Why Do Good Guys Always Wear White?
A Psychological Journal featuring:
Overview
This article explores concepts as to why and how we classify abstract experiences/ideas according to concrete experiences, and thus the investigators of this article performed a study to determine the association between the brightness of colors (light/dark) and the categorization/valence of words (i.e. positive or negative, good or evil, etc.). They based their studies on other studies and gave a few concepts to corroborate how complex the human thought is (in relation to cognitive development), because as one concept says, "such abstract thought requires, and is built on, prior sensorimotor representations."
Method
First, the investigators in this study set up a relevant chromatic division to determine the valence of words versus the brightness/color (2 x 2 repeated measures design) by having participants' respond manually using a computer. And in the five different studies, they emphasized and even varied the speed and accuracy of the participants' responses, as well as determined the conditions and the effects of the association of mismatched brightness and word valence through a response-deadline procedure, emphasis only on font color, and task-dependent nature of the interaction. The investigators also selected 100 words (50 positive & 50 negative) for this study. The subjects in this study were 169 unselected undergraduates who received extra course credit.
Results
The authors of this study generally provided sufficient evidence for their findings. To summarize their findings in the five studies, the participants generally associated good/positive words with a bright color, whereas bad/negative words with a dark color. Although the study gave mismatched valence words versus color, and the investigators pressured the participants with the dependent variables of accuracy and speed, the participants were more accurate associating good/positive words with bright colors and vice versa. Also, the investigators noted that with each study, they noticed that the participants' responses were at times, delayed because of what is asked of them. For example, a negative word on a white background is presented, and they are asked to evaluate only the font color, and thus, they encounter a conflicting, two-response tendency.
Discussion
As discussed earlier, abstract concepts are rooted in physical metaphor/sensorimotor representation. These studies helped support this claim, because human abstract thought are influenced by physical cues, and thus, the stimulus of color affected the participants' responses. Therefore, one cannot conceptualize the affect of a stimulus without any physical representation of some sort. This study is an important contribution to science in that it not only applies to racial/ethnical judgment of people but that it is also "ubiquitous in popular culture" when we watch movies, TV shows, etc. Because human development is first exposed to physical stimuli, we automatically associate abstract concepts with those stimuli, which are essential and continue throughout the entire human lifespan. Although there is an association between the valence of words and color, this at times, may bias our responses and how we see the world around us when we see a dark-skinned (or even an African American) individual, for example. This article not only helps us to understand how we form our thoughts, but may also help us to deviate from such biases in the future, which may give rise to future studies.
Personal Statement
Overall, this is generally an interesting study, which gave an impressive example of cognitive development. I now understand the underlying concepts as to why and how "the good guys always wear white" when it comes to watching movies and TV shows. Although I was particularly disappointed in that the participants in the study did not represent the overall population, it would be interesting in comparison to perform this study on other ethnic groups instead of Caucasians, as the investigators did.
References
Meier, B. P., Robinson, M. D., & Clore G. L. (2004). Why Good Guys Wear White: Automatic Inferences About Stimulus Valence Based on Brightness. Psychological Science, 15 (2), 82-87.
--Reviews by Kathy Nguyen, 2004.
* Volume 15, Issue 2 is not displayed online.
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