Examination of Colour Emotions on a Sample of Slovenian Female Population

Due to the complexity of colour perception and comprehension and its importance in contemporary life, there is an increasing need to understand the emotions which appear as our response to the observation of colour or coloured object. In the present research, the emotional response to colour was studied in a test group of Slovene female observers who were divided into four groups according to their age. The analysis was performed based on a questionnaire which included 21 colour samples of seven basic hues and diff erent lightness and/or saturation. The observers were asked to arrange the colours according to fi ve distinct pairs of characteristics: active-passive, like-dislike, warm-cold, stimulating-calm, modern-classical. The results showed that considerable diff erences exist regarding colour emotions, i.e. the emotional response to colour. The most pronounced contrasts between the women of diff erent age were found with respect to the attribute pair like-dislike. In most cases women preferred colours that were recognized as active; these colours were mostly saturated and very intense. However, the ranking and selection of the most popular colours were diff erent across age groups. In the group of female observers aged between 31 and 50 years, saturated colours were found to be less popular. The diff erences in the emotional experience were also observed with other attributes such as stimulating-calm and warm-cold. Regardless of the age, black was found to be a special case since it was described as a passive colour by the majority of women, in spite of being very popular. Keywords: colour, colour emotion, female population, age eff ect, colour preferences Izvleček Zaradi kompleksnega dojemanja barv in pomembne vloge, ki jo ima barva v sodobnem življenju, v zadnjem času narašča potreba po razumevanju čustev opazovalca, ki nastajajo kot odziv na barvo oziroma obarvan izdelek. V raziskavi je bil proučevan čustveni odziv na barve v testni skupini žensk v Sloveniji, ki so bile glede na starost razporejene v štiri skupine. Analiza je bila izvedena na podlagi 21 barvnih vzorcev, ki so jih opazovalke ovrednotile s pomočjo vprašalnika. Vzorci so vključevali sedem osnovnih barvnih tonov in so se razlikovali v svetlosti in/ali nasičenosti barve. Naloga opazovalk je bila, da se do vsake barve opredelijo na podlagi petih različnih meril, ki so najpogosteje predmet raziskav: aktivna-pasivna, všeč mi je–ni mi všeč, topla–hladna, poživljajoča–umirjena, modna–klasična. Raziskava je pokazala, da s starostjo nastanejo razlike v opredelitvi do barve glede na njene karakteristike. Največje razlike nastanejo glede všečnosti barve. Opazovalke so kot najbolj priljubljene največkrat izbrale tiste barve, ki so jih doživljale kot aktivne. V večini primerov so to izrazite, nasičene barve, vendar se konkretna izbira najbolj priljubljenih barv po posameznih starostnih skupinah razlikuje. V skupini žensk med 31. in 50. letom so izrazite barve manj priljubljene. Do razlik v doživljanju barv prihaja tudi pri drugih karakteristikah, na primer pri oceni, katera barva učinkuje poživljajoče, prav tako pri odločitvi, katere barve so tople in katere hladne. Posebnost v vseh starostnih skupinah je črna barva, saj jo je večina žensk označila kot pasivno, kljub temu pa se na lestvicah priljubljenosti uvršča razmeroma visoko. Ključne besede: barva, čustveni odziv na barve, ženske, vpliv starosti, barvne preference 312 Examination of Colour Emotions on a Sample of Slovenian Female Population Tekstilec, 2016, 59(4), 311-320 1 Introduction Formation of colour is a consequence of three factors, i.e. light source, coloured object and the observer who is in uenced by psycho-physical characteristics, experiences, emotions, cultural in uences and the environment [1]. Because of that, colours are perceived individually and colour can be de ned as a subjective sensation which is generated in the brain triggered by the light entering the eyes of the observer [2]. Due to the complexity of colour perception and comprehension and its importance in everyday life, there is an increasing need to understand the emotions which appear as our response to the observed coloured object.  erefore, it is necessary to deal with the psychological aspect of colours. In Slovenia, dr. Anton Trstenjak is considered as being the founder of colour psychology. In his fundamental work, “Colour Psychology”, he laid a foundation for a scienti c experimental approach in psychology and studied several aspects of colours for example their reaction time, functional colour in working places, colour climate etc. He also investigated human a nity to colours in relation to fashion [3].  e projection value of a particular colour has been known for a long time as Tušak pointed out in his research. Every colour, even every shade, exhibits its own projection value. For example, dark blue expresses lasting values, navy blue means loyalty, trust and self-su ciency, light blue is associated with longing, desire and homesickness. When studying a human response to colours, a problem arises as different authors o en give the same names to colours that look di erently [4]. Based on a systematic analysis of the responses of the observers in Great Britain and in China, a group of researchers have developed several colour models that make it possible to link the psychological response to a certain colour to its basic characteristics, i.e. hue, lightness and saturation, as well as to the CIELAB coordinates [5]. Another extensive study focused on an inter-cultural comparison of colour emotions and colour pairs [6]. Observers from eight di erent countries from all over the world took part in the study and it was found that only some of the colour characteristics, such as warm-cold, active-passive and heavy-light were perceived in a similar way, while signi cant di erences were noticed regarding the like-dislike attribute. Most of the studies in this  eld investigated colour samples with homogenous surfaces, but Lucassen et al. studied the e ect of an object’s surface on the perception of colour.  e results showed that the perception of several characteristics, such as sharpso , heavy-light and warm-cold may be in uenced by the surface texture [7]. Lately, the research of colour emotion, i.e. the emotional response to colour, has been focusing on particular groups of observers. One of the studies tried to explain whether the colour preferences and colour emotions change with age.  e research was performed using single colours and colour pairs which were assessed for their harmony. Evident differences were found between a younger and an older group of observers considering the activity and the warmth of the colour as well as regarding the colour preferences [8]. To the best of our knowledge, no systematic analysis about the colour perception among women has been done in Slovenia so far.  e purpose of our research was to investigate the emotional response to di erent colours on a sample of the female population of Slovenia and to examine whether the perception of colour changes with age.


