Anna Mangahas

This study was first developed with the saying “birds of a feather flock together” in mind. I thought that if people had certain traits, behaviors, thought processes in common, wouldn’t it make sense for them to like or prefer the same kinds of things as well? I chose color as the preference to focus on because of the different baseline levels of arousal given one’s level of Extraversion, and because there is the idea that different colors have different levels of arousal.

As for the traits chosen, Sensation Seeking (SS) is a trait from a different model (the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire) that has strong commonalities with Extraversion (E) and Openness to Experience (O) was added as well, given that SS is believed to be interstitial with both E and O, as well as the artistic-leaning facets of O. There was also a study focusing on the relationship of these three traits and this research endeavor would add further to the body of knowledge regarding these three traits.

Several studies were found supporting the idea that there are preferences strongly linked to certain traits and these can be used to, more or less, gauge if one scores high (or low) in that trait or use the trait to guess one’s preferences (i.e. SS and music preferences and O and preference for novel and unique art). The results of this study showed that while there is some relationship between color preference with E and with SS, the magnitude of these correlations is rather weak and does not appear to be a good proxy measuring stick to hazard an informed guess about one’s personality. Perhaps, then, what is needed is to find preferences with strong links to particular traits since this preference-trait relationship can be used as a potential (and quick) assessment tool that does not appear to elicit socially desirable responses.

This study also allowed a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics of SS, E, and O. It was found that SS is not interstitial between E and O and that SS and E have the most in common with each other. Because both the understanding and development of these two traits are based on a desire for a specific level of stimulation and arousal and share the same biological base, this is not surprising. It was then hypothesized that it could be that the relationship between SS and O lies in the desire for unique and novel experiences and preferring a particular color does not equate to such an experience.

However, it should be noted that only one aspect of color (hue) was examined. It could be that while there does not appear to be a relationship with O and hue, the relationship may exist between the other properties of color (saturation and brightness). In addition, culture could also be a factor in influencing one’s color preference, especially if there are salient norms associated with this (such as Eastern cultures and the color red). Because there is a lack of studies that focus on the interplay of culture, personality traits, and color preference, as well as the other properties of color and personality traits, these could then be further areas of inquiry in this field.