Assignment title: Personality Based on Colour Preferences

Assignment no: 2
Subject: Introduction to Psychology
Presented by: Areeba Aftab, Tayyaba Kanwal, Yusra Naeem
BS English – 3rd Semester
Presented to: Mam Hina
 Personality Based on Colour Preferences

Introduction

An individual's personality and colour preference are related to each other. Colour
preference can have significant importance as they give meaningful information about a person's
personality. Lusher, a famous psychologist, states in his thesis that people who prefer similar
primary colour (red, green, blue or yellow) may have similar personality traits. He further said that
their colour preference may reflect their psychological needs as well. The following research was
conducted to find if there exists any relation between colour preference and personality traits.

Literature Review

 Dunja Cigic and Vojislava Bugarski of University of Novi Sad, Serbia conducted a
survey on colour preference and personality. The result showed that there were personality
differences between subjects preferring dark and bright colors. The subjects who preferred
dark colours had same personality traits. While, the subjects who preferred bright colours
had same personality traits. The subjects who preferred dark colors showed signs of anxiety
and social introversion while the subjects who preferred bright colors showed aggression.
 Athilakshmi R, Cynthia Deb, Maharishi, Ganesh Kumar and Maya Ratnasabapathy
declared in “The Journal of Indian Psychology” how personality is based on colour
preferences. It's relationship with achievement and motivation was also stated. The group
of people who preferred green showed similar personality traits. Similarly, group of people
preferring golden were also seen to have same personality traits. While, the hypothesis was
rejected for other primary colours. The result also showed that this theory was not restricted
to gender or age.
 The purpose of Ranse Lange and Jason Rentfrow, in their research paper titled Color
and Personality: Strong's Interest Inventory and Cattell's 16PF, was to find the relation
between a person’s colour preference and that person’s characteristics that are derived from
two well-established psychological inventories. There findings prove that colour
preferences can give us valuable information regarding a personality, interpersonal style
and behavior.
Method

Objective

The purpose of this research was to see if there is any relation between colour preferences
and personality. For this purpose, a questionnaire was designed by consulting the True Colour
Personality Test by Don Lowry. We selected a sample of 40 students among which 20 were girls
and 20 were boys. The age range for this research was 19-25 years according to World Health
Organization’s (WHO) age range. Instructions were given to the participants prior to solving the
questionnaires. The survey was conducted without mentioning its purpose.

Hypothesis

1. Personality and colour preferences go side by side. If, e.g., two people have the same colour
preferences, then it is possible that they share the same personality traits.
2. Personality and colour preference go side by side. For example, if two people of opposite
gender have the same colour preferences, then it is possible that they share the same
personality traits. For example, if a male and female, both prefer blue, we will get to find
creative, indecisive and talkative.
3. Personality are co-related. If a group of people have same colour preference then they will
share same characteristics in their personality regardless of age.

Scale

For this survey we used the Likert 5 points scale (Not at all, Slightly, Very, Moderately
and Extremely).

Procedure

The survey was conducted on 30th November, 2018. The sample included students of
Riphah International University. There was a total of 40 students between the age ranges
approximately 19-25 years. The sample consisted of 20 female and 20 male students. The
respondents were the students of Bachelors and Masters Programs of different departments namely
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences (FEAS), Department of Physiotherapy, MBBS,
Department of English Literature and Linguistics and Faculty of Computer Science (FC). Before
handing the questionnaire, he participants were not informed the purpose for conducting the survey
but were only guided regarding how it was to be solved. A consent statement was mentioned on
the questionnaire that the participants’ personal information would not be disclosed or cited
anywhere.

The study was done by the application of True Colour Personality Test by Don Lowry.
The questionnaire was designed by keeping this test as a model. The questions were based on 4
primary colours (red, yellow, green and blue) and the personality characteristics associated with
each colour. However, the responding and scoring format was kept different from the original
format of True Colour Personality Test. The questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first
part consisted of 13 questions concerning the personality. Subjects were told to rate the given
statements on five-point Likert scale. In the second part, the respondent of the survey had to select
a colour from the given options that are Red, Yellow, Green and Blue.

Result

The collected data proved the hypothesis that personality and colour preference go side by
side. People with same colour preference possess same characteristics in their personality. This
relation is devoid of gender and age. However, the relationship between colour preference and
personality is more evident in female than in male.

Discussion

The analysis of the data showed that 70% of the people proved the hypothesis correct.
Among them, 25% male and 45% female were present.

Table 1:

Gender Number Percentage (%)

Male 10 / 40 25%
Female 18 / 40 45%
Table 2:

This table shows the number of males and females along with their preferred colour.

Colour Number of Male Number of Female

Blue 7 10
Green 1 5
Red 2 3
Yellow 0 0

Through the analysis of the data collected, we observed the colour preference across both
genders. Blue was seen as the most popular colour out of the four. Blue was famous in both male
and female. Both the genders proved that they possessed the characteristics associated with the
colour blue. It was observed that the people who showed blue were social, talkative, creative,
indecisive, pessimist and were sensitive to criticism. About seven males and ten females preferred
blue.

The second most popular colour was green. It was more popular in females as compared
to males. Five females preferred green while only one male preferred green. It was seen that both
male and female showed characteristics in their personality that were associated with the colour
green. The people who chose green were independent, anti-social, arrogant, unrealistic and
possessed great curiosity. These people were procrastinators and held grudges on minor things.

Red was the third most popular colour among the people. It was seen that two males and
three females preferred red. Both the genders proved that they possessed characteristics that were
associated with the colour red. The people who chose red were more energized, risk takers,
carefree, irresponsible, physically aggressive and impatient as well as insensitive.

Yellow is supposed to be associated with leader like qualities. People preferring yellow are
said to be more organized, decisive, reserved, stubborn and bossy. No one among the respondents
of the survey chose yellow.
The following pie-charts show the colour preference of male and female:

Colour preference in Male

Blue Green Red Yellow

0%
20%

10%

70%

Colour preference in Female

Blue Green Red Yellow

0%
17%

55%
28%
 References

 https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/psychologists/colour-psychology-what-does-your-
favourite-colour-say-about-you
 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/49595886_Personality_Traits_and_Colour_Pref
erences
 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/49595886_Personality_Traits_and_Colour_Pref
erences
 https://psychologia.co/personality-color
 https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1092168-what-your-favourite-color-says-about-
your-personality
 http://cns.utexas.edu/career-services
 Athilakshmi R, Cynthia Deb, Maharishi, Ganesh Kumar, Maya Ratnasabapathy,
"Personality Based on Colour Preferences and it's Relationship with Achievement
Motivation" The International Journal of Indian Psychology, Research Vol.3, Issue 1 No.7,
ISSN 2348-5396, October- December 2015
 Dunja Cigic, Vojislava Bugarski, "Personality Traits and Colour Preferences", Clinic of
Neurology, Clinical Center of Vojvodina, University of Novi Sad, Serbia, Vol.8, No. 4,
December 2010
 Renae Lange, Jason Rentfrow, "Color and Personality: Strong's Interest Inventory and
Cattell's 26PF, "North American Journal of Psychology Vol.9, No.3 , December 2007
 True Colour Personality Assessment, Career Services, The University of Texas at Austin,
512-471-6700