Color word associations versus questionnaire methods
Human society uses a number of methods to diagnose the individual or a whole group in various areas. One such method is the questionnaire method, or survey. The questionnaire method is applied in psychology praxis, in recruitment, in company climate surveys, in marketing surveys etc.
Questions may seem ambiguous, may be emotionally biased or even lead the respondent to a particular answer. The inquirer's personality may also vastly influence the result of such measuring. Some sensitive questions cannot be answered because the respondents do not know the answers. It is impossible for them to rationally describe some of their actions. All they know is that "that is just the way it is". Especially when we find ourselves looking for "whys", the answers provide very inexact and misleading information. The person does not always know why, he/she may not have thought about this previously. Perhaps he/she does not want to admit the real reason to himself/herself, not to mention share it with somebody else. However, these answers are the most valuable ones...
This problem also occurs in personal interviews. The respondent answers questions to an inquirer or inquirers and is therefore not safely hidden in his anonymity and intimacy. While facing this threat, he/she may consciously or unconsciously try to alter the answers so as to keep at least a little of this anonymity. He/she may end up giving information about the person that he/she wishes to be, not about himself/herself.
In this sense, the technique of color word association using the on-line sensor is a revolutionary 21st century method. When reacting to impulses brought by words and colors, the person does not know why he/she chooses a certain color; the choice is completely intuitive. All choices that he/she makes have their reasons; these however mostly lie in rational unconscious reactions, which the respondent then "likes to explain rationally". The technique of color word association will consequently discover, whether the reaction has to do with emotions and relationships, whether it is a physical reaction, or if it is a completely intuitive reaction, which the person does not realize. The respondent cannot control these causes and cannot rationally regulate them – they come on their own. This method however can describe and evaluate them, which is its greatest added value. It can find out more than questionnaire methods.
Color word associations versus Antonio Damasio's research
Antonio Damasio (1944) acquired his results by measuring on a neuronal basis, which is a purely physiological technique. The basic finding of Damasio's measuring of the emotional basis – conscious energetic basis – lies in the fact that the emotional base is "holistic" and contains as well as rational, physical and social elements of the attitudes. Basically, our interactions are not only rational - it is necessary to take into account also the other systems, which cannot be measured using for example the questionnaire method.
This may be considered a parallel with the CA method (original Czech: OKAV - Object Communication Analysis of Consciousness method), which evaluates the color word associations. This method does not only respect Damasio's argument but clearly requires that our consciousness be dealt with in the proposed manner.
Color word associations versus Martin Lindstrom
Martin Lindstrom (1970) walks a line between science and marketing. He calls his doctrine neuromarketing that combines marketing and neuroscience. While marketing and advertising deal primarily with how to stimulate the brain and provoke the required reaction, neuroscience is interested in how the human brain manages perception, consciousness and behavior. Lindstrom's neuromarketing is an attempt to find a direct way from what we "see" to what we "experience" without being influenced by the critical or conscious aspects. He uses knowledge of exclusively physiological processes. In this sense there is a parallel between his approach and color word associations, which try to do the same – isolate the original thought, the original association without rational correction. While the technique of color word associations is about working with impulses and colors placed into the on-line sensor, Lindstrom has on many occasions used technology monitoring parts of the brain for his research – for example the fMRI scanner and the electroencephalograph SST, which registered fast brain waves in real time. He decided on this technique for his research concerning smokers in 2004.