is there some scientific basis for americans’ idea of “matching” colors (such as the commonly known belief that red and pink don’t match.)? i know it’s different for other cultures. so, if not scientific, what’s the psychology behind it?
I don’t think there’s a scientific basis for color matching anywhere. It’s probably simply a choice of personal asthetics.
There are colors that have universal conntotations, such a purple and gold for royalty, red for anger, yellow for sunshine.
Then, there are colors that some people wouldn’t want to wear based on their particular skin tone. For example, I have very fair skin, so colors like orange, yellow, and red don’t look good on me at all. They do look good on people of darker complexion than I. So, there are probably color combinations that look better on people of different cultures as the dominant comlpexion of those cltures changes.
Humans tend to not like to see chaotic scenes, and when colors ‘clash’ it’s jarring to our minds’ eye. But, it’s still a personal preference. I think that with the right shades, even red and pink can match.
My WAG is that it is completely arbitrary, is based on whatever the viewer is accustomed to, and changes with the fashion of the time.
Colors are not universal. IIRC, red means "good luck’ in China, not danger.
Seconding Cardinal’s point, those color meanings are not universal. They are cultural.
There is some scientific basis for “matching colors.” You have probably seen colors arranged on a color wheel. For simplicity, let’s say just the primary colors. The colors opposite on the wheel are very jarring (Red and green, yellow and purple, orange and blue). The order of the colors on the wheel is not arbitrary, it’s based on the spectrum of light. If you look at one of these colors, then stare at a white wall, you will see its opposite. At least in Western culture, these colors are never seen as “matching.” Also in Western culture, it’s not considered good taste to wear color matches that are “close but no cigar” like pink (really just red with white mixed in) with red, blue with denim, or navy with black. It’s not exactly scientific, but those shades that are close but not quite are a little disconcerting to look at next to each other.
There are many ways to match colors, but one aspect is not the color itself, but rather the tone and “quality” of the color. For example, earth tones all tend to go together well, yet they range from maroons to browns to ochres to forest greens. Pastels go well together, but not when matched with primaries. Likewise, fluorescents look jarring next to more natural colors.
Blue and yellow, while opposites, are quite beautiful together. They are very strong in contrast, but as long as you stick with the same basic tonality of the colors, they’re great. Look at how many sports teams have blue-and-gold as their colors. Red and green, also opposites, work well together, too, but have the danger of looking too “Christmasy” if you stick to the primary colors. Therefore, try something more subtle, like a maroon and forest green would.
Pink and red CAN work together, but generally don’t, but it depends on what kind of red you match it with. Generally, it won’t work because a washed-out pastel color like pink tends to go better with other pastels, like baby blue, or a neutral color like black.
These aren’t of course hard and fast rules, but I think generally this is what most people think of when they speak of colors matching – that they all share the same basic quality, even if the color themselves are quite distant from each other on the color wheel.
I don’t have a cite, but I think I read somewhere that our minds naturally respond to colors in certain ways. The study I’m vaguely remembering used babies as test subjects, so they were too young to have been affected much by any culture. Blue is calming, and red causes irratibility, etc. So (at least some of) these aren’t cultural.
Ok, maybe widespread connotations. Not universal, but I couldn’t think of a better word at the time. 
Of course, there are colors than mean certain things to certain cultures. That’s probably more of the meaning I was aiming for, but then TJdude825 brought up the other half of a point I didn’t really make.
All right, what I really meant was that certain people see certain colors and think certain things. This is helped along by the use of phrases like “green with envy,” “seeing red,” etc.
Given that red is used for both stop signs and stop lights to mean stop.
Maybe we have explanation for this thread