Suse Global Color Meaning Database A Cross-Cultural Color Reference
Updated 2026-09
Founder & Lead Curator: Chloe Chen
Collection / Bibliography

Works cited

Bibliography

Every claim in the collection traces to a source on this page. Identifiers were checked to resolve in June 2026 and again in September 2026. Entries are grouped with peer-reviewed articles, books, and chapters first, then the reference works, archive documentation, and metadata standards used for well-established cultural context and for the archival practice the fieldwork follows.

21 peer-reviewed / book sources and 9 reference and standards sources. Total: 30.

  1. [PEER]Adams, F. M., & Osgood, C. E. (1973). A Cross-Cultural Study of the Affective Meanings of Color. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 4(2), 135-156. peer reviewedResolves: https://doi.org/10.1177/002202217300400201Semantic-differential study across 23 language-culture communities; finds broadly shared affective trends (red salient and strong; black bad and strong; white, blue, green good).Cited in: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Black, GCMD-C04, Theory, Standards
  2. [BOOK]Berlin, B., & Kay, P. (1969). Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution. University of California Press. ISBN 9781575864624. bookResolves: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/B/bo3643648.htmlProposes a constrained evolutionary order in which languages add basic color terms; foundational and contested.Cited in: Blue, GCMD-C06, Theory
  3. [PEER]Conklin, H. C. (1955). Hanunóo Color Categories. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 11(4), 339-344. peer reviewedResolves: https://doi.org/10.1086/soutjanth.11.4.3628909The classic ethnographic critique: four Hanunóo color terms organized by lightness, darkness, wetness, and dryness rather than by hue. The relativist anchor of the theory page.Cited in: Theory
  4. [PEER]Davis, J. T. M., Robertson, E., Lew-Levy, S., Neldner, K., Kapitany, R., Nielsen, M., & Hines, M. (2021). Cultural Components of Sex Differences in Color Preference. Child Development 92(4), 1574-1589. peer reviewedResolves: https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13528Children in three small-scale societies (Peru, Vanuatu, Congo) showed no girls-prefer-pink pattern; the pattern appeared in an Australian global city, indicating cultural rather than innate origin.Cited in: Pink, GCMD-C07
  5. [BOOK]Douglas, M. (1966). Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. Routledge (Routledge Classics edition, 2002). ISBN 9780415289955. bookResolves: https://www.routledge.com/Purity-and-Danger-An-Analysis-of-Concepts-of-Pollution-and-Taboo/Douglas/p/book/9780415289955Taboo as matter out of place: a classification rule rather than a preference. Used on the theory page to read the archive's prohibition data (the green hat, the name in red ink, white on the head).Cited in: Theory
  6. [BOOK]Gage, J. (1999). Color and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction. University of California Press (first published 1993 by Thames and Hudson). ISBN 9780520222250. bookResolves: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520222250/color-and-cultureThe standard art-historical survey of how color practice and color meaning changed in the West. Historical background on the theory page.Cited in: Theory
  7. [BOOK]Grisard, D. (2017). "Real Men Wear Pink"? A Gender History of Color. In R. L. Blaszczyk & U. Spiekermann (Eds.), Bright Modernity: Color, Commerce, and Consumer Culture (pp. 77-96). Palgrave Macmillan. book chapterResolves: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50745-3_4Historicizes the pink-feminine link as recent and constructed; pink was once read through class, not gender.Cited in: Pink, GCMD-C08
  8. [PEER]Jonauskaite, D., & Mohr, C. (2025). Do we feel colours? A systematic review of 128 years of psychological research linking colours and emotions. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 32(4), 1457-1486. peer reviewedResolves: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-024-02615-zSystematic review, 132 reports, 42,266 participants, 64 countries, 1895-2022. Confirms reliable but many-to-many color-emotion correspondences.Cited in: Red, Green, Yellow, Black, GCMD-C02, Theory
  9. [PEER]Jonauskaite, D., Abu-Akel, A., Dael, N., Oberfeld, D., Abdel-Khalek, A. M., Al-Rasheed, A. S., ... Mohr, C. (2020). Universal Patterns in Color-Emotion Associations Are Further Shaped by Linguistic and Geographic Proximity. Psychological Science 31(10), 1245-1260. peer reviewedResolves: https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976209488104,598 participants, 30 nations, 22 languages. Color-emotion associations are broadly shared (mean similarity r = .88) but modulated by linguistic and geographic proximity.Cited in: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Black, GCMD-C01, Theory
