Proceedings of 1st International Symposium for Color Science and Art 2019

Metaphoric Association between Colors and Abstract
Thoughts: A Case of “Time”
Yoshihiro Matsunaka
Tokyo Polytechnic Univ., 1583 Iiyama, Atsugi, Kanagawa 243-0297, Japan
trustworthy or dependable in China, and love, happy,
good taste or adventurous in Japan. Thus, There aremany researches concerning psychological effect ofcolors and the meaning (or sense) of colors.
However, I’m interested in somewhat opposite
direction; whether a certain concept or idea has(metaphorically) any chromatic attribute or not. Shermanand Clore (2009) explore the [moral-purity] metaphor andits grounding in the colors black and white. They
“documented a moral Stroop effect indicating that people
make immorality-blackness associations quickly andrelatively automatically (1024).” They also mention that“sin is not just dirty, it is black. And moral virtue is not justclean, but also white (ibid.).” So how about otherconcepts?

ABSTRACTThis paper shows that people’s choice of color for
abstract concept is not completely arbitrary, but is reflectvarious underlying conceptual metaphors. Color of ideas
might be an example of manifestation of conceptual
metaphor in different modalities other than language.
1. Introduction
Conceptual Metaphor Theory maintains thatconceptual metaphors form abstract ideas/concepts on
the basis of our perceptually based experience (Lakoffand Johnson 1999, etc.). Our perception of colors can bea “perceptually based experience.” If so, it can play acertain role in metaphorical understanding of abstract
ideas. This research explores the possibility of such
understanding.

2. Experiment
2.1 Research Questions
Research questions are as follows;
1) What color do people associate with the concept offuture?
2) Is there any figurative/metaphorical motivation for
the association?
2.2 Procedures
Participants were 160 native speakers of Japanese (18– 25 y.o.). They were given a sheet of 13 color samples.
When being presented several words of abstract ideas,
they were asked to choose one color from the 13 colors
which they thought is best matched to the idea. These 13
colors are considered basic color categories of Japanese
speakers according to the previous studies (Ono et al.
2010, Matsunaka 2018). The followings are concept
words presented in this research.
temporal term: future, pastspatial term: front, back, right, left
emotion term: joy, happiness, hope, anger, sadness
relationship term: friendship, trust, betrayal
These words were arranged in the order where words ofthe same category are not laid side by side. To reduce an
influence of the previous answer they made as much as
possible, participants were asked to solve an arithmetic
quiz (e.g. 45+27=?) before moving to the next question.
This paper focuses on the word of time and space.

2. Previous StudiesThere have been many researches concerning
physiological or psychological effect of color on humanbody and mind. Johann Wolfgang von Göethe,well-known for Faust, conducted an extensive researchon color. In Zur Farbenlehre (Theory of colours), he wrote;[W]e shall not be surprised to find that its (color’s)
effects are at all times decided and significant, andthat they are immediately associated with the emotionof the mind. We shall not be surprised to find thatthese appearances presented singly, are specific, thatin combination they may produce a harmonious,
characteristic, often even an inharmonious effect on
the eye, by means of which they act on the mind….
(paragraph 759, underlined by the author of thispaper)
He discussed that each color has psychological effect onhuman mind. For example, yellow “excites a warm andagreeable impression (768)”, while Blue “gives us animpression of cold (783)” and “the appearance of objects
seen through a blue glass is gloomy and melancholy(785).”
Such relations between colors and mind are sowell-accustomed that colors are considered to be symbols
of various notions or concepts. In Arthur de Vries’
Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery, the entry of ‘blue’ hasa three-page-long description. And such association
varies cross culturally. Aslam (2005) reveals
cross-cultural spectrum of meanings and associations ofcolors in marketing. For example, the color of green
denotes envy, good taste, adventure or happiness in
Anglo-Saxon culture, while it denotes pure sincere,

2.3 Result
Table 1 shows overall result, and Figure 1 and 2shows the result of future and past.

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Proceedings of 1st International Symposium for Color Science and Art 2019

futurewhiteyellow
orangeredpinkpurpleblue
light blue

green
light green

brown
grey
black

51
191031021533
550
61

past
80
4
30816
101131269
16

front
30
1324
31
20
0
412
12
3514

back
500
11
926
6130
18
1962

right
5
71739
9418
727
615
32

metaphorically mapped onto ‘back.’ Light-blue is calledmizu-iro (water-color), so it can also be literally the colorof water and Japanese people often associate time
passing with flow of water. (e.g. toki-no nagare-ni mi-omakaseru: “to surrender one’s body to the flow of water).

left
45468529263723623

Table 1Figure 1 future
Figure 3 Correspondence Analysis
3. Conclusion
In sum, the results suggest that association of (ratherabstract) concept and color is not completely arbitrary, butthere might be a regular pattern of association. We cansee somewhat clear association of color and concept (oridea). Participants’ choice of color might reflect various
underlying conceptual metaphors. Metaphorical mappingsin the conceptual level should allow manifestations indifferent modalities, not limited to language; i.e.,
multimodality of conceptual metaphors (cf. Forceville
2005, etc.). Thus, color of ideas might be an example ofmanifestation of conceptual metaphor in different
modalities other than language.

Figure 2 past
2.4 Discussion
The result of this study shows two points.
Firstly, both future and spatial ‘front’ are associatedwith white colors while past and spatial ‘back’ with blackor gray and cold color. Linguistic data do not show
Japanese has expression like ‘white future,’ buthakushi-no mirai (white-paper-gen. future) reflecting
uncertainty of future (DESTINY/FUTURE IS SCHEDULE). As far
as past is concerned, there is an expression like
hai-iro-no kako (grey-color-gen. past), reflecting memoryof negative feeling and experience (POSITIVE IS LIGHT vs.
NEGATIVE IS DARK).
Secondly, future is also associated with blue and light
blue, which might mean that future is metaphoricallyregarded as ‘sky’, while past and spatial back are often
associated with brown. If their choice of brown is basedon the color of the earth or land, the spatial axis of‘front-back’ which is metaphorically mapped on to‘future-past’ might not be completely horizontal, butslanted (from sky to the earth). Thus, these color mapping
might be an instantiatioin of conceptual metaphor TIME ISSPACE. As the correspondence analysis in Figure 3 shows,‘past’ and ‘back’ is nearly placed, which means past isSelected Reference

Aslam, M. (2005). “Are you selling the right colour? A
cross-cultural review of colour as a marketing cue.” In I.
Papasolomou (Eds.), Developments and Trends in Corporateand Marketing Communications: Plotting the Mindscape of the21st Century: (pp. 1-14). Cyprus: InterCollege, Marketing
Department, School of Business Administration.
Goethe, J. W. (translated by C. Eastlake) 1810. Theory ofColours. BLTC Press (Kindle version)
Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. 1999. Philosophy in theFlesh: The Embodied Mind and its Challenge to WesternThought. New York: Basic Books.
Ono, Ayaji, et al. 2010. “Gendai Nihon-jin o taisho to shita
shikisaigoi no chousa to bunseki (Investigation and analysis ofcolor vocabulary for the modern Japanese).” Nihon Shikisai
Gakkaishi (Journal of the Color Science Association of Japan).
34(1): 2-13.
Sherman, G. and G. Clore. 2009 “The Color of Sin: White andBlack Are Perceptual Symbols of Moral Purity and Pollution.”
Psychological Science 20(8): 1019-25.

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