The Aesthetics of Color: A Review of Fifty Years of Experimentation

Author(s): Victoria K. Ball

Source: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Summer, 1965), pp. 441-452

Published by: Wiley on behalf of The American Society for Aesthetics

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 VICTORIA
The Aesthetics of
Fifty Years of
INTRODUCTION
This article considers some aspects of the
scientific literature which relates to the
subject of how color affects people aesthet-
ically. The phrase, affective response, is used
as a general term for the feeling and emo-
tional qualities of experience. The concep-
tion of aesthetics, for the present study, is
limited to an attempt to understand the
value estimates which such affective re-
sponses may induce in the pleasant-un-
pleasant, beautiful-ugly continuum.
If knowledge of this complex matter is
to be scientific, it must be both quantita-
tively and qualitatively usable for future
prediction. This statement, however, when
related to human ecology, must be con-
strued in a somewhat liberal fashion. Nev-
ertheless it should mean that accurate con-
trol of color environment can be counted
upon to influence human reactions in a
predictable manner. The extent to which
scientific literature agrees that this is pos-
sible and the direction it indicates for fu-
ture study of the question are the topics for
discussion.
The material for these notes has been
taken from a record of experiments on
color as found in the professional psycho-
logical journals during this century.' An
effort has been made to understand what
VICTORIAKLOSSBALLis professor of interior design
at Western Reserve University and author of
The Art of Interior Design published in 1960.
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K. BALL
Color: A Review of
Experimentation
has seemed representative, comprehensive,
and significant from this list.
COLOR AESTHETICS
The ultimate reason for any scientific
study of color is to learn how to utilize
color so as to have a predictable effect on
people. Many color effects are physiological
in origin. Others are clearly physical. In
this short commentary we are not primarily
concerned with the overtly physical effects
which color is known to have on the human
organism, such as the relation between re-
flectance and visibility or that of wave-
length to transmission of ultraviolet radia-
tion. A knowledge of these effects may well
influence one's reactions to color, but such
effects are not the direct cause of the affec-
tions.
An understanding of how color can affect
people is the realm of color aesthetics.
Each of the authoritative books which we
have listed2' 3 devotes pages to this matter.
It seems to us that they concur in the con-
clusion, "There is as yet no extensive sci-
entific knowledge about how colors affect
people, but some start has been made in the
experimental determination of the basic
facts of color aesthetics." In the present ar-
ticle, which is merely a personal record of
thoughts about the experimentation which
has been painstakingly conducted for more
than half a century, I would like to voice
my conviction that possibly more real prog-
ress has been made than the scientists them-
 442
selves may acknowledge. Certainly more
can be done, but directions have been set
and some conclusions seem valid.
Experimental tests for color affects have
been made both in controlled situations in
psychological laboratories and in more
casual environments. The latter variety of
more pragmatic testing has utilized the re-
sults of such data as came from consumers'
polls, sales' records, or the clocking opera-
tions which tabulated the time consumers
spent in looking at merchandise in various
colors. Investigation outside the laboratory
undoubtedly records an unpremeditated
and hence an ingenuous emotional reaction
to color, whereas laboratory tests tend to
arouse an intellectual and critical response
such as may be quite different from a truly
affective one. If the findings of non-labora-
tory trials are promoted with sensitivity
and sincerity, they merit careful considera-
tion. However, such experimentation has
had too little systematic ordering to be con-
sidered of great help in drawing conclu-
sions which would have universal verity.
The psychological scaling methods used
in laboratory testing in matters of color
aesthetics are different from the psycho-
physical methods used in determining re-
lationships between color stimuli and ap-
pearance because the end results are not
equated with physical scales but with psy-
chological ones.4 Objectivity then must be
understood to "signify a relative and prac-
tical measure of how far a belief has ceased
to be merely individual and ephemeral,
and has grown to represent the tested ex-
perience of humanity." 5
The earliest laboratory experiments were
concerned with testing for color pref-
erences. This initial approach was interest-
ing, practical, and in line with gestalt
reasoning which had led from Katz, Wer-
theimer, and Kohler.6 The first work was
done by J. Cohn working in Wundt's labo-
ratory in 1894.7 He worked with a limited
number of colors shown on papers a few
inches square. He reported that in general
individual choices differed most with re-
spect to hue and that pairs showing strong
contrasts were preferred.
Throughout the first quarter of this cen-
tury a great number of similar experiments
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VICTORIA K. BALL
were performed in an attempt to ascertain
the color choices of all kinds of people, at
all age levels, of both sexes, and of various
races. (Tabulation of these investigations
may be found in the Chandler and Barn-
hart and in the Hammond bibliographies.)'
As the number of single colors increased
or the combinations became more complex,
the results became more diverse and confus-
ing. Gustav von Allesch,8 who had experi-
mented widely on the subject, concluded in
1925 that all hope of finding consistent re-
actions to colors would have to be aban-
doned.
These early and numerous experiments
were made when color and viewing condi-
tions were not well standardized. In an ex-
periment made in 1908 by Edward Bul-
lough,9 for example, there were thirty-five
subjects who used colored papers under
"standardized" light. In 1909, W. H.
