The Impact of a Desire to be Unique on Ratings of Color Attraction

Date of Award

2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Barton, Michelle

Keywords

Color, Uniqueness, Context

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

When shown an array of stimuli varying along a given dimension, for example the width of noses, people typically find the average of that stimulus context the most attractive. Pilot data using color gradients as the context, however, did not replicate this effect. The current project tested the hypothesis that participants' need for uniqueness influenced their color preferences. Participants completed a task in which they were asked to rate how attractive various colors were. Each color was either in the presence of more dark colors or more light colors. Uniqueness was assessed via the Consumer's Need for Uniqueness Scale and a behavioral measure that looked at how participants chose an object dependent on its representativeness in a display. The hypothesis was that people with a higher value on uniqueness would find colors more attractive that fall further away from the majority of colors presented. This hypothesis was not supported. Measures of uniqueness had no relation to the colors that participants chose as their favorites. There was also no relationship between the two measures of uniqueness. However, there were significant effects of context on ratings of lightness and darkness. Participants who were presented with lighter colors judged a set of target colors to be darker than participants who were presented with darker colors. These results confirmed that color is affected bycontext for certain domains, an important finding to the area of judgment and decision making. Results also had implications for consumer psychology and further research into unique seeking behaviors.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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