PSY369 : A Cross-cultural study on 711 Participants from UK, Germany, Greece, and China Examined how 12 colours were Associated with 20 Emotions: Emotion Assignment, SUSS, Singapore

Question 1

A cross-cultural study on 711 participants from UK, Germany, Greece, and China examined how 12 colours were associated with 20 emotions in each country’s native language (Jonauskaite et al., 2019). Some findings from the study are highlighted below (Jonauskaite et al., 2019):

• Across all countries, red was associated with both love and anger.
• There appears to be cultural specificity of certain color-emotion associations, where only participants from China associated white with negative emotions and only participants from Greece associated purple with sadness.

Demonstrate your understanding of social functional theories of emotion to explain how the color red could be associated with both a positive and negative emotion and analyze how the cultural specific color-emotion associations may occur in China and Greece.

Note: White is a color worn by Chinese people in funerals, while purple is a liturgical colour in Greece that symbolizes pain and suffering in orthodox churches and is a color worn during mourning periods.

Question 2

Sadness and disgust among emotions that drive brand value, says biometric study

The study, split between two phases, explored the impact of emotions on consumers’ interest in different kinds of products and how much they were willing to pay for them. In the first phase of the study, 900 participants assessed the impact of eight emotions in content across different
brand categories. Among others, the research revealed that sadness drove the highest valuation for the food & drink category (+17%); anticipation for the automotive category (+7%); and disgust for CPG/cleaning products (+22%).

In the second phase, using the emotions with the highest lift from the first phase, products and signage ads were inserted into content to spark the identified emotions. Fifty participants then underwent biometric testing.

The research found that the combination of targeted emotional scenes paired with product and signage ad insertions in the content elicited significant price valuation lifts for each of the brand categories tested due to the ‘emotional carryover’ effect.

Jeep Wrangler’s signage ad was inserted into a highly suspenseful scene and showed a 6% lift in product valuation after viewing; Lysol disinfectant wipes were inserted into a disgusting scene that resulted in a 22% price valuation lift; and a bag of potato chips was inserted into a very sad scene involving a mother and child, resulting in a 27% price valuation lift.

Evaluate how sadness and disgust are implicated in the advertising for potato chips and Lysol disinfectant wipes using cognitive models and judge the effectiveness of this strategy.

Question 3

RULER is an evidence-based programme that teaches pre-school to high school students the following skills of emotional intelligence (Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, 2013):
Recognising
Understanding
Labeling
Expressing
Regulating
Research on this programme has found that students using RULER (Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, 2013):

• perform better in school
• have increased emotional intelligence and social skills
• have decreased anxiety and depression
• are less likely to bully other students
• have better attention and leadership skills

At the secondary school level, RULER covers 20 lessons over four years, providing secondary school students with the social and emotional skills they need in their teenage years and beyond. After the completion of these 20 lessons, students will have (Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, 2013):

• an expanded vocabulary of emotions to understand and regulate emotions
• personalized strategies for forming and maintaining healthy relationships and making better decisions
• a greater understanding of their motivations and knowledge of how to set and achieve goals

Critique the efficacy of emotional intelligence training programs such as RULER, specifically taking into consideration gender differences. Propose a strategy that secondary schools in Singapore can use to improve students’ emotional intelligence