Winch10 used many children and carefully
prepared light. But color names rather than
actual colors were presented and the chil-
dren were asked to select the name repre-
senting the color they liked the best and
thought the prettiest. Again in a later ex-
periment of Bullough's," the thirty sub-
jects used thirty-eight swatches of colored
silks. In an experiment in 1913 the affective
value of colored lights was probed by 340
psychology students.12 F. F. Dashiell used
Milton Bradley colored papers, never too
standardized, when he worked with 212
kindergarten pupils in 1913.13 The testees
in M. F. Washburn's14 experiment in 1911
were thirty-five women working with ninety
colors, the exact quality of which was not
specified. S. E. Katz and F. S. Breed15 inves-
tigated the color preferences of 2,500 chil-
dren in 1922. But they used only six sat-
urated colors pasted on white cardboard.
J. P. Guilford,16 as late as 1934, working
with forty subjects, described his material
as "nearly as possible in the Milton Bradley
colors." Washburn,17 in the same year, used
"a saturated red, orange, yellow, green,
blue and violet and a lighter tint and a
darker shade of these colors." The samples
were 5 cm. in one set and 25 cm. in the
other. The viewing room was described as
"artificially lighted."
In 1941 H. J. Eysenckl8 wrote an article
The Aesthetics of Color
summarizing the results of many experi-
ments on color preferences. The total num-
ber of persons whose opinions were re-
ported was 21,060. The total weighted
average of preference would confirm blue
as the most preferred color and yellow as
the least, with a high percentile of agree-
ment between the sexes and the races. De-
spite these compiled statistics, Eysenck's
expressed opinion is similar to Von Allesch's
of sixteen years previous that
little agreement has been reached even in the
most fundamental points; namely, (1) the ex-
istence of a general order of preference for
colors, (2) the relative popularity of saturated
colors, and (3) differences for preferences for
colors between the sexes.
Eysenck concurs in the opinion that the un-
standardized conditions used in the experi-
ments account for many of the differences
in the results.
In glancing back once more to the early
experiments, it is apparent that the inves-
tigators were conscious that the problem of
color preferences was a complex one. The
question about preferences for grouped
colors had not escaped consideration. As
might have been expected there was less
unanimity shown in preferences for these
colors than there had been for single ones.
In dealing with several colors at once, the
question about rules or principles of com-
bining which would render the group ac-
ceptable or harmonious appeared. First
there was the attempt to discern whether
the preferences for the single colors in a
combination would affect the preference
for the total.19 Although the pleasantness
seemed not to be additive, nevertheless it
was found that the greater the pleasantness
of the single colors, the greater that of the
combination.
In dealing with several colors at one time
it was apparent that other design factors
than that of color became increasingly im-
portant in final verdicts.20Shape has proved
of special significance in this connection.21
The element of time was likewise given
consideration.22
The number of experiments exclusively
concerned with color preferences has di-
minished in recent years. Although never
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443
entirely neglected, the questions relating
to "why" rather than to "what" have been
given increasing prominence. There is dan-
ger in any probing into the causes of a
problem, the danger that deduction will
be hypothecated and induction from ob-
served facts will be forgotten. However, a
knowledge of reasons may help in predict-
ing results and, if factually handled, may be
of great value. David Katz said,
The science of today is at least as much in-
terested in the genetic problem of 'whence' as it
is in the problem of 'what' and for this reason
full justice must be accorded to the point of
view of developmental psychology.23
The new approach to the color problem
thus suggested does not turn its back upon
gestalt psychology. As W. C. T. Prentice
says,
The existence of an orderly structure in no way
prevents analysis of the nature of that struc-
ture. A common misunderstanding of the gestalt
theoretical position has been the interpretation
that it is antianalytic, whereas it merely insists
that the type of analysis chosen should reflect
the realities of the phenomena investigated.24
Why are some colors preferred to others?
J. P. Guilford25 suggests a physiological
basis for color preferences. The harmonious
colors selected by his observers were found
to fall into two groups, "one with yellow
low and blue high, and the other with red,
blue and green high and yellow, bluegreen
and violet low." Guilford suggests that
these two harmonies "actually represent
two different systems of color appreciation."
He believes that they are bound up with
two corresponding systems of color vision.
He concludes that the Ladd-Franklin
theory whereby color vision occurs in two
evaluatory phases is really supported by his
experiments.
Most color psychologists believe that
color affections are too involved to be ex-
plained solely on a physiological hypoth-
esis. As early as 1908, Edward Bullough,
working from the psychological laboratory
at Cambridge, advanced personality rea-
sons for the diversity of results. He said,
The object of this set of experiments is the in-
vestigation of a problem of color perception
more fundamental than the barren question
 444
whether certain colors are per se and universally
pleasing, and more fundamental than the in-
vestigation into the part which tone, saturation,
and luminosity play in color preferences. This is
the perceptive problem.26
Bullough's subjects were asked, when
confronted with colors, to give "judgments,
not preferences," and to give introspective
evidence concerning the reasons which
prompted their opinions. In Bullough's
first experiment, in which he used single
colors, it was discovered that some ob-
servers were affected by an attribute of the
color such as saturation or "luminosity."
This group Bullough called the objective
type of observer. Others associated the color
with external objects and thus were only in-
directly affected. This number constituted
the associative type. Another group found
themselves affected emotionally by the
color. Yellow, for instance, made them feel
cheerful. This section Bullough called the
physiological type. Still other subjects re-
sponded to what he called the character of
the color, the expression in a color of what
in a human would be called his "character,
mood or temperament." This was the char-
acter type of observer.
