Black as power: historically grounded colour–power metaphors among Yi adolescents in Southwest China

Although black is often associated with negativity or low status, colour meanings are not fixed across cultural contexts. The present study examined historically grounded colour–status meanings and their relation to colour–power mappings among Yi adolescents in Southwest China. In Yi history and cultural discourse, black and white were not merely perceptual contrasts: the distinction between Nuohuo (Black Yi) and Qunuo (White Yi) historically linked colour categories to lineage, social status, and group boundaries. Across a Stroop task and an Implicit Association Test, participants responded more quickly when black was paired with high-power concepts and white with low-power concepts. Because the power word sets were matched on valence, these effects are unlikely to reflect a simple black-positive or black-negative bias. These findings suggest that historically organised colour–status meanings may be reflected in the cognitive representation of power among Yi adolescents.