gems, jade, color, turquoise, al Biruni, color science, color theory, Broken Bangle

Surveys of color preference were among the earliest psychological experiments. Researchers have suggested that factors such as age, gender, and geographic region all influence color preference. While many studies have examined differences associated with age and gender, relatively few have focused on geographic variation, particularly from a cross-cultural perspective. Early surveys revealed notable cultural differences, especially in Asia, where white was strongly preferred by Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, and Indonesians. More recent studies, however, have consistently found blue to be the preferred color in many countries over many years. This widespread preference has been termed the “Blue-Seven Phenomenon,” referring to Simon’s finding that participants tended to choose “blue” when asked to name a color and “seven” when asked to select a number between zero and nine. The phenomenon has since been investigated extensively across many cultures. In general, the associations underlying color preferences, and the reasons people give for liking or disliking particular colors, are closely linked to feelings of pleasantness and unpleasantness. Cognitive research suggests that the amygdala plays an important role in these emotional responses, indicating that such feelings are fundamental to color preference. Based on numerous surveys, researchers have proposed a three-layer model of color preference in which feelings of pleasantness and unpleasantness form the central core, individual factors comprise the second layer, and environmental influences make up the outermost layer.