Statistical Analysis for Human Preference to Colors

Abstract

This paper discusses human preference of colors. There are many statistical methods to analyze human preference. In sensory evaluation method of rank order or various methods of paired comparisons are used. Here for methods to analyze human preference to colors the method of rank order and Thurstone’s method of paired comparisons are taken up, for colors red, blue, yellow, black, and white are taken up, and it is studied how those colors are preferred using both methods and same subjects aiming to find out whether equal results are obtained. In the method of rank order, order statistics from the normal distribution are used for evaluation, and in the Thurstone’s method of paired comparisons, it is assumed that human sensations follow the normal distribution. In both methods, the units of evaluation values become the standard deviations of the standard normal distribution, that is, σ = 1, hence the evaluation values obtained by both methods are useful to compare the results among many objects. In this paper, the method of rank order and Thurstone’s method of paired comparisons are described, results of evaluation for preference to colors by both methods using the same subjects are shown, and it is discussed how the results of evaluation differ for both methods.