In Bullough's second experiment, deal-
ing with color combinations rather than
with single colors, it was found that the
subjects fell into the same perceptive types
and that most of the observers played
similar roles in the two tests. In the first
part of this experiment where the subjects
were asked to comment on the pleasantness
of the color combinations and to give their
reasons for the decision, the objective ob-
servers made such comments as, "the colors
had a bad mutual effect." The physiological
type called the grouped colors depressing,
gloomy, cold, and exciting. The character
type thought of the colors as shallow, lov-
able, delicate. The associative type again
made their judgments on the basis of the
relation of the colors in flowers or autumn
landscapes.
In the second part of the color combina-
tion experiment Bullough tried to call
creativity into being. The subjects were to
make color "harmonies" and then to com-
ment upon them. It is of interest that Bul-
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VICTORIA K. BALL
lough reports that all of the subjects found
difficulty in crossing over from criticism
into creativity. Those subjects who had se-
lected colors because of the way these colors
made them feel (the physiological type) had
least difficulty in creating. The most con-
sistent of the character-type personnel like-
wise seemed to have little difficulty making
choices and they seemed to enjoy the exer-
cise most.
This is one reason that Bullough con-
siders the character-type persons as the ones
most likely to possess aesthetic apprecia-
tion. In their judgments of color there
seemed to be a freedom from purely per-
sonal factors, from accidental memories,
and irrational associations. This makes the
colors exist as independent entities. Such
objective reality coupled with the essen-
tially emotional tone with which the char-
acterization is invested is, in Bullough's
opinion, characteristic of the aesthetic ex-
perience.
One very important surmise to emerge
from this second experiment was concerned
with the developmental character of the
various perceptive types. In this progres-
sion, the associative type seemed to be a
side issue because each of the other classes
might occasionally adopt associative criteria
as the basis for their judgments. Bullough
says that no subject ever adopts character
criteria unless he is a character perceptive
type. Character types frequently show phys-
iological discriminations which leads Bul-
lough to assume that the physiological
group is an introductory phase of the char-
acter type. The objective class seems to be
basic because the physiological thinkers
often revert to such standards for judg-
ments.
At this point Bullough introduces an
idea which he feels is substantiated by the
evidence. He says that the non-objective
types are synaesthetic with respect to their
judgments about color. They easily make
transitions between sensuous categories and
thus think metaphorically. The objective
thinkers are more analytic in their ap-
proach to color. One interesting idea of
Bullough's is that the synaesthetic types
may be educated to see objectively but that
The Aesthetics of Color
the reverse is seldom true; the bonds which
tie synaesthetic experiences into one bundle
cannot be created at will.
In 1934, Albert R. Chandler27 reviewed
the principal experiments on both pleas-
antness and expressiveness of colors and
color combinations. Chandler agreed that
Von Allesch's summary was the most con-
clusive verdict because of the great care
exercised by the latter over a long period of
time. He likewise agreed with Bullough
that pleasantness and its opposite are not
the only experiences evoked by color. In
addition to this acknowledgment to Bul-
lough, Chandler analyzes the studies of F.
Stefanescu-Goanga28who worked in Leipzig
during the first part of this century.
Stefanescu-Goanga did not categorize his
subjects into types but he agreed with Bul-
lough that different subjects observe color
in different ways. The new conception in
terms of development which Stefanescu-
Goanga contributed was "that feeling de-
veloped before associations, and that ideas
did not evoke feelings but rather the re-
verse, feelings evoke ideas." 27
Chandler then outlines a developmental
hierarchy which seems to me to have the
utmost importance for experimentation on
color. His logical order presents a key for
analytical studies no matter what concep-
tion of psychology may be currently held.
Chandler's order is as follows:
1. Primary factors.
-the objective color as apprehended.
This takes into consideration the
actual color, its background, its
immediate context, the pervasive
and persistent contexts (Bullough's
associations), and the health (mood)
of the observer.
2. Primary effects.
-the classification and naming of the
color.
-warmth, coolness, approach, re-
treat, lightness, heaviness affects
(which he rightly calls physiologi-
cal. Note that Chandler divides
Bullough's physiological type into
two categories. His second of these
two follows.)
-excitement, depression, the soothing
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445
affects (to which Chandler does not
give a type name but which might
be called physiological-emotional,
or simply emotional affects.)
-character estimates such as pride,
stupidity, friendliness.
-many varieties of harmony and dis-
cord among colors. (These would
depend upon the type of percep-
tion induced, as presented in Bul-
lough's second experiment.)
3. Secondary effects.
-pleasantness and unpleasantness.
-complex affects such as fascination,
boredom, and repulsion.
Color effects, according to Chandler, "are
never absolute but are relative to the total
situation." He likewise subscribes to Bul-
lough's and Stefanescu-Goanga's belief that
the developmental order of color affects
proceeds in one direction and is generally
not reversible.
If "some few or many of the primary
factors conspire to produce some of the
primary effects," then it is certainly desir-
able that the student learn about the pri-
mary factors. The data relative to these has
been well substantiated. Only one point,
probably too self-evident to need mention-
ing, could be added. Color in order to have
any psychological effect on the organism
must first be attended to. This means giv-
ing some attention to the stimulus. M.
Meenes29 has shown that in a series of
paired colors, only those which attract our
attention influence our judgment. Franklin
0. Smith30 has graded colors with respect
to visibility in the order of Orange, Yellow,
Green, Red, and Blue. This order is ac-
centuated in visual power when the colors
are likewise paired with respect to differ-
ences in brightness.
