Coloring the environment: Hue, arousal, and boredom

Abstract

One hundred and forty undergraduate subjects, sitting in carrels having side panels painted either light blue, blue, pink, red, orange, white, brown, green, yellow, or gray were exposed to procedures designed to induce boredom. Subjects listened to a tape that repeated one of two words every 2 sec for 10 min. The results showed that self-reported arousal and evaluations of the environment were higher in the yellow condition than in the other color conditions. Response to boredom-induction procedures did not vary with color or saturation. © 1983, The Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.