When people meet for the first time, they usually ask questions such as their names, what they do, where they live, what their likes and dislikes are, and what their favorite colors are. Everyone has a favorite color! If you cannot think about yours right away, here is what you can do: think of a color that you feel most connected to, a color you lean towards the most, and a color that you wear the most. That is how you can easily identify your favorite color.
Scientists claim that people have favorite colors because they tend to associate emotions and feelings with them. However, this reasoning is considered subjective.
Rondae Production/Pexels | Did you know you could influence someone’s color choice?
If you want to understand why people have favorite colors, keep reading this article. You will surely enjoy it!
1. Ecological Valence Theory
Karen Schloss, an assistant psychology professor at the Wisconsin Institute of Discover, formulated this theory along with her colleague, Dr. Stephen Palmer. The theorists, by carrying out lab tests for seven years, discovered the reason behind having favorite colors. The Ecological Valence Theory states that people associate objects and entities with the colors that they like and dislike: some people like blue because they like looking at the sky in the daytime or watching a river follow. Some people may find yellow pretty because of a particular dress their mum wore.
Pixabay/Pexels | This also explains why you might not like some colors like brown which might remind you of mud or rotting food
2. Color WAVE
Schloss and Palmer ran multiple lab tests on participants who ranked their color preferences and expanded their research. They found WAVE: Weighted Affected Valence Estimates. It is the idea that the majority of the time, a change in average color preference from one sample group to another, was based on the likeness of the objects that were related to the color.
Hence, to conclude, you don’t have a favorite color randomly. Rather, there are different positive affiliations and connections that your brain makes with different objects, which result in you leaning towards a certain color.
Pixabay/Pexels | Blue is considered a universally favored color as it is generally affiliated with positive things
The next time you ask about someone's favorite color, you’ll also get an insight into their personality!
