What does your favourite colour say about your personality? Not much

The claim that favourite colours reveal individuals’ personalities is popular in the media yet lacks scientific support. We assessed this claim in two stages. First, we catalogued claims from six popular websites, and matched them to key Big Six/HEXACO trait terms, ultimately identifying 11 specific, systematic, testable predictions (e.g., higher Extraversion among those who prefer red, orange, yellow, pink, or turquoise). Next, we tested these predictions in terms of the Big Six personality trait scores and reports of favourite and least favourite colours from 323 French-speaking participants. For every prediction (e.g., red-extraversion), we compared trait scores between participants who chose or did not choose the predicted colour using Welch’s t-tests. We failed to confirm any of the 11 predictions. Further exploratory analyses (MANOVA) revealed no associations between colour preferences and personality trait. Favourite colours appear unrelated to personality, failing to support the practical utility of colour-based personality assessment.

Colour preferences in relation to diet in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), and mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx)

Although trichromatic color vision has been extensively studied as it grants significant advantages for Old World primates, it is unknown which selective pressures were behind trait’s evolution. The leading hypothesis would be that colour vision arose as a foraging adaptation because it allowed individuals to spot food more efficiently. To test this, we exposed three chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), five gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and three mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) to colour cardboard plates to assess if colours related to diet were the most preferred. Experimental setting was divided in two phases. During the first one, animals were provided with colour cardboard plates of only one colour per data collection session. The order of colour presentation was randomly determined: white, black, yellow, green and red. In phase two, primates were simultaneously provided with cardboard plates of all colours. Behavioural interactions with plates were measured using a one-zero group focal sampling (10 s sampling intervals and 20 m observation periods). Results showed that when animals were exposed to only one colour at a time, they exhibited different colour preferences depending on the species considered. Chimpanzees preferred red and yellow, the colours linked to fruits, while gorillas selected red and white. Mandrills exhibited fewer differences between colours preference, being red the most selected. Furthermore, when all colours were simultaneously provided, individuals chose colours related to diet over black and white. Although there were clear individual differences, our results support that trichromatic color vision is an advantage in detecting and selecting red items. In the wild, it could be important in the detection of reddish fruits and leaves.

Clothing Aesthetics: Consistent Colour Choices to Match Fair and Tanned Skin Tones

Fashion stylists advise clothing colours according to personal categories that depend on skin, hair and eye colour. These categories are not defined scientifically, and advised colours are inconsistent. Such caveats may explain the lack of formal tests of clothing colour aesthetics. We assessed whether observers preferred clothing colours that are linked to variation in melanin levels among White women. For this, we presented 12 women's faces: six with fair skin (relatively lower in melanin) and six with tanned skin (relatively higher in melanin). Across two experiments, observers ( N = 96 and 75) selected the colour (hue and saturation or hue and value) of simulated clothing that most suited the skin tone of each face. Observers showed strong preferences for red and blue hues, and in addition favoured ‘cool’ blue hues to match fair skin and ‘warm’ orange/red hues to match tanned skin. This finding suggests that skin tone can determine colour preferences for clothes.

English colour terms carry gender and valence biases: A corpus study using word embeddings

In Western societies, the stereotype prevails that pink is for girls and blue is for boys. A third possible gendered colour is red. While liked by women, it represents power, stereotypically a masculine characteristic. Empirical studies confirmed such gendered connotations when testing colour-emotion associations or colour preferences in males and females. Furthermore, empirical studies demonstrated that pink is a positive colour, blue is mainly a positive colour, and red is both a positive and a negative colour. Here, we assessed if the same valence and gender connotations appear in widely available written texts (Wikipedia and newswire articles). Using a word embedding method (GloVe), we extracted gender and valence biases for blue, pink, and red, as well as for the remaining basic colour terms from a large English-language corpus containing six billion words. We found and confirmed that pink was biased towards femininity and positivity, and blue was biased towards positivity. We found no strong gender bias for blue, and no strong gender or valence biases for red. For the remaining colour terms, we only found that green, white, and brown were positively biased. Our finding on pink shows that writers of widely available English texts use this colour term to convey femininity. This gendered communication reinforces the notion that results from research studies find their analogue in real word phenomena. Other findings were either consistent or inconsistent with results from research studies. We argue that widely available written texts have biases on their own, because they have been filtered according to context, time, and what is appropriate to be reported.

