Colour-emotion associations in interior spaces

Abstract

Colour as an effective design tool influences people’s emotions in interior spaces. Depending on the assumption that colour has an impact on human psychology, this study stresses the need for further studies that comprise colour and emotion association in interior space in order to provide healthier spaces for inhabitants. Emotional reactions to colour in a living room were investigated by using self report measure. Pure red, green and blue were chosen to be investigated as chromatic colours, whereas gray was the achromatic colour used as a control variable. The study was conducted at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. Hundred and eighty people from various ages and academic departments participated in the study. Participants first watched a short video showing an overlook of a 3D model of a living room. Next, they were asked to match the distinct coloured living rooms with facial expressions of six basic emotions that covers anger, disgust, surprise, happiness, fear, sadness and in addition with neutral. The results of the study indicated that the most stated emotions associated for the room with red walls were disgust and happiness, while the least stated emotions were sadness, fear, anger, and surprise. Neutral and happiness were the most stated emotions for the room with green walls and anger, surprise, fear and sadness were the least stated ones. The most stated emotion associated for the room with blue walls was neutral, while the least stated emotions were anger and surprise. Neutral, disgust and sadness were the most stated emotions for the room with gray walls. Gender differences were not found in human emotional reactions to living rooms with different wall colours.