Colours’ Impact on Morality: Evidence from Event-related Potentials

Abstract

Black and white have been shown to be representations of moral concepts. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether colours other than black and white have similar effects on words related to morality and to determine the time course of these effects. We presented moral and immoral words in three colours (red, green and blue) in a Moral Stroop task and used the event-related potential (ERP) technique to identify the temporal dynamics of the impact of colours on moral judgement. The behavioural results showed that it took longer for people to judge immoral words than moral words when the words were coloured green than when they were red or blue. The ERP results revealed the time course of these effects. Three stages were identified in the significant effects of P200, N300 and LPC. These findings suggest a metaphorical association between the colour green and moral information.

The Socio-Moral Image Database (SMID): A novel stimulus set for the study of social, moral and affective processes

“…Additionally, manipulations of high-level image features (e.g., object transfiguration) are becoming increasingly feasible [ 216 , 217 ], presenting fascinating directions for future experimental research. However, for researchers manipulating any aspect of images to achieve statistical control, we urge caution given that modifying seemingly irrelevant perceptual features may influence affective [ 218 , 219 ] and moral processes [ 219 – 225 ].…”

Promoting effects of color‐text congruence in banner advertising

“…Second, they convey clear psychological meanings as mentioned previously. In addition, these associations have been observed using Chinese samples; red conveys negative meaning such as danger, while green and blue convey positive meaning such as morality and pleasure, respectively . The text of the banner ads conveys messages that vary in both concrete meaning (fire, forest, and sea) and abstract meaning (positive or negative).…”

The Socio-Moral Image Database (SMID): A Novel Stimulus Set for the Study of Social, Moral and Affective Processes

“…Additionally, manipulations of high-level image features (e.g., object transfiguration) are becoming increasingly feasible [216,217], presenting fascinating directions for future experimental research. However, for researchers manipulating any aspect of images to achieve statistical control, we urge caution given that modifying seemingly irrelevant perceptual features may influence affective [218,219] and moral processes [219][220][221][222][223][224][225].…”