Ruth Staples31 performed many experi-
ments with infants on the assumption that
a child before the age of six months would
only be affected by color at the attention
level. The attention span of the infant to
colored discs became the determining fac-
tor. The results of her experiments indi-
cated that chromatic color will be perceived
before achromatic color and that the hues
in the order of their attention-gaining
 446 VICTORIA K. BALL

potential are Yellow, Blue, Red, and Green. bright colors seem nearer than those with
As the child grows older, up to two years, less reflectance.37
there is a gradual tendency for red to be In addition to assuming qualities rightly
noticed longer. At school age red is sur- belonging to the visual component shape or
passed by blue. Inasmuch as other factors extent, color can likewise convey the im-
are operating by this time, the tests are no pression of the other senses. The first of
longer valid registers of solely the attention these is the kinaesthetic sense and the im-
factor. pression of weight. Bullough38 as early as
Other experiments32 indicate that con- 1906 supports the statement that dark
texual matters operate with color to rivet colors appear heavier than light ones. The
the attention. This indicates that, in ad- hue of the color will aid in supporting the
dition to color visibility, we are confronted impression of weight.39 For instance in
with the problem of what might be named paired comparisons, a red or black object
the visual force of a color. David Katz33has is judged heavier than a yellow or a blue
equated this quality with insistence, "the one. Hues appear to range from heavy to
boring into one's consciousness." Visibility light in this order, Red, White, Orange,
may be thought of as a purely physical and Violet, Green, Purple, Blue, and Yellow.
physiological way to gain attention. In- Josef Albers in his series of paintings, Hom-
sistence or visual force has made added use age to a Square Ascending, has experi-
of psychological factors for this purpose. mented visually with this synaesthetic ca-
Synaesthesis, which Bullough found so pability of color.
important, now begins to enter the picture. The impression of temperature is easily
This, as we previously mentioned, is the conveyed by color. Despite small isolated
strange symbolic power of the mind experiments40 which might indicate other-
whereby phenomena in one field of experi- wise, it is generally conceded that colors in
ence cross wires with those which exist in the red-orange range give the greatest im-
other ones to become a synecdoche for an pression of warmth and that the coolest
entire group of affections, thereby gaining colors are oriented toward the blue-green.41
immensely in riveting force. Rudolf Arnheim offers a possible connec-
Through synaesthesis color can be identi- tion between the sensation of sight and the
fied with the other sensations. Experiments tactile sense when he writes,
validating this are relatively conclusive. We are dealing here not with a transfer of skin
Some of these psychological alignments of sensations to seeing, but with a structural qual-
color, especially those which link colors ity common to both senses. It is as though the
color creates a reaction also evoked by heat
with other visual components, are probably stimulation and the words "warm and cold" are
closely linked to physical causes. Light ob- used to describe colors simply because the ex-
jects, for instance, seem to appear larger pressive quality in question is strongest and
biologically most important in the realm of the
than dark ones of the same size.34The long
temperature sense.4
wavelength hues generally seem closer
than the short wavelength ones.35 On the Experiments relating color to sounds
other hand, R. M. Hanes,36 in a controlled seem to bear out Stefanescu-Goanga's con-
tention that feelings come before associa-
experiment with an actual room set-up at tions, at least in the realm of color. For in-
Johns Hopkins University, obtained the stance, D. M. Howells43
result that hues seem to advance in the reports that when
pairing organ tones with colors, the testees
following order, Yellow, Green, Red, Blue. failed to make any associative links even
This is true even when the subjects had after
seeing a certain color while hearing a
held the opinion that the order should certain note
many times. When they re-
have been Red, Yellow, Blue, Green. More- acted to the colors and notes in the same
over, quite contrary to the opinion of the way, or said that they obtained the same
group as expressed in answer to a previous feeling from both, then they associated
questionnaire, black receded and white ad- them in an unforgettable manner. Again, in
vanced. Other experiments indicate that another experiment, the authors44 found

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The Aesthetics of Color 447
that the relation between colors and musi- In surveying these results it is apparent
cal tones was only made through the inter- that as one travels down the categories of
mediary of a mood expression. There does developmental effects which either Bul-
not seem to be as direct synaesthesis be- lough, Stefanescu-Goanga, or Chandler
tween the auditory sense and the sense of suggests, contextual matters may cause
sight as expressed in color, as there is be- diversification of opinions. Likewise it is
tween the latter and the tactile, kinaes- obvious that the experiments are not de-
thetic, or visual as expressed in extent. To signed to separate emotional mood-tones
my knowledge there has been no major ex- from more complex character perceptions.
perimentation on the synaesthesis of color Even physiological terms get somehow
and the olfactory sense or the sense of taste. mixed up with the feeling terms. It would
True affections, what William James seem that a careful separation of the dif-
called "feeling tones," can be most readily ferent kinds of affects being tested for might
produced through colors. Many of the re- be of advantage in gaining some degree of
cent experiments are directed toward find- unanimity of results. This might help in
ing a pattern of emotional reactions to analyzing the problem of why certain colors
colors. From two such experiments45 the are liked by various persons.
following chart might be made: No real experimentation has been done
Red is not only exciting; it is cheerful, on character perceptions as related to color
defiant, and powerful. since the early experiments of Bullough
Black is distressed, despondent, and de- and his contemporaries. As a key to the
fiant. aesthetic enjoyment of color this might
Brown is protective but not cheerful. prove very profitable.
