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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteColor psychology research finds recurring links between colors and emotions, but it does not give each color one universal meaning or show that a particular color reliably changes how someone feels. A 2025 systematic review of 132 studies found associations shaped by hue, lightness and saturation; newer studies in Saudi Arabia and a flower garden show how results also depend on people and setting.
What color psychology statistics can—and cannot—tell you
The strongest evidence is about associations: which emotions people connect with a color. That is different from showing that exposure to the color causes a person to feel that emotion. A color can be linked to several emotions, and an emotion can be linked to several colors.
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That distinction matters when interpreting a percentage or a chart. An association rate describes responses in a particular study, using particular colors, questions and participants. It is not a prediction for every person, nor proof that using that color will change mood, behavior or sales.
What the 2025 systematic review found
Domicele Jonauskaite and Christine Mohr’s review, published in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review on January 13, 2025, examined English-language, peer-reviewed empirical studies of adults published from 1895 through 2022. The review included 132 articles and 42,266 participants from 64 countries. Of the articles, 73 could be used to analyze links with broad affective dimensions, while 61 addressed discrete emotion terms. [Read the review]
The studies did not all measure emotion in the same way: 79 articles (59.8%) used explicit methods, 48 (36.4%) implicit methods, and five (3.8%) both. Those methods and the studies’ different colors and populations make it important to read the overall patterns as recurring tendencies, not fixed rules.
Color patterns reported across the literature
- More positive associations: yellow, green, green-blue, blue, pink, white, light or bright colors, and saturated colors appeared more often in positive correspondences.
- More negative associations: brown, grey, black and dark colors appeared more often in negative correspondences.
- Red is mixed: the review found a roughly balanced number of articles reporting positive and negative valence associations for red.
- Arousal: red, yellow and saturated colors were more often associated with high arousal; green, blue, white and grey more often with low arousal.
- Power: red, purple and black were more often connected with high power, while blue and grey were more often connected with low power.
These categories overlap. Happiness appeared across eight color categories in the review, while sadness appeared across five. Lightness and saturation contributed alongside hue: lighter colors tended to be linked to more positive emotions, darker colors to more negative ones, and saturated colors to more positive, higher-arousal and higher-power emotions. Warm colors also had more varied associations with arousal and power than cool colors. [Jonauskaite and Mohr, 2025]
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What newer studies add
Saudi Arabia: red and love was a frequent pairing
A 2026 study by Al-Rasheed, Mohr, Epicoco and Jonauskaite tested 873 Arabic speakers in Saudi Arabia. Participants considered 11 basic color categories and 20 emotion concepts. Red paired with love most frequently, at 61.5% in this study. The researchers compared color words with color patches and laboratory with online participation; all four correlations between association patterns exceeded .90 (p < .001). They also reported some differences in positive-emotion ratings and in the number or intensity of associations across formats and settings. This is a result for the tested participants and procedures, not a universal red-love rate. [Study details]
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RHS Wisley: flower colors in a garden context
At an interactive garden exhibit at RHS Wisley, Sachs and colleagues collected responses from 11,569 visitors. Visitors used a digital picker to select favorite flower colors and report associated emotions; researchers analyzed 36 categories based on hue and color cut. Saturated red and yellow were frequent favorites, followed closely by saturated purple and cyan. Saturated warm flower hues were associated with higher pleasantness and emotional intensity, while light and muted hues were associated with lower pleasantness and intensity. The finding concerns color choices and feelings in a flower-and-garden setting; it does not establish how those colors will work in a room, brand or other population. [Study details]
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Do colors actually change mood?
Evidence for a color-emotion association is more developed than evidence that color exposure changes a person’s felt emotional state. A 2026 review chapter by Jonauskaite, Spagnulo, Epicoco and Mohr considered 31 studies that targeted felt states. Only eight immersed participants in colored environments while accounting for lightness and/or chroma, and those eight reported inconsistent results. The authors say more systematic studies are needed before concluding that color affects felt affective states. [Review chapter]
Accordingly, color can be a design choice informed by common associations, but the reviewed evidence does not justify promising that a specific hue will reliably create a mood. Nor does an association study show that a color will increase sales.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to interpret a color psychology statistic
Before applying a finding to design, marketing or everyday choices, check what was actually compared and measured:
- Hue: Was the color red, blue, or another broad category?
- Lightness and saturation: Was it pale, dark, muted or vivid? These dimensions can change associations even within a hue.
- How color was presented: Did participants see a color word or a physical color patch?
- What emotion measure was used: Did the study ask about a broad dimension such as pleasantness or arousal, or a discrete term such as love or sadness?
- Who participated and where: Note the population, cultural context, setting and whether responses were collected online or in person.
- What the result supports: A reported pairing or preference is evidence of an association in that study, not necessarily a causal mood effect.
The 2025 review is substantial in scope, but its literature search covered peer-reviewed English-language research through 2022. The 2026 studies add useful examples in particular populations and settings; they do not remove the need to account for context.
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Key figures at a glance
| Finding | What was measured | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| 132 articles; 42,266 participants; 64 countries | Scope of Jonauskaite and Mohr’s review of studies published from 1895 through 2022 | A broad synthesis of associations, not a universal rule or causal test |
| 73 articles; 61 articles | Articles usable for affective-dimension correspondences; articles addressing discrete affective terms | The review included different kinds of emotion measures |
| 79 (59.8%); 48 (36.4%); 5 (3.8%) | Articles using explicit methods; implicit methods; both | Methods varied across the evidence base |
| 61.5% | Red-love was the most frequent pairing among 873 Arabic speakers in the 2026 Saudi Arabia study | Specific to its participants and study design |
| 11,569 participants; 36 color categories | Responses at the 2026 RHS Wisley interactive flower exhibit | Findings reflect flower-color choices and emotions in a garden setting |
| 31 studies; 8 colored-environment studies | Studies targeting felt states; the subset immersing participants in colored environments and accounting for lightness and/or chroma | Results in the eight studies were inconsistent |
Sources: Jonauskaite and Mohr (2025); Al-Rasheed and colleagues (2026); Sachs and colleagues (2026); Jonauskaite and colleagues (2026).
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