The effects of color on approach

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of color on approach avoidance behavior. For a better understanding of approach avoidance behavior both the hue of color and the location of color are studied. The experiment is conducted with six different sample groups and three different color settings which are gray, red and green. Under the three main color settings there were two sub settings as when the color is on the right and when the color is on the left. All the atmospheric properties other than color were kept same. University laboratory was turned into an environment where four identical stands that worked as displays for the items placed on them, a mirror and a seating unit was placed. The items exhibited were all women sports outwear of similar design and color. The participants were 108 students from Bilkent University. Each participant was taken in individually and asked to experience the space freely. Each participant was evaluated in terms of the total amount of time spent in the environment, number of items touched, time spent for investigating items, time spent for browsing items, number of items tried and their orientation patterns in the environment. All the constructs listed above were derived from the Mehrabian-Russell Stimulus Response Model. It was induced that the hue of the color does not have a significant influence on approach/avoidance behavior. However, the location of color in the environment has a strong influence on the orientation patterns of individuals and therefore associative with approach and avoidance behavior. It was observed that, people tend to go towards the differently colored part of the room.