HOW WELL DO CONTEMPORARY AND HISTORICAL SKIN COLOR RATING SCALES COVER THE LIGHTNESS-TO-DARKNESS CONTINUUM? DESCRIPTIVE RESULTS FROM COLOR SCIENCE AND DIVERSE RATING POOLS

ABSTRACT

Colorism (privileging of lighter over darker skin) affects development across the lifespan. Evidence of this is enhanced by understanding color science, including the strengths and limits of past skin color rating scales and directions for future measure. This paper demonstrates this potential using the L* (lightness) dimension of L*a*b* color space. Overlaps, reversals, and gaps are identified across some scales. The degree to which color-swatch based human rating scales approximate interval metrics is also examined, and the relative variation perceived in the skin tones of photographed individuals as evaluated by raters of different race-ethnicities. Implications for future research are discussed.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1921526. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The authors thank the Skin Tone Identities and Inequalities Project team, including co-project coordinators Johanna Nunez and Dahlya El-Adawe.