By Michelle Fisher
Boutet's 7-color and 12-color color circles from 1708 courtesy of Wikipedia
We have all heard the question, “What’s your favorite color?” at some point in time, usually on an online personality test. While there are those of us who believe this to have some sort of basis, there are others who are more skeptical. What makes us associate black with evil, white with purity, and blue with peace? Why do we like some colors better than others? (http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors.html) Is any of this color nonsense relevant? A recent study suggests that it is. The study found that colors can have an effect on perception of individuals in a purchasing environment; essentially, cool colors yield more positive purchasing results (Yildirim