The art of sound pictures (1930)

266 THE ART OF SOUND PICTURES ratings of emotional responsiveness, the difference between these two intermediate values was very slight. Color preferences obtained from much larger groups than the one used in this experiment, in fact, indicate that men, on the whole, prefer green to red. Thus it would seem that there exists in these results a strong indication that naive color preferences correspond rather closely to the subjects’ responsiveness to each of the elementary emotions along the lines of the linkage previously suggested. In other words, it would seem psychologically probable that people who are extremely dominant prefer the primary color blue, that people who are predominantly compliant prefer the color green, and that persons who are predominantly submissive prefer yellow. Of course, we must remember that these linkages, let us say, between primary colors and elementary emotions indicate only the natural tendencies due to inherited structure of the body and brain. Such natural tendencies are, of course, modified and sometimes totally reversed by later experiences in life. Nevertheless, the natural tendencies to some definite linkage between primary colors and elementary emotions doubtless remain and probably influence us in everyday life to a much greater extent than we realize. Musicians frequently describe the tones of a given instrument or voice in terms of color. Paderewski, for example, is said to describe his own playing as predominantly red. Some artists assert that they actually see colors corresponding to certain notes or combinations of tone. In the same way, it is quite probable that the predominating color in a motion picture set would be capable, in itself, of arousing certain background emotions in the