Introduction
Formation of colour is a consequence of three factors, i.e. light source, coloured object and the observer who is infl uenced by psycho-physical characteristics, experiences, emotions, cultural infl uences and the environment [1].Because of that, colours are perceived individually and colour can be defi ned as a subjective sensation which is generated in the brain triggered by the light entering the eyes of the observer [2].Due to the complexity of colour perception and comprehension and its importance in everyday life, there is an increasing need to understand the emotions which appear as our response to the observed coloured object.Th erefore, it is necessary to deal with the psychological aspect of colours.In Slovenia, dr.Anton Trstenjak is considered as being the founder of colour psychology.In his fundamental work, "Colour Psychology", he laid a foundation for a scientifi c experimental approach in psychology and studied several aspects of colours for example their reaction time, functional colour in working places, colour climate etc.He also investigated human affi nity to colours in relation to fashion [3].Th e projection value of a particular colour has been known for a long time as Tušak pointed out in his research.Every colour, even every shade, exhibits its own projection value.For example, dark blue expresses lasting values, navy blue means loyalty, trust and self-suffi ciency, light blue is associated with longing, desire and homesickness.When studying a human response to colours, a problem arises as different authors oft en give the same names to colours that look diff erently [4].Based on a systematic analysis of the responses of the observers in Great Britain and in China, a group of researchers have developed several colour models that make it possible to link the psychological response to a certain colour to its basic characteristics, i.e. hue, lightness and saturation, as well as to the CIELAB coordinates [5].Another extensive study focused on an inter-cultural comparison of colour emotions and colour pairs [6].Observers from eight diff erent countries from all over the world took part in the study and it was found that only some of the colour characteristics, such as warm-cold, active-passive and heavy-light were perceived in a similar way, while signifi cant diff erences were noticed regarding the like-dislike attribute.
Most of the studies in this fi eld investigated colour samples with homogenous surfaces, but Lucassen et al. studied the eff ect of an object's surface on the perception of colour.Th e results showed that the perception of several characteristics, such as sharpsoft , heavy-light and warm-cold may be infl uenced by the surface texture [7].Lately, the research of colour emotion, i.e. the emotional response to colour, has been focusing on particular groups of observers.One of the studies tried to explain whether the colour preferences and colour emotions change with age.Th e research was performed using single colours and colour pairs which were assessed for their harmony.Evident differences were found between a younger and an older group of observers considering the activity and the warmth of the colour as well as regarding the colour preferences [8].
To the best of our knowledge, no systematic analysis about the colour perception among women has been done in Slovenia so far.Th e purpose of our research was to investigate the emotional response to diff erent colours on a sample of the female population of Slovenia and to examine whether the perception of colour changes with age.