Purple is dignified. This developmental approach to the sci-
Yellow is cheerful but rarely is seen as ence of color aesthetics which we have been
powerful. recalling and which descended from Bul-
Orange is not seen as closely related to lough through Chandler is in keeping with
anything, but rarely is considered Harry Helson's Adaptation Level Theory
despondent, dignified, or powerful. of human behavior. This theory was ini-
Several facts immediately become apparent tially conceived as an aftermath of H. Hel-
from this sampling of the results of the ex- son and Deane B. Judd's experiments on
periments. First, there does not seem to be the effects of chromatic light on color. The
that degree of unanimity of opinion which theory as related to color is known as the
was to be found in experiments dealing theory of color conversion. It states that
with the synaesthesis of color and the sen-
sations, despite the fact that K. Warner in every viewing situation there is established
in on the numerous ex- an adaptation level such that stimuli above
Schaie, reporting
color and emotional adaptation reflectance are tinged with the hue
periments linking of the illuminant, stimuli below adaptation
tones, concludes that there "is a high degree levels are tinged with the afterimage comple-
of correlation among the results of all mentary to the hue of the illuminant, and stim-
tests." 46 His statement is made possible be- uli at or near adaptation reflectance are either
cause he gives, first, the list showing the achromatic or weakly saturated colors of un-
mood-tone most often correlated with the certain hue.47
color and, second, one never so connected.
On the other hand, it is in the numerous This principle used in color work has be-
come one of those general laws into which
secondary mood-tones enumerated by the several
many subjects that diversity appears most specialized phenomena such as
obvious. For instance, blue is generally con- Color Contrast and the Bezold-Briicke Ef-
ceded to be pleasant, secure, comfortable, fect seem to fit.
tender, and soothing, but there is consider- Harry Helson has become convinced that
able diversity in the opinions about whether the Adaptation Level principle extends be-
it is calm, peaceful, serene, exciting, and yond the orbit of the physiology of color
stimulating. perception to the psychology of all human

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 448 VICTORIA K. BALL

behavior. Accordingly any particular set of principles (whichever way you tend to re-
affections is determined by gard them) are directed toward the stimu-
lus color. Albert H. Munsell, for instance,
(1) the focal stimuli of the situation; (2) all other stated, "The stronger the color... the
stimuli immediately present and forming a back-
smaller must be its area, the greyer the
ground or context for focal stimuli, and (3) all
determinates of behavior having their locus chroma.... These symbols will balance col-
within the organism, such as effects of past ex- ors inversely as the product of their fac-
perience and constitutional and organic factors tors." 51
which interact with the present stimulation and
are treated as residual since they are not ordi-
G. D. Birkhoff52 has been the outstand-
narily under experimental control.... These ing exponent of quantitative evaluation of
three classes of stimuli pool to form a single the ability of interrelated factors to evoke
level (the adaptation level) to which all re- the aesthetic experience. What he did for
sponses are referable.47 the aesthetic experience as derived from
various types of object stimuli, P. Moon
Although this statement may sound like
a contemporary expression of the deduc- and D. E. Spencer related to color.53 Birk-
tions made by previous experimental color- hoff's formula, it will be recalled, was M =
where the Measure of the aesthetic
ists, it is new in two respects. In the first O/C,
experience is the ratio of the Order over
place it obliterates all suggestion of sequen- the
tial causation in favor of what might be Complexity of the stimulus. According
called a flooding operation. "All classes of to Moon, the complexity of a color stimulus
stimuli pool to form a single level." Many is equal to the number of colors plus the
number of color pairs having hue, value,
prominent psychologists48 seem to concur and chroma differences. These investigators
with Helson in his belief that perception is
an immediate function of present stimula- used the standard colors of the Munsell
tion although they do not deny that the color system to obtain their appearance
colors. Order related to area bal-
process of learning involves a change in the graded
learner and thus that perception is changed ance or relative sizes of areas. With weighted
with time. values given to these various components,
The second new element in the Adapta- the investigators were satisfied that Mun-
tion Level Theory is its quantitative aspect. sell's theory of predictable color harmony
This quantitative principle is not new to was vindicated and that certain deductions
color work nor to a study of perceptual ex- could be made relative to the affective
of a color combination on this basis.
perience in general. Experimental aesthet- quality In a later
ics really began on this note with the paper Moon54 replied to criti-
Weber-Fechner law which states that the cism by A. Pope55 of his quantitative evalu-
increase of brightness sensation correlates ation of color harmony and introduced an
with the log of the increase of luminance. adjustment made by multiplying a color
This expresses mathematically the relation area by the distance from the point of in-
terest or center of gravity of the picture.
between physical stimulus and psychologi-
cal response. Quantitative graphs illustrat- H. J. Eysenck56 later changed Birkhoff's
formula to read M = OC. This means that
ing the Helson-Judd phenomenon have the
been prepared by R. M. Evans, W. T. greater the complexity coupled with
ordered similarity, the greater the aesthetic
Hanson, Jr., and W. L. Brewer.49 Is it pos- obtained.
sible to formulate general mathematical pleasure
A. Pope's criticism had been devastating
laws which would serve to predict the total because he
summarily stated that color
quality of a psychological reaction to color? harmony was too complex a subject to
Thoughtful colorists since the days of mathematical treatment. It is this
Chevreul50 have formulated some quanti- permit
complexity that Helson tackled head-on in
tative estimates relative to color in relation a
conceptual formula in which order, com-
to its area and placement to secure pleasant
plexity, and the observer are all quantita-
color affects. Both the qualitative and the tively a part. When the
Adaptation Level
quantitative aspects of these rules, laws, or Theory is expressed in quantitative terms,

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The Aesthetics of Color
it must be appropriately modified for par-
ticular types of problems. When this is
done, Harry Helson feels that it should be
applicable to a wide variety of behavioral
phenomena, color perceptions included.