Colour Preferences and Personality Traits

Colours are important features in human and natural environments and are related to several psychological functions. However, a possible relation between colour preferences and personality traits is scarcely investigated. The aim of the present study was to find out whether differences in preferences for colours also reflected differences in Big Five personality traits. The sample consisted of 206 individuals voluntarily recruited from a student sample. The participants chose one of six primary colours (blue, green, red, yellow, black, white) from the Natural Colour System (NCS) as their favorite colour. Personality traits were measured with the Big Five Inventory-44 (BFI-44. Blue and yellow was the most and least preferred chromatic colour, respectively. There were no gender differences in preferences for the chromatic colours, but more women preferred white and men preferred black. Compared to the rest of the sample, the blue group had higher scores on agreeableness and extraversion, and the red group had lower scores on agreeableness. Pairwise comparisons showed that the blue group had higher scores on agreeableness and extraversion than the red group, and higher scores on agreeableness compared to the green group. There were no significant personality differences for the other chromatic and achromatic colour groups.

Cobalt or cerulean? Interpreting colour trends for the Canadian fashion industry

The Canadian apparel industry faces many difficult decisions during product development, and selecting a colour palette for an upcoming season can be a significant challenge. With no specific Canadian colour forecasting services available, Canadian trend directors must rely on European and American forecasts for their colour trends. This study on colour trends and preferences demonstrated how colours that are forecast for the United States and Europe are adapted for Canada and the diverse target markets within it. Six case studies based on interviews with trend directors from Canadian retailers explore the methods used to develop seasonal colour palettes. These case studies reveal each retailer’s customers’ attitudes towards colour trends and colour preferences, and then compare them to the rest of the retail market. The results will allow Canadian fashion professionals—and those working in small markets anywhere—to better understand how to develop seasonal palettes for their customers, thereby increasing sales and profit.

Cobalt or cerulean? Interpreting colour trends for the Canadian fashion industry

The Canadian apparel industry faces many difficult decisions during product development, and selecting a colour palette for an upcoming season can be a significant challenge. With no specific Canadian colour forecasting services available, Canadian trend directors must rely on European and American forecasts for their colour trends. This study on colour trends and preferences demonstrated how colours that are forecast for the United States and Europe are adapted for Canada and the diverse target markets within it. Six case studies based on interviews with trend directors from Canadian retailers explore the methods used to develop seasonal colour palettes. These case studies reveal each retailer’s customers’ attitudes towards colour trends and colour preferences, and then compare them to the rest of the retail market. The results will allow Canadian fashion professionals—and those working in small markets anywhere—to better understand how to develop seasonal palettes for their customers, thereby increasing sales and profit.

Cobalt or cerulean? interpreting colour trends for the Canadian fashion industry

The Canadian apparel industry faces many difficult decisions during product development, and selecting a colour palette for an upcoming season can be a significant challenge. With no specific Canadian colour forecasting services available, Canadian trend directors must rely on European and American forecasts for their colour trends. This study on colour trends and preferences demonstrated how colours that are forecast for the United States and Europe are adapted for Canada and the diverse target markets within it. Six case studies based on interviews with trend directors from Canadian retailers explore the methods used to develop seasonal colour palettes. These case studies reveal each retailer’s customers’ attitudes towards colour trends and colour preferences, and then compare them to the rest of the retail market. The results will allow Canadian fashion professionals—and those working in small markets anywhere—to better understand how to develop seasonal palettes for their customers, thereby increasing sales and profit.

Cobalt or cerulean? interpreting colour trends for the Canadian fashion industry

The Canadian apparel industry faces many difficult decisions during product development, and selecting a colour palette for an upcoming season can be a significant challenge. With no specific Canadian colour forecasting services available, Canadian trend directors must rely on European and American forecasts for their colour trends. This study on colour trends and preferences demonstrated how colours that are forecast for the United States and Europe are adapted for Canada and the diverse target markets within it. Six case studies based on interviews with trend directors from Canadian retailers explore the methods used to develop seasonal colour palettes. These case studies reveal each retailer’s customers’ attitudes towards colour trends and colour preferences, and then compare them to the rest of the retail market. The results will allow Canadian fashion professionals—and those working in small markets anywhere—to better understand how to develop seasonal palettes for their customers, thereby increasing sales and profit.