Color associations to mood stories in first grade boys

Choices of color crayons to portray mood stories were studied in a sample of first grade boys. The total sample (180) was divided into three treatment groups (60 subjects in each) who were told either the "Angry Boy" story, the "Happy Boy" story, or the "Sad Boy" story. Each subject selected one of six color crayons (red, yellow, green, blue, brown, or purple) to color the boy "to look" angry, happy, or sad. Racial, socioeconomic, and within-group differences were not significant, but significant differences were found between groups given angry and sad stories (x2 equal to 22.23, df equal to 5, p is less than .01). red was significantly associated with the angry boy when compared with the sad boy, while brown was significantly more often preferred for the sad boy than for the happy boy. By the age of first grade consequently the general preference for red by children is already significantly altered.