Experimental
Th e emotional response to colour was studied on a test group of female observers in Slovenia.21 colour samples were selected using HLS colour space [9], and containing seven basic hues: red (S1, S2, S3), yellow (S4, S5, S6), green (S7, S8, S9), blue (S10, S11, S12), violet (S13, S14, S15), brown (S16, S17, S18) and grey/black (S19, S20, S21) (Table 1).Colour samples of size 15  15 cm were prepared using the CorelDraw X4 graphics soft ware.Each colour was separately printed on a piece of a white cardboard using LaserJet Enterprise MFP (Hewlett Packard).Testing took place in an empty room with white walls.Th e illuminant was the noon sunlight with approximate colour temperature 5000 K.A grey background of size A2 was used to eliminate the infl uence of surrounding on colour perception.40 female observers with normal colour vision took part in the study.As suggested by other authors, our observers were split into four groups according to their age [10]; each group consisted of ten observers: 1. girls up to 18 years 2. women 19 to 30 years of Slovenian Female Population Tekstilec, 2016, 59(4), 311-320 3. women 31 to 50 years 4. women 51 years or more.Th e investigation was performed through a questionnaire [11].Th e observers were asked to make a decision regarding each of the presented colours in terms of fi ve diff erent attribute pairs frequently cited in the pertinent literature: active-passive, likedislike, warm-cold, stimulating-calm and modernclassical [5,6].Th e observation of each colour sample took 2−3 minutes.

Results and discussion
Th e questionnaire results were fi rst evaluated based on the assumption that the fi ve pairs of colour characteristics can be regarded as opposite.Figure 1 shows the survey results for seven basic hues. of Slovenian Female Population Tekstilec, 2016, 59(4), 311-320 According to Figure 1, all women have very similar opinion about S1.Th is colour is perceived as active, warm, stimulating and modern and these fi ndings are in accordance with previous investigations [12].Th is colour is very popular in the group of the oldest observers (women over 50), but much less with younger population (31-50 years).
From Figure 1 we can conclude that S4 is a very popular and likeable colour among the youngest and the oldest observers.In both groups, this colour was also characterized as a very stimulating one.According to the opinion of the majority of observers, regardless of their age, S4 is a warm colour.Th e oldest observers also claim that this colour is classical.Blue colour is usually described as a very popular one among adults [4,12].In our study, this was only partly the case (Fig. 2).Colour sample S10 (saturated bright blue) caused very diverse responses in diff erent age groups.Only women between 31-50 like this colour, the oldest observers, on the other hand, evidently dislike it.We can assume that not only the hue but also other characteristics, such as the lightness and the saturation, aff ect popularity of a particular colour.Sample S7 represents a saturated bright green colour.Th e opinion of the observers younger than 50 years is that this colour is active and stimulating.In the group of the oldest observers, the responses were quite the opposite: S7 is regarded as passive, calm and very unpopular.More unanimous responses were provided for sample S13 as the majority of observers think that this colour is warm, active and stimulating, even though only the youngest observers distinctively like it.All 40 observers fi nd this colour modern.

