Colors Matter: What Bright Clothing Says About the Wearer

We all notice bright colors. People who choose to go vibrant, whether they express themselves through apparel or accessories, hear everything from, “No one is going to miss you at the party” to, “I would never have the guts to wear that.” But according to research, those comments may be both accurate and expected.

Source: Image by Victoria from Pixabay

Color and Chroma: Exuding Extraversion

Adam D. Pazda and Christopher A. Thorstenson (2019) examined how we perceive people at first impression who wear bright colors.[i] They specifically examined the effect of chroma – defined as “the colorfulness of an area judged as a proportion of the brightness of a similarly illuminated area that appears white or highly transmitting.” In practical terms, the quantity of hue content or color intensity.

They found that targets, both male and female, who were wearing or surrounded by high-chroma colors were perceived as more open and extraverted than in a low-chroma setting. They concluded that chroma is a variable of perception that can influence first impressions of personality.

Drilling down further, examining evidence deduced through a meta-analysis across all experiments, they found that high-chroma colors enhanced viewer perspective of openness and extraversion, but not other traits: such as emotional stability, agreeableness, or conscientiousness. These observations are important because some job responsibilities capitalize on some of the traits inferred through bright colors.

Colors for Career Advancement

Pazda and Thorstenson recognize what job seekers no doubt consider as they look for a career to match their personal disposition: in some occupations, success is fueled by possessing certain personality traits. They give examples of industries such as sales and marketing as well as customer service as domains where extraverts thrive. Accordingly, applicants for these positions may be viewed more favorably and judged as more competent if they wear highly chromatic clothing.

Colors for Courtship

Bright colors may also impact the impressions wearers make on the digital dating scene. Because online daters size up potential paramours in a short amount of time, Pazda and Thorstenson suggest that bright colors might influence online matchmaking, where posting high-chroma profile photos may attract similar personalities.

Regarding the generality of their results, Pazda and Thorstenson note that one of the limitations of their study was their use of participants living in the United States, which means their findings may not predict results in other cultures. They note the possibility that chroma may influence the perception of personality traits differently in non-Western countries, and that high-chroma clothing may be perceived as diverging from social norms in other cultures.

The practical takeaway, at least in the United States, appears to be that bright colors, like the peacock’s tail, will get you noticed. But depending on your goals, consider tailoring your chroma to the circumstances, personally and professionally.