The mathematical version of the Adap-
tation Level theory rests on the so-called
57
"weighted log mean formula." To illus-
trate this in the specific example of color
conversion, the Adaptation Level equals
the weighted (for area, nearness to fixation
point, etc.) geometric means of all the re-
flectances of all the stimuli in the field of
view. This may be expressed,
Ar (adaptation reflectance) = (fractional
constant necessary to predict the achro-
matic point of vision) +
R, (log mean reflectance of stimuli other
than background) x R3b (reflectance
of background weighted three times,
which was found to give a close ap-
proximation to the neutral stimulus ac-
tually observed in strongly chromatic
sources of illumination), then dividing
these reflectances by 4.
Summary: log Ar
= log k/plus log R8 plus 3 log Rb
4
If this formula is to predict chromatic as
well as achromatic perceptions, then the tri-
chromatic coefficients of the stimuli and
background must be taken into account.
This is merely a matter of additional calcu-
lation and involves no new principle. For
individual rather than standard calcula-
tions a number of factors relating to the
eye condition of the observer must likewise
be considered.
In noting above that a fractional constant
was used in computing the achromatic
point of vision, it is of interest that some
such constant is required in all kinds of
perceptual estimates, such as estimates of
weights or of time. Therefore the conclu-
sion was reached that "the organism estab-
lishes its neutral level in accordance with
the weighted log mean formula." 58 The
weighting factor was found to be quite dif-
ferent for different types of phenomena but
to remain a constant within its type.
In order to fit the weighted log mean the-
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449
ory to more complex situations, it will be
necessary to find and assign weighted con-
stants to the stimuli presented, the back-
ground, and the residual factors in the situ-
ation. This, of course, would result in great
complexity, but if it would verify an Adap-
tation Level for the particular situation, it
should be valid in the prediction of an af-
fective result. The truth of the Adaptation
Level constants as found will be the ob-
servance of the Adaptation Level as checked
by them. When the Adaptation Level is
found, then the stimuli above this level will
elicit a positive reply and below it a nega-
tive reply and at the Adaptation Level a
neutral reply.
As complex as this theory is, it repre-
sents a systematic appraisal of human reac-
tions in a lifelike setting. It points to the
fact that the experimental approach in aes-
thetics requires a study of many factors
which are equally as important as simple
perception in any understanding of the
whole problem. Personality and interper-
sonal relations such as are presented by
cultures and styles in art must be under-
stood if we are to predict how people will
place any art form, and the one with which
we are dealing, i.e., color relations, in a
beautiful-ugly continuum.
S UM MARY
Experimental work in color aesthetics
began seventy odd years ago with concern
for people's color preferences and has ar-
rived at an attempt to predict those pref-
erences in a quantitative way. During this
circuit it has been called to our attention
that preferences are to a large extent de-
pendent on more elemental factors which
may have a sequential order in experience.
These in turn emerge from so-called resid-
uals which result from conditions in the
past of an individual or of a people.
In the future the experimental approach
to color aesthetics must concern itself with
each of these factors. Because simple and
basic synaesthetic reactions to color can be
more easily tested than can more complex
preference statements, many more experi-
ments should be performed at this level.
Care should be exercised to see that only
 450
one type of affective response is being at-
tended to in any one experiment.
Color preferences may profitably be con-
sidered again in experimentation. It would
be desirable to have some superorganization
define standard conditions in the manner
that the CIE. (Commission Internationale
d'Eclairage) has defined one set for the
psychophysics of color. Then, if one ele-
ment in the total situation were varied
systematically and if a large number of con-
trolled experiments were performed in vari-
ous laboratories, some valid conclusions
might emerge. Isolated tests, each differing
from the other in respect to many factors,
can scarcely produce any but confusing re-
sults.
In addition to these experiments of pref-
erences and synaesthetic reactions, it will
become increasingly important to learn
more about the color affections of our past.
This knowledge will result from work
which may not be considered to be sci-
entific in the accepted interpretation of
the word. However, such studies, if care-
fully pursued with the end in view that they
contribute to our understanding of color
aesthetics, will be scientific in the best
sense. They will yield facts which have been
seen to operate in the human arena. Cause
and result will be related and substanti-
ated.
It may be desirable in the future to con-
duct more experiments in life situations.
But it must be recognized that, with the
present state of our knowledge, if such ex-
periments are too complex, they can only
yield results which are applicable to the
unique situation.
Many will doubt that science can ever at-
tain the goal of predicting aesthetic values.
Others will question the desirability of so
doing. However it is like the race to the
moon. Once the forces are put into opera-
tion, feasibility and value are beside the
point because the goal will be sought. All
the more important that the course be de-
fined.