  10. [BOOK]Kay, P., Berlin, B., Maffi, L., Merrifield, W. R., & Cook, R. (2009). The World Color Survey. CSLI Publications. ISBN 9781575864150. bookResolves: https://linguistics.berkeley.edu/wcs/Color naming for 330 Munsell chips from speakers of 110 unwritten languages, with the raw data archived openly at Berkeley. The disciplinary precedent the standards page measures this archive against.Cited in: Theory, Standards
  11. [PEER]Mehrjoo, A., Cuevas, R., & Cuevas, A. (2024). Online advertisement in a pink-colored market. EPJ Data Science 13, Article 36. peer reviewedResolves: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-024-00473-2Open access. Across 4.5M+ Facebook audiences in 187 countries, a digital-advertising 'pink tax' appears in 79% of audiences worldwide and 98% in highly developed countries; median ~30% more to reach women.Cited in: Pink, GCMD-C10
  12. [PEER]Moshary, S., Tuchman, A., & Bhatia Vajravelu, N. (2026). Gender-Based Pricing in Consumer Packaged Goods: A Pink Tax?. Marketing Science 45(1), 1-14. peer reviewedResolves: https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2023.1452Three years of data, ~40,000 US stores, nine personal-care categories. On a simple average across categories, women's products cost 10.6% more; the gap largely reflects product differentiation rather than a uniform sex penalty. The working paper circulated from 2021; final article assigned to Marketing Science 45(1).Cited in: Pink, GCMD-C09
  13. [BOOK]Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J., & Tannenbaum, P. H. (1957). The Measurement of Meaning. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252745393. bookResolves: https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p070149Origin of the semantic differential: bipolar adjective scales that place a concept in an evaluation, potency, and activity space. The rating card is an instrument in this tradition.Cited in: Theory
  14. [PEER]Palmer, S. E., & Schloss, K. B. (2010). An Ecological Valence Theory of Human Color Preference. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(19), 8877-8882. peer reviewedResolves: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0906172107Ecological valence theory: preference for a color tracks the average affective valence of the objects associated with it (WAVE explains roughly 80% of preference variance).Cited in: Blue, Green, GCMD-C03, Theory
  15. [BOOK]Pastoureau, M. (2001). Blue: The History of a Color. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691181363. bookResolves: https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780691181363Blue's rise from a marginal color in antiquity to Europe's favorite, driven by the Church, the dye trades, and the state. The historical anchor of the theory page.Cited in: Theory
  16. [PEER]Regier, T., & Kay, P. (2009). Language, Thought, and Color: Whorf Was Half Right. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 13(10), 439-446. peer reviewedResolves: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2009.07.001The modern synthesis: color naming is universally constrained and language still shapes perception, mainly in the right visual field. The reconciliation on the theory page.Cited in: Theory
  17. [PEER]Sahlins, M. (1976). Colors and Cultures. Semiotica 16(1), 1-22. peer reviewedResolves: https://doi.org/10.1515/semi.1976.16.1.1Argues that colors are signs inside cultural systems: perception constrains which distinctions are available, culture decides what they mean. The semiotic anchor of the theory page.Cited in: Theory
  18. [PEER]Saito, M. (1996). A Comparative Study of Color Preferences in Japan, China and Indonesia, with Emphasis on the Preference for White. Perceptual and Motor Skills 83(1), 115-128. peer reviewedResolves: https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1996.83.1.115Documents a distinctive shared preference for white across Japan, China, and Indonesia, attributed in part to cultural and environmental associations.Cited in: Black, GCMD-C05
  19. [BOOK]Turner, V. (1967). Color Classification in Ndembu Ritual: A Problem in Primitive Classification. The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual, Cornell University Press, 59-92. ISBN 9780801491016. book chapterResolves: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801491016/the-forest-of-symbols/The red, white, and black triad of Ndembu ritual, read through bodily substances. The symbolic-anthropology anchor of the theory page.Cited in: Theory
  20. [PEER]Wilkinson, M. D., Dumontier, M., Aalbersberg, I. J., et al. (2016). The FAIR Guiding Principles for Scientific Data Management and Stewardship. Scientific Data 3, 160018. peer reviewedResolves: https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18Findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable: the data-stewardship standard the standards page audits this archive against.Cited in: Standards
