Color Psychology Essay, Research Paper

Like death and taxes, there is no escaping color. It is ubiquitous. Yet what does it all mean? Why are people more relaxed in green rooms? Why do weightlifters do their best in blue gyms?

It is a well-known fact that color influences mood and feeling in common experience, however, the field of color psychology is still not well understood. Research on the psychological aspects of color is difficult for the mere reason that human emotions are not very stable and the psychic make-up of human beings varies from person to person. Nevertheless, there are a number of general and universal reactions to color, which seem to be noted in most persons. According to fundamental psychology, Freudians relate hues back to bodily function, while Jungians tend towards a more liberal interpretation of hues, believing that the individual’s response to color is too complex to allow a simple mode of interpretation. As a matter of fact, many contradictions and ambiguities arose during research, especially in research of psychological effects of color because some studies tend to be subjective in their point of view rather than more scientific. This is because emotional reactions are not easy to measure. However, there are some commonalities that can be found from the resources.

Infants as young as two months old prefer colorful objects to non-color. Young children are color-dominant and are more attracted by color than shape. As they mature, they will often become more form-dominant; however, creative people often remain color-dominant all their lives. Eye-tracking studies that record infants’ attention spans indicate that, regardless of sex, red and blue are the most preferred colors. As we grow older, habituation or learning patterns, and doing what adults tell us is “appropriate,” colors our thinking. Childhood memories are so involved with color that they are indelibly stamped in our psyches forever.

Our cultural backgrounds and traditions influence our learned response and reaction to color. For example, in many Middle Eastern countries, blue is viewed as a very protective color. Front doors are painted blue to ward off evil spirits. Anyone raised with a deeply rooted sense of that hue would feel very safe in a blue environment. It is interesting to note that color can have the same meaning cross-culturally. In some communities of the Southeast, front porch ceilings were painted blue to keep ghosts from entering and haunting the premises, while in the Southwest, many Native Americans paint their doors blue to keep the bad spirits away. Each culture has its own unique heritage of color symbolism and each of us is a product of our early environment.

Warm colors are referred to as high arousal hues. Red creates the highest arousal threshold. So, from nighties to sports cars, it is true that red literally can turn you on! Any design done in red takes on a red persona. The person buying the red sports car subliminally believes that he or she will be magically transformed into a sexy, dynamic and daring person. As to red cars getting more speeding tickets – there is no real statistical evidence to support that claim!

Colored lighting can also affect behavior. Studies show that people will gamble more and make riskier bets when under a red light as opposed to a blue light. Does pink make strong men weak? Studies conducted several years ago showed that pink had a subduing effect on violent prison inmates. More recent studies show that when men were told they would be weaker in a pink environment, but when women were told they’d be weaker, they actually got stronger! The findings indicate that women resisted stereotyping and men were more swayed by the power of suggestion. Research shows that most colors (with a few exceptions) have far more positive and pleasant associations than negative. Our research also indicates that peach is one of the colors having the most pleasant associations for the consumer; among other qualities, it is a nurturing and approachable color. Teal, sky blue and bright red also rate high, while chartreuse is least preferred. Olive does not rate well with the consumer unless it is combined in an interesting, complex way and then it will appeal to the up-scale buyer.

Did you know that the colors that surround us play a part in our well-being? This has been documented during experimentation in psychiatric institutions. Architects and designers of public spaces have for years been using color psychology to determine appropriate choices. Fast food restaurants and coffee and pie shops use orange or pink.

At times these colors are used in conjunction for excitement. They excite you to come in, eat quickly then vacate the table for the next excited people. The color combination of pink and orange places one on edge. You will find blue is never used in restaurants except the most exclusive. This is because blue is the relaxing color. Once the customer is in the restaurant he will be so relaxed that he will converse over coffee longer than the restaurant would appreciate. Transversely blue is the perfect color to put in your home dining room. Your guests will linger and relax.

Blue may not be the best color for your bedroom, as the relaxing nature of blue will put you to sleep when you may want to be excited. When you see a monochromatic blue bedroom, there is not much going on there except sleep. Every couple’s bedroom should have some kind of related red, peach, pink, burgundy, orange, mauve etc. Related reds combined with blue or green make a good balance for a bedroom. Blue is excellent for the kitchen and all other rooms of the house for its business like and relaxing nature.

When choosing a color for advertising, office or shop d?cor, stationery, packaging, products and even uniforms, careful thought must be given to the psychological effect these colors will have on your staff, your customers, (and your prospective customers), and it will have a dramatic effect on physical and mental well-being, morale, sales, improving productivity, and creating the right image for you and your company.

A well-known hamburger chain discovered that red and yellow had a major psychological effect on its customers. It found that the correct color combination could attract extra customers, compel them to enter the store, and spend more money and feel better about it.

Luxury car companies such as Mercedes and Jaguar advertise their products with a predominance of black (sophistication) and silver (prestige). Jaguar markets to people with high incomes who view themselves as sophisticated, and look for a prestigious vehicle. Volkswagen however primarily uses the colors yellow (happiness), and orange (playfulness). (Matches the type of owners that Volkswagen is trying to attract, don’t you think?)

Although research has been conducted for a number of years regarding exactly what effects colors have on people, studies still seem to appear inconclusive with no definitive answer as to how color affects people’s lives.