title: Extending color psychology to the personality realm: interpersonal hostility varies by red preferences and perceptual biases.
abstract: The color psychology literature has made a convincing case that color is not just about aesthetics, but also about meaning. This work has involved situational manipulations of color, rendering it uncertain as to whether color-meaning associations can be used to characterize how people differ from each other. The present research focuses on the idea that the color red is linked to, or associated with, individual differences in interpersonal hostility. Across four studies (N = 376 undergraduates), red preferences and perceptual biases were measured along with individual differences in interpersonal hostility. It was found that (a) a preference for the color red was higher as interpersonal hostility increased, (b) hostile people were biased to see the color red more frequently than nonhostile people, and (c) there was a relationship between a preference for the color red and hostile social decision making. These studies represent an important extension of the color psychology literature, highlighting the need to attend to person-based, as well as situation-based, factors.
authors.affiliation: North Dakota State University.
authors.forename: Adam K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Fetterman
authors.forename: Tianwei
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Robinson
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003071:Cognition; D003116:Color; D003118:Color Perception; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise; D009658:North Dakota; D010551:Personality; D013334:Students; D014495:Universities