Blue or Red? Exploring the Effect of Color on Cognitive Task Performances
Ravi Mehta and
Rui (Juliet) Zhu*
Existing research reports inconsistent findings with regard
to the effect of color on cognitive task performances. Some
research suggests that blue or green leads to better performances
than red; other studies record the opposite. Current work reconciles
this discrepancy. We demonstrate that red (versus blue) color
induces primarily an avoidance (versus approach) motivation
(study 1,
n = 69) and that red enhances performance on a detail-oriented
task, whereas blue enhances performance on a creative task (studies
2 and 3,
n = 208 and 118). Further, we replicate these results
in the domains of product design (study 4,
n = 42) and persuasive
message evaluation (study 5,
n = 161) and show that these effects
occur outside of individuals' consciousness (study 6,
n = 68).
We also provide process evidence suggesting that the activation
of alternative motivations mediates the effect of color on cognitive
task performances.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: juliet.zhu{at}sauder.ubc.ca