  21. [PEER]Winawer, J., Witthoft, N., Frank, M. C., Wu, L., Wade, A. R., & Boroditsky, L. (2007). Russian Blues Reveal Effects of Language on Color Discrimination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104(19), 7780-7785. peer reviewedResolves: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0701644104Russian speakers, who obligatorily distinguish goluboy from siniy, discriminate those blues faster across the boundary. The linguistic-relativity evidence on the theory page.Cited in: Theory
  22. [STAN]DCMI Usage Board (2020). DCMI Metadata Terms. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. standardResolves: https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dcmi-terms/The metadata vocabulary every record on this site is expressed in, so that a larger archive or aggregator can harvest it.Cited in: Standards
  23. [REFE]Densho (2024). Densho Digital Repository: Using the Repository (identifiers, citation, and rights). Densho. referenceResolves: https://ddr.densho.org/using/The model oral-history archive: persistent per-interview identifiers, a fixed citation form, and a tiered rights statement. The interview citation form on this site copies it.Cited in: Standards
  24. [REFE]Editorial reference synthesis (2024). Red envelope (hongbao). Wikipedia. referenceResolves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_envelopeBackground on red as the auspicious color of weddings, the Lunar New Year, and the hongbao in Chinese culture. Used for cultural background only.Cited in: Red
  25. [REFE]Endangered Languages Archive (2024). Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR). Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. referenceResolves: https://www.elararchive.org/The model for graded access to sensitive recordings: open, registered, and restricted tiers set by the depositor. This archive's codes-only public layer follows the same logic.Cited in: Standards
  26. [STAN]Oral History Association (2018). Principles and Best Practices for Oral History. Oral History Association. standardResolves: https://oralhistory.org/principles-and-best-practices-revised-2018/The professional standard for consent, recording, attribution, and preservation of interviews. The interview protocol and release form follow it.Cited in: Standards
  27. [REFE]PARADISEC (2024). Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures. PARADISEC. referenceResolves: https://www.paradisec.org.au/The model depositor-driven field archive: collection, item, and file levels, with ISO 639-3 language codes on every item.Cited in: Standards
  28. [REFE]Qur'an 18:31, 76:21, 55:76 (green garments and cushions of Paradise); summarized via reference encyclopedia (2024). Green in Islam. Wikipedia (with primary Qur'anic citations and Dar al-Ifta sources). referenceResolves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_in_IslamBackground synthesis pointing to primary Qur'anic verses and hadith on green as the color of Paradise. Used for cultural-religious background only, with primary verses named in the entry.Cited in: Green
  29. [REFE]Reference synthesis (2024). Mourning ("White is the traditional color of mourning in Chinese culture"; black mourning dress traces to the Roman toga pulla and was formalized in the Victorian era). Wikipedia. referenceResolves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MourningBackground on the white (much of East and South Asia) versus black (modern West, formalized in the Victorian era from a Roman precedent) mourning split. Used for cultural background; the East Asian preference for white is independently corroborated by Saito (1996), and affective ratings of black by Adams & Osgood (1973).Cited in: Black
  30. [REFE]Reference synthesis (corroborated by the Association for Asian Studies teaching resource Education About Asia) (2024). Forbidden City (Architecture and symbolism: "Yellow is the color of the Emperor; almost all roofs in the Forbidden City bear yellow glazed tiles"). Wikipedia. referenceResolves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_CityBackground on bright yellow (minghuang) as the reserved imperial color, the Five Elements basis, and the yellow-tiled roofs of the Forbidden City. Used for historical background only; corroborated by the Association for Asian Studies teaching resource Education About Asia.Cited in: Yellow
On the reference and standards sources The reference-class entries (an encyclopedia article, a teaching resource, an editorial synthesis) support well-established cultural facts, such as green as the color of Paradise in the Qur'an or red envelopes at Lunar New Year. The archive documentation and metadata standards (Densho, PARADISEC, ELAR, the Oral History Association, Dublin Core) are cited on the standards page for the practices the fieldwork layer follows. None of these is ever used for a quantitative claim. Wherever a number appears, it traces to a peer-reviewed source above.