Our selection of a favorite color is something that tends to appear in childhood. Babies have variable preferences for colors. But the more time children spend in the world, the more they start to develop stronger fondness for certain colors. They are more likely to link bright colors like orange, yellow, purple or pink to positive rather than negative emotions.
It is commonly believed that as children enter their teenage years, their color choices take on a darker style. Adolescent girls in the UK, for example, have been found to be attracted to purples and reds, while boys favor greens and browns.
These color palettes (调色板) seem to gather as people grow into adulthood. Interestingly, while the majority of adults say they prefer blue colors, they'll likely also dislike the same color too: a dark yellowish brown is identified as least popular.
But why do we have favorite colors? Put simply, we have favorite colors because we have favorite things. At least, that's the cause of ecological valence theory (生态价值论), an idea put forward by Karen Schloss. Her experiments showed that humans put meanings onto colors, mostly drawn from our subjective histories, and so create high personal reasons for likes and dislikes.
Scholss's work on color preferences may also explain blue's position as such a widespread favorite by accident. And most of our experience with the color are likely to be positive, like clear oceans or skies.
The environment we live in inspires our color preference in other ways too. Another study Schloss conducted looked at students at University of California-Berkeley and Stanford, showing that the varsity (代表队) colors of a college influenced the colors they picked as favorites. The more a student said they embraced the spirit of the school, the higher that preference rose.
