Bitterness: green 27%, brown 17%, yellow 17%, …
Heller (1989)

The chroma level has an effect on activity (Miyamoto, 2003). The brighter the colour, the more a sense of dynamism will emerge (Valdez & Mehrabian, 1994). The psychologists da Pos and Green-Armytage (2007) obtained the same result in their research into colours and basic emotions. Passive feelings such as sadness and fear are associated with very unsaturated monochrome colours, while active feelings such as happiness, surprise and anger are linked to bright and very contrasting colours.

Desmet, 2007; adapted from Russell, 1980.

Note from the DSD editorial: The eight core affects that are brought together according to two dimensions of emotion: Arousal and Valence, can be divided over the eight primary colour codes according to the method of the Semantic Colour Space. If we assume that the semantic depth dimension corresponds to Valence, and the breadth to Arousal, the following connections may be laid:
(V-,A-) boredom, sadness, isolation: code 010 or 000, green or blue.
(V-,A0) disappointment, contempt, jealousy: code 000 or 010, blue or green.
(V-,A+) alarm, disgust, irritation: code 001 or 011, black or purple.
(V0,A+) astonishment, eagerness, curiosity: code 011 or 111, purple or yellow.
(V+,A-) satisfaction, softened, relaxed: code 100 or 110, brown or white.
(V0,A-) awaiting, deferent, calm: code 110 or 010, white or green.
(V+,A0) admiration, fascination, joyfulness: code 111 or 101, yellow or red.
(V+,A+) inspiration, desire, love: code 101 or 111, red or yellow.

The height dimension, with dominance as the emotional 3rd dimension, was not applied in Desmet and Hekkert’s research.

The degree of disorder or order is linked to sadness or happiness (Osgood, 1957). Jesús Ibáñez (2010) from the Pompeu Fabra University in Spain has done research on the connection between the emotions pleasant / unpleasant and the degree of symmetry in a composition. The use of symmetry to describe intrinsic attractiveness or rejection has been inspired by recent studies in which it has been established that perception of symmetry in the human face and health are linked to each other. Johnston (2007) states that symmetry is an indication of immunology. The less asymmetry in a human body, the better the immune system. That would be the reason why we are attracted by symmetrical people. The increase of asymmetry, and thus of aversion, described in the Ibáñez study, manifests itself mainly in the degree of rotation of the lines in the composition, and in the difference in length of the lines.

Sawada, Suda and Ishii (2003) investigated the relationships between the characteristics of arm movements (such as speed, strength, directness) and emotional expression. They found sadness is portrayed with slow and less powerful movements. The direction of the movements are often the same and the distance of the different movements are often short.

De Meijer (1989) investigated the relationships between characteristics of arm movements and emotional expression. He concluded that positive emotions (such as happiness) could be linked to upward movements. Negative emotions (such as anger and sadness) could be linked to downward movements.

(Inez Michiels, 2022)