Color Recognition, Color Preferences and Color Choices for Completing Emotionally Characterized Drawings in Childhood

The aim of this project is to analyze children color recognition, color preferences and color choices in emotionally characterized drawings from early childhood to primary school. 1307 children (648 boys and 659 girls) from mainstream schools of Kaunas region and 95 children (54 boys and 38 girls) from Kaunas kinder garden participated in color preference, mood rating and drawing sessions. Age of participants ranged from 2 years 3 months and 12 years 3 months. All children rated the set of 11 pencils (from the most liked to the most disliked color) and completed three drawings of differently characterized human figures: a neutral, a nice, and a nasty. The results of the study revealed that color recognition develops with age in early childhood: more 5-7 years old children recognize all colors then 2-4 years old ones. More than 60% of children in 2-4 years old group recognized green, red, yellow and black. While all children in 5-7 years old group recognized black, red and orange colors. Some gender differences in color preferences also were found. Both genders preferred bright colors: girls – pink, yellow, and boys – red, sky blue. The most liked colors for both genders were bright; the most disliked color for both genders was black. However some age differences were observed. Interestingly color choices in early childhood were less related to gender stereotypes than in primary school. The results of the study indicate that children use of specific colors when completing nice and nasty figures in early childhood only starts to develop. The relationship between nasty figure and black color begins firstly, but relationships among positively characterized figures and bright colors still remain shady. In primary school these relationships become more differentiated: the strongest relationship is observed between nice figure and yellow color and nasty figure and black color. However results also indicate that choice of the color is related to child’s color preference. Although the results of the study confirm general association between characteristics of the topic being drawn and colors, observed gender differences and importance of color preference indicate that color interpretations during child’s psychological assessment should be done with caution. The implications for further research are discussed.