Colour Arousal Effect on Users' Decision-Making Processes in the Warning Message Context

This research is aimed at understanding how colour affects users’ decision-making processes in the context of warning banner messages. So far, little research has examined this complex psychological and cognitive process wherein the psychology of colour can play an important role in the relationship between the warning message and the user’s decision-making process. We closed the existing research gap by understanding how different colour applications (black, blue, yellow, red, green, white) influence users’ decision-making processes. We built our work on the theory of psychological reversals to colour, supported by the Cognitive-Affective model of communication. We conducted an online experiment measuring actual users’ behaviour of 217 participants. We found that the colour application has different arousal effects. Overall, we advance understanding of the psychological process that precedes a decision – with a focus on the importance of colour.

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