Preference for the Color Red and Activation: A Test of Thayer's Theory

Abstract

As a test of Thayer's two-dimensional arousal theory, it was reasoned that a stimulus with a relatively high arousal potential would be preferred by persons who scored higher on the energetic dimension and would not be preferred by persons who scored high on the tense arousal dimension. A group of undergraduates was asked to rank colors in order of their preference and to respond to the items of the Thayer scale. Using only the scores of the 21 individuals who reported either high or low preference for the color red, i.e., color having a high arousal potential, a single difference score was calculated for each person. This value reflected the relative scores on the energetic and tense dimensions of the Thayer scale. These data clearly supported the hypothesis.