As people age, they tend to spend more time indoors, and the colours in their surroundings may significantly impact their mood and overall well-being. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence to provide informed guidance on colour choices, irrespective of age group. To work towards informed choices, we investigated whether the associations between colours and emotions observed in younger individuals also apply to older adults. We recruited 7393 participants, aged between 16 and 88 years and coming from 31 countries. Each participant associated 12 colour terms with 20 emotion concepts and rated the intensity of each associated emotion. Different age groups exhibited highly similar patterns of colour–emotion associations (average similarity coefficient of .97), with subtle yet meaningful age-related differences. Adolescents associated the greatest number but the least positively biased emotions with colours. Older participants associated a smaller number but more intense and more positive emotions with all colour terms, displaying a positivity effect. Age also predicted arousal and power biases, varying by colour. Findings suggest parallels in colour–emotion associations between younger and older adults, with subtle but significant age-related variations. Future studies should next assess whether colour–emotion associations reflect what people actually feel when exposed to colour.

中文翻译：

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31 个国家 16-88 岁成年人颜色与情绪关联的比较分析

随着人们年龄的增长，他们往往会花更多的时间在室内，周围环境的颜色可能会显着影响他们的情绪和整体健康。然而，无论年龄组如何，都缺乏经验证据来提供有关颜色选择的知情指导。为了做出明智的选择，我们调查了在年轻人中观察到的颜色和情绪之间的关联是否也适用于老年人。我们招募了 7393 名参与者，年龄在 16 岁至 88 岁之间，来自 31 个国家。每个参与者将 12 个颜色术语与 20 个情绪概念相关联，并对每种相关情绪的强度进行评分。不同年龄组表现出高度相似的颜色与情绪关联模式（平均相似系数为 0.97），并且存在微妙但有意义的与年龄相关的差异。青少年将数量最多但积极偏见最少的情绪与颜色联系起来。年龄较大的参与者将较少数量但更强烈和更积极的情绪与所有颜色术语相关联，表现出积极效应。年龄还预测了觉醒和权力偏见，随颜色的不同而变化。研究结果表明，年轻人和老年人之间的颜色与情绪关联存在相似之处，并且存在微妙但显着的与年龄相关的变化。未来的研究接下来应该评估颜色与情感的关联是否反映了人们接触颜色时的实际感受。