Practice question · Multiple choice
A student writes that her red panels will read as danger to any viewer. Why is that claim weaker than it looks, given what has actually been measured?
Hints
- Ask what the thirty-nation study actually reported.
- Broadly shared is not the same as universal.
Show the answer
D. Cross-national studies show associations shift with language and geography, so no reading is guaranteed.
Why
The evidence supports a tendency, not a guarantee. About 4,600 participants across thirty nations show associations that overlap substantially and still shift with linguistic and geographic proximity, so a particular viewer may not supply the reading at all. Associations have been tested widely, which is exactly how the variation was found.
Practise The Symbolic, Psychological and Social Life of Colour
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