Feeling light or dark? Emotions affect perception of brightness

Abstract

In three experiments, we tested whether a perceiver’s emotions affected the perception of brightness. Experiment 1 primed emotions via happy or sad film clips and found that happy participants judged the room to be brighter than sad participants. In Experiment 2, participants’ emotions were primed by recalling happy or sad deeds and also revealed that happy participants judged the room to be brighter in both watts and using a 7-point scale compared to sad participants. Using the same manipulation as Experiment 2, Experiment 3 also showed that happy participants judged a gray picture presented on a computer screen (i.e., the room) to be brighter than sad participants. These experiments provide evidence that perceivers’ emotions can affect the perception of brightness in a metaphorically consistent manner.