Psychological Reports, 1974, 34, 635-638.

@ Psychological Reports 1974

THE LUSCHER COLOR TEST: RELIABILITY

AND SELECTION PREFERENCES BY COLLEGE STUDENTS1

FRANK A. DONNELLY
Division of Continuing Education i n Psychiutfy
Department of Psychiatry, University of Southern California School of Medicine

Summary.-The reliabiliry of selecting the colors used in the Luscher Color

Test over a 45-day period is reported. First and last colors selected were most
reliable. All other selections were lower but significantly correlated except the
third and fourth selections which were not significant. Significant differences
in percentage of color preferences for the first and seventh selections wefe found
between those reported by Luscher for a large European sample of male college
students and the present sample of 98 college students. Colors differing for
samples were red, green, yellow and grey. Reliability, although somewhat low,
appears comparable to that reported for other projective techniques. Interpre-
tations based upon the descriptions by Luscher should, however, be carefully
weighed considering the differences found for color preferences between the
European and the present U.S.samples.

The Luscher Color Test ( 2 ) is described as a "deep psychological test,"

utilizing eight 3- X 4-in. colored cards, blue, green, red, yellow, violet, brown,
black, and grey. The first Fou colors above are called "basic colors" which are
described as "psychological primaries" and usually appear in the first four selec-
tions by S. The remaining four colors are called "auxiliary colors" and are usually
expected to fall within the last four selections. All colors are selected by S in
order of preference. The resulting order is then matched to descriptive state-
ments in Luscher's book, these statements supposedly give an accurate description
of the person selecting the colors. The description includes "The Desired Ob-
jectives or Behavior," "The Existing Situation," "Characteristics Under Restraint,"
"Rejected or Suppressed Characterisrics," described as "Anxiety-laden Character-
istics," and the "Actual Problem or Behavior Resulting from Stress." This seems
l k e an enormous request of 8 colored cards, but other reasonably simple projec-
tive techniques have found wide clinical acceptance.
The Luscher scale as presented in the book ( 2 ) is described as only part of
a larger test utilizing 73 color patches but the short version is considered of
"value in high-lighting significant aspects of the personality." Luscher ( 2 )
states that the test has wide acceptance and use in Europe by physicians to help
them "understand the patients' psychological makeup." There is a list of 143
European references to the Luscher, but nowhere in the book are any statistics
given for reliability or validity. There are percentages given for the first two
preferred colors and the last two preferred colors for a sample of 36,892 male
students.
'Appreciation for colleaion of data goes to Dale Comstodc and Clifford Miller at Azusa
Pacific College.
 Only one specific American reference could be found by this author, an
investigation of validity ( 1). The results of this study supported two hypothe-
ses considering the meaning of blue and yellow, but not of red or the validity of
the Luscher scale as a measure of anxiety. It seems then that, if this eight-color
version of the test is a "deep psychological test," some basic questions remain
unanswered. First, are one's color preferences stable over time, or what is the
test-retest reliability of the Luscher? Second, are selection preferences the same
for students in the United States as for the European student sample reported?
METHOD
Ss were 50 male and 48 female undergraduate college students enrolled in
at least one psychology course. The test is considered more valid if S makes
the color selection twice in succession and the selections are combined according
to a prescribed method. Ss were asked to select their color preference only once,
at each administration 45 days apart.
RESULTS
Reliability was computed with Kendall's Tau ( 3 ) to correlate the order of
selection between the eight colors at each administration for Ss. The 45-day
test-retest reliability scores were statistically significant for all the colors selected
except for the third and fourth selections. The first and last selections were high-
est, Kendall's Tau (3) being .60 ( p < ,001) for the first and .59 ( p < ,001) for
the last. The intermediate selections were somewhat lower (see Table 1).

TABLE 1
TEST-RETEST
RELIABILITY OF LUSCHER COLOR TEST, DAY TIMESPAN
Selection Tau P
First Color .GO .001"
Second Color .39 ,001
Third Color .I0
Fourth Color .04
Fifth Color .43 .001
Sixrh Color .34 .001
Seventh Color .43 .001
Eighth Color .59 .OO 1
*Kendall Tau correlation, for 50 male and 48 female college students.