Figure 1: Number of responses for seven basic colour samples: red (S1), yellow (S4), green (S7), blue (S10), violet (S13), brown (S16) and black (S19) of Slovenian Female Population
Tekstilec, 2016, 59(4), 311-320 Sample S16 (darker brown with medium saturation) is a very calm colour according to the observers.Most of them also claim that this colour is classical, passive and they do not like it.Finally, black (S19) is perceived as cold, passive and calm.It is very popular in the group of teenagers and, interestingly, with women of age 31−50.
In the second part of our study, we ranked all 21 colour samples according to the number of responses given by the observers for each characteristic.this group also like green shades, but dislike black, brown and pale yellow.Women between 31 and 50 prefer intensive colours, such as diff erent shades of blue (S11, S10) and also black.On the other hand, vivid yellow samples (S6, S4) are the least popular.Women over 50 prefer red and violet hues (S1, S3, S14, S15), but dislike darker colours (S7, S6, S18).
Results for the characteristics' pair active-passive are given in Table 3. Th e youngest observers perceive violet (S13, S14, S15) and bright blue (S11) samples as the most active.Interestingly, this group chose the same colours as the most popular ones.On the other hand, they describe darker hues of blue, green and brown (S9, S12, S17, S18) as the least active.
Only in this group, black is described as a moderately active colour.
In the next group (young women aged 19-30), bright green colour of medium saturation (S7) is Tekstilec, 2016, 59(4), 311-320 reported as the most active and actually all green samples, together with saturated violet and red (S13, S1), are perceived as active colours.Very similar results are obtained for the 31-50 years' group: saturated green and violet (S7, S13) are described as the most active colours.On the other hand, black, grey and darker brown or green are perceived as passive.In the over 50's group, two red samples of diff erent lightness are reported as the most active.Again, black and dark brown (S18) are seen as passive, together with, surprisingly, pale yellow (S5).Th ese results show that popularity or likeability of a certain colour very oft en positively correlates with its activity; this is especially evident in the youngest women's group.In most cases, intensive and saturated colours are seen as the active ones.However, black represents an exception since it is quite popular in all age groups, despite the fact that it is perceived as being a passive colour.
Results for the attributes' pair modern-classical are displayed in Table 4.It is evident that women of different age perceive various colours as modern.
However, they all agree that saturated violet (S13) represents a modern colour.Diff erent shades of grey and brown, on the other hand, are perceived as classical.Th e opinion about black sample is not unanimous: only women aged 19-50 (groups 2 and 3) think that black is a classical colour.Observers' responses to the two remaining characteristics' pairs -warm-cold and stimulating-calm -are displayed as bubble charts in a * b * plane of CIELAB colour space.Figure 2 visualizes the number of confi rmative responses to the question whether the colour was perceived as warm; the size (area) of the circles corresponds to the number of confi rmative responses.
Th e observers in general perceive all three shades of red as very warm.Certain diff erences between age groups exist, though, and such results confi rm the fi ndings of the previous investigations [8].Th e youngest observers perceive violet samples (S13, S15) as the warmest but they do not fi nd two brown samples (S17, S18) -which are perceived as warm by both groups 31-50 and above 50 -as warm.
Smaller diff erences can also be noticed with green and blue samples: bright blue (S11) is considered fairly warm by the observers in the two older groups, but not by the women in the two younger groups.Finally, Figure 3 shows the bubble charts in the a * b * plane of CIELAB colour space representing the number of confi rmative responses to the question whether they fi nd a particular colour stimulating.Th e youngest observers indicate as highly stimulating those colours that are positioned very

Conclusion
Th e emotional response to colour was studied on a test group of Slovene female observers who were divided into four groups according to their age.Th e most pronounced diff erences between the women of diff erent age can be found in relation to the attribute like-dislike.Th e youngest observers prefer pure, saturated colours, especially violets, but dislike neutral, unsaturated colours, such as grey and brown.In the group of female observers aged between 31 and 50 years, saturated colours were found to be less popular; these women prefer neutral colours.Generally, women prefer active colours; these colours are mostly saturated and very intense.However, the ranking of the most popular colours is diff erent for each age group.Th e diff erences in the emotional experience are also observed with other attributes of colour such as stimulating-calm and warm-cold.Black was found to be a special case since it was described as a passive colour by the majority of women, in spite of being very popular in all age groups.

Figure 2 :
Figure 2: Number of confi rmative responses to the question whether the colour is warm: a) girls up to 18 years b) women aged 19−30 years c) women aged 31−50 years d) women aged 51 years and more

Figure 3 :
Figure 3: Number of confi rmative responses to the question whether the colour is stimulating: a) girls up to 18 years b) women aged 19−30 years c) women aged 31−50 years d) women aged 51 years and more

Table 2 :
Ranking of colour samples according to the attribute like-dislike for four age groups.Numbers represent the number of confi rmative answers for the characteristic like.

Table 3 :
Ranking of colour samples according to the attribute active-passive for four age groups.Numbers represent the number of confi rmative answers for the characteristic active.

Table 4 :
Ranking of colour samples according to the attribute modern-classical for four age groups.Numbers represent the number of confi rmative answers for the characteristic modern.