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Colours' Impact on Morality: Evidence from Event-related Potentials
Tian Gan1, Wei Fang1, Liezhong Ge1
1Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, China.
Scientific Reports
|December 23, 2016
Summary
Color psychology influences moral judgments. This study found green hues specifically impact moral word processing, suggesting a metaphorical link between green and morality, impacting reaction times and brain activity.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Color Psychology
Background:
- Previous research links black and white to moral concepts.
- The influence of other colors on moral cognition remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if colors beyond black and white affect moral word processing.
- To determine the temporal dynamics of color's impact on moral judgment.
Main Methods:
- A Moral Stroop task was employed, presenting moral and immoral words in red, green, and blue.
- Event-related potential (ERP) technique was used to analyze neural activity.
Main Results:
- Behavioral data indicated slower judgment of immoral words in green compared to red or blue.
- ERP analysis identified distinct temporal stages (P200, N300, LPC) of color's influence on moral processing.
Conclusions:
- The color green shows a unique association with moral information processing.
- Metaphorical associations between colors and abstract concepts like morality are supported by these findings.
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