked to rank order them frommost preferred to least preferred. The average rank of each color across observers provides a measure of average relative preference within the sample. Third, observers can be shown a single color on each trial and be asked to rate their preference for it on a discrete (e.g., 1–7) or continuous (e.g., marking along a line segment) rating scale. Average ratings across observers can then be taken as a measure of average relative preference for colors within the sample. Correlations among these different measures tend to be quite high when the same observers (or large samples of different observers from the same population) judge the same colors. Although early researchers often claimed that color preferences were simply too idiosyncratic to be worth an empirical study, modern measurements of well-calibrated, computer-generated displays of standardized colors using improved data analysis techniques have now established that there are indeed reliable and repeatable patterns in group data [1]. These average color preferences are most easily understood in terms of the three primary dimensions of human color experience (see entry for ▶ Psychological color space and color terms): hue (its “basic color”), saturation (how vivid or pure the