Table 2 compares the percentages of preferences in the present study to those

reported in Luscher's book; some significant differences were found between color
preferences for the first selection and seventh selection and those reported in
Luscher's book and also between male and female students within the present
sample.
There were significant differences in preference for red (CR = 5.24, p <
 LUSCHER COLOR TEST: RELIABILITY 637

TABLE 2
PERCENTAGES
OF COLORS
CHOSENFOR FIRSTAND SEVENTH
SELECTIONS
Color European College Students American College Students
Male = 36,892 Male = 50 Female = 48
First Selection
Red 28.9 8* 10.4+
Green 18.1 16 ot
Blue 15.9 24 27.1
Violet 15.3 12 18.8
Yellow 12.5 36* 43.8*
Brown 4.7 0 0
Grey 2.7 0 0
Black 1.8 4 0
Seventh Selection
Black 35.1 20 35.4
Grey 23.1 38$ 37.5$
Brown 11.4 16 16.7
Violet 11.0 8 4.2
Yellow 8.6 2 0
Blue 4.7 6 0
Red 3.4 2 2.1
Green 2.8 8 4.2
*Significant difference from European sample ( P < .01).
tsignificant difference between U.S. male and female sample ( P < .01).
$Significant difference between European sample and U.S. male and female sample ( P <
.01) .

.01) and yellow (CR = 5.24, p <

.01) as the first selection between the re-
ported European male students and the present male students. Significant dif-
ferences were also found between the European males and the reported females
on red (CR = 4.19, p < .01), yellow (CR = 4.19, p < .01), and green ( C R
= 90.21, P < .01). In addition, the first selection indicated that males and fe-
males in the present study differed significantly in their preference for green
(CR = 3.09, p < .01).
The seventh selection indicated one significant difference which concerned
an "auxiliary" color. Thus, grey was selected significantly more often by the
present male Ss (CR = 2.17, p < .05) and female Ss ( C R = 2.06, p <
.05)
than by the European Ss.

DISCUSSION
The present findings indicate a moderate degree of stability in order of
preference for some of the colors in the Luscher test. The first and eighth selec-
tions are most consistent, and it appears interpretations made on these selections
should be somewhat reliable. These selections are included in Lusher's descrip-
tive categories of the "desired objective," "rejected characteristics," and the "actual
638 F. A. DONNELLY

problem." The third and fourth selections show almost no stability over time.
It is interesting that these selections are described as the "existing situation" or
that which changes, which might justify the low correlations for these two.
There are strong indications that color preference for the first selection is
different from that reported by the European males of Luscher ( 2 ) . Of the
four "basic" colors-blue, green, red and yellow-there are three significant
differences between Luscher's sample and the present group, both male and
female. The females' selection of the foiuth basic color, green, is also signifi-
cantly different from both these U.S. male Ss and the European males.
The percent selection of grey in the seventh position is also significantly dif-
ferent for both males and females in this U.S. sample from that of the European
sample.
Although the present study has included only 98 Ss data suggest the relia-
bility of order of preference for colors with the Luscher material. Although the
reliabilities are lower than usually are considered acceptable, the first and last
selections compare favorably with reliabilities for other projective techniques
( 4 ) . It appears that perhaps Luscher's interpretations might not be valid as
personality descriptors for college students and perhaps other persons in the
United States. Further research is needed to assess the reliability reported here
and color preference selection by these U.S. Ss. Considering the present find-
ings, the ambiguous validity described by French and Alexander ( 1) and the
lack of studies of reliability or validity by Luscher, force the conclusion that the
Luscher Color Test needs to be studied further in controlled and in clinical
settings before it can be considered "a deep psychological test" ( 2 ) in this
country.
REFERENCES
1. FRENCH, C. A,, & ALEXANDER,A. B. The Luscher Color Test: an investigation of
validity and underlying assumptions. lournu1 o f Persomlity Assessment, 1972,
36, 361-365.
2. LUSCHER., M.. Test. New York: Random House. 1969.
, & SCOIT. I . T h e Luschef C o l o ~
3. NIE, N. H., BENT, D. H., & JULL, C. H. Statistical package for the social sciences.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970.
4. NUNNALLY, J. C., JR. Introduction to psychological measurement. N e w York: Mc-
Graw-Hill, 1970.

Accepted December 18, 1973.