Have you ever been so sad you felt blue, or so jealous you turned green with envy? Your answers may depend on where you live.
Psychologists recently asked 711 people from China, Germany, Greece, and the United Kingdom to read the word for 12 colors, like green or orange. Then they asked them what emotions the colors brought to mind. The scientists saw some big differences. For example, in Germany and the U.K., yellow was most associated with joy. But people in China paired this feeling with red—a traditional symbol of happiness in their culture.
After discovering these associations, the scientists used them to predict where a person was from—it worked more than 80 percent of the time.