1Albert Richard Chandler and Edward N. Barn-
hart, A Bibliography of Psychological and Experi-
mental Aesthetics. 1864-1937 (Berkeley, Cal., 1938);
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VICTORIA K. BALL
William Alexander Hammond, A Bibliography of
Aesthetics and of the Philosophy of the Fine Arts
from 1900-1932 (New York, 1934). For coverage
since 1935, the following journals are the ones prin-
cipally attended to: Journal of Applied Psychology;
Journal of Experimental Psychology; Journal of
General Psychology; American Journal of Psy-
chology; British Journal of Psychology. Other
publications, less systematically covered, are listed
under special references.
2 Robert W. Burnham, Randall M. Hanes, and
C. James Bartleson, Color: a Guide to Basic Facts
and Concepts (New York, 1963). The quotation later
in this paragraph is from page 206.
8Ralph M. Evans, An Introduction to Color
(New York, 1948). Deane B. Judd, Color in Busi-
ness, Science, and Industry (New York, 1952). Optical
Society of America, Committee of Colorimetry, The
Science of Color (New York, 1953).
P. Guilford, Psychometric Methods (New
4J.
York, 1954), ch. 7, 8.
5Thomas Munro, Toward Science in Aesthetics
(New York, 1956), p. 7.
6W. C. T. Prentice, "The Systematic Psychol-
ogy of Wolfgang Kbhler," Psychology: A Study of
a Science, ed. Sigmund Koch, VII vols. (New York,
1959), I, 432-455.
7J. Cohn, "Experimentelle Untersuchungen
ueber die Gefuehlsbetonung der Farben helligheiten
und ihre Combinationen," Philos. Studien, X
(1894), 562-603.
8 Gustav J. von Allesch, "Die Aesthetishe Er-
scheinungsweise der Farbe," Psych. Forschung, VI
(1925), 1-91, 215-281.
9Edward Bullough, "'The Perceptive Problem'
in the Aesthetic Appreciation of Single Colours,"
British Journal of Psychology, II (1906-1908), 406-
463. The quotation in footnote 26 is from p. 406.
10W. H. Winch, "Color Preferences of School
Children," British Journal of Psychology, III (1909),
42-65.
" Edward Bullough, "'The Perceptive Problem'
in the Aesthetic Appreciation of Simple Colour
Combinations," British Journal of Psychology, III
(1909-1910), 406-447.
12W. E. Walton and B. M. Morrison, "A Prelim-
inary Study of the Affective Value of Colored
Lights," Journal of Applied Psychology, XV (1913)
294-303.
1 J. F. Dashiell, "Children's Sense of Harmonies
in Colors and Tones," Journal of Experimental
Psychology, II (1917), 466-475.
14M. F. Washburn, "A Note on the Affectiveness
of Colors," American Journal of Psychology, XXII
(1911), 114-115.
16S. E. Katz and F. S. Breed, "Color Preferences
of Children," Journal of Applied Psychology, VI
(1922), 251-256.
6J. P. Guilford, "The Affective Value of Color
as a Function of Hue, Tint, and Chroma," Journal
of Experimental Psychology, XVII (1934), 342-370.
17 M. F. Washburn, K. G. McLean, and A.
Dodge,
"The Effect of Area on the Pleasantness and Un-
pleasantness of Colors," American Journal of Psy-
chology, XLVI (1934), 638-640.
The Aesthetics of Color
18
H. J. Eysenck, "A Critical and Experimental
Study of Color Preferences," Journal of Applied
Psychology, LIV (1941), 385-391.
19 M. F. Washburn, D. Haight, and J. Regens-
bury, "The Relation of the Pleasantness of Color
Combinations to that of the Colors Seen Singly,"
American Journal of Psychology, XXXII (1921),
145-146. J. P. Guilford, "The Prediction of Affective
Values," American Journal of Psychology, XLIII
(1931), 469.
20E. C. Allen and J. P. Guilford, "Factors Deter-
mining the Affective Values of Color Combinations,"
American Journal of Psychology, XLVIII (1936),
643-648. M. F. Washburn and S. L. Grose, "Volun-
tary Control of Likes and Dislikes; the Effects of an
Attempt Voluntarily to Change the Affective Value
of Colors," American Journal of Psychology, XXXII
(1921), 284-289.
21D. Clark, M. S. Goodell, and M. F. Washburn,
"The Effect of Area on the Pleasantness of Colors,"
American Journal of Psychology, XXII (1911), 578-
579. M. F. Washburn, K. G. McLean, and A. Dodge,
loc. cit. P. Moon and D. E. Spencer, "Area in Color
Harmony," Journal of the Optical Society of Amer-
ica, XXXIV (1944), 93-103. J. G. Campbell, "A
Study of Fitness of Color Combinations in Duple
and in Triple Rhythm, to Fine Design," Journal of
Experimental Psychology, XXX (1942), 311.
22D. Crawford and M. F. Washburn, "Fluctua-
tions in the Affective Value of Colors During Fixa-
tion for One Minute," American Journal of Psy-
chology, XXII (1911), 579-582. S. C. Pepper,
"Changes in Appreciation for Color Combina-
tions," Psychological Review, XXVI (1919), 389-396.
23David Katz, The World of Colour (London,
1935), p. 4.
24 W. C. T.
Prentice, op. cit., I, 432.
25J. P. Guilford, loc. cit.
26See footnotes 9, 11.
27Albert R. Chandler, Beauty and Human Na-
ture (New York, 1934) Ch. 5, 6. The quotation at
the end of the paragraph is from p. 97, and the
quotation following Chandler's chart from p. 117.
28F. Stefanescu-Goanga, "Experimentelle Unter-
suchungen zur Gefuehlsbetonung der Farben,"
Psychol. Studien, VII (1911), 284-335.
29M. Meenes, "Attention as a Condition of Af-
fection," American Journal of Psychology, XXXIV
(1923), 117-122.
30Franklin O. Smith, "A Study to Determine the
Relative Effectiveness (Visibility) of Red, Orange,
Yellow, Green and Blue, under Certain Specified
Conditions," Journal of Experimental Psychology,
XXVI (1940), 124-128.
I Ruth
Staples, "Response of Infants to Color,"
Journal of Experimental Psychology, XV (1932),
119-141.
32
Nancy S. Anderson and Paul M. Fitts, "Amount
of Information Gained During Brief Exposure of
Numerals and Colors," Journal of Experimental
Psychology, XLIX (1955), 362-369. D. Jameson and
L. M. Hurvich, "Perceived Color and its De-
pendence on Focal, Surrounding, and Stimulus
Variables," Journal of the Optical Society of Amer-
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
451
ica, XLIX (1959), 890. T. Oyama, "Summary of
Figure Ground Dominance as a Function of Sector
Angle, Brightness, Hue, and Orientation," Journal
of Experimental Psychology, LX, No. 5 (1950), 299-
305. B. R. Philip, "Intra-serial Effects in the Dis-
crimination of Color Mass by the Ranking Method,"
Journal of Experimental Psychology, XXVII (1940),
125-135.
3 David Katz, op. cit., p. 108.
8 E. Gundlach and C.
Macoubrey, "The Effect
of Color on Apparent Size," American Journal of
Psychology, XLIII (1931), 109.
35W. B. Pillsbury and B. R. Schaefer, "A Note
on Advancing-retreating Colors," American Journal
of Psychology, XLIX (1937), 126.
Randall M. Hanes, "The Long and Short of
Color Distance," Architectural Record (April, 1960).
37E. H. Johns and F. C. Summer, "Relation of
the Brightness Differences of Colors to their Ap-
parent Distances," Journal of Psychology, XXVI
(1948), 25. I. L. Taylor and F. C. Summer, "Actual
Brightness and Distance of Colors when their Ap-
parent Distance is Held Constant," Journal of Psy-
chology, XIX (1945), 79-85.
38Edward Bullough, "The Apparent Heaviness of
Colours," British Journal of Psychology, III, No. 2
(1906-1908), 111-152.
39
J. E. DeCamp, "The Influence of Color on Ap-
parent Weight," Journal of Experimental Psychol-
ogy, II (1917), 347-370.
40 M. F. Morgensen and H. B.
English, "The Ap-
parent Warmth of Colors," American Journal of
Psychology, XXXVII (1926), 427-428.
41Sidney M. Newhall, "Warmth and Coolness of
Colors," Psychological Record, IV (1941), 198.
4 Rudolf Arnheim, Art and Visual
Perception
(Berkeley, 1957), pp. 277-278.
4 D. M. Howells, "The
Experimental Develop-
ment of Color-tone Synaesthesis," Journal of Ex-
perimental Psychology, XXXIV (1944), 87.
44 H. S.
Odbert, T. F. Karwaski, and A. B. Echer-
son, "Studies in Synaesthetic Thinking: Musical and
Verbal Associations of Color and Mood," Journal of
General Psychology, XXVI (1942), 153.
45L. B. Wexner, "The
Degree to Which Colors
Are Associated with Mood Tones," Journal of
Ap-
plied Psychology, XXXVIII (1954), 432-435. D. C.
Murray and H. L. Beabler, "Color and Mood
Tones," Journal of Applied Psychology, XLI (1957),
279-283.
46K. Warner Schaie, "Sealing the Associations
Between Colors and Mood-tones," American Jour-
nal of Psychology, LXXIV (1961), 266-273.
4
Harry Helson, "Adaptation Level Theory,"
Psychology: a Study of a Science, ed. Sigmund
Koch, VII vols. (New York, 1959), I, 579.
48James J. Gibson, "Perception as a Function of
Stimulation," Psychology: a Study of a Science, ed.
Sigmund Koch, VII vols. (New York, 1959), I,
456-501. Rudolf Arnheim, loc. cit.
49R. M. Evans, W. T. Hanson
Jr., and W. L.
Brewer, Principles of Color Photography (New
York, 1953), Figs. 3-15, p. 135.
 452
60M. E. Chevreul, The Principles of Harmony
and Contrast of Colors, Trans. Charles Martel., 3d.
ed. (London, 1881).
5 Albert H. Munsell, A Color Notation, 10th ed.
(Baltimore, 1954).
2 G. D. Birkhoff, Aesthetic Measure (Cambridge,
Mass., 1933).
63P. Moon and D. E. Spencer, "Aesthetic Meas-
ure Applied to Color Harmony," Journal of the
Optical Society of America, XXXIV (1944), 234.
4 P. Moon, and D. E.
Spencer, "Area in Color
VICTORIA K. BALL
Harmony," Journal of the Optical Society of Amer-
ica, XXXIV (1944), 93-103.
65A. Pope, "Notes on the Problem of Color Har-
mony and the Geometry of Color Space," Journal of
the Optical Society of America, XXXIV (1944), 759-
765.
66H. J. Eysenck, "The Experimental Study of the
'Good Gestalt'-a New Approach," Psychological
Review, XLIX (1942), 49.
57
Harry Helson, op. cit., I, 579-584.
68Ibid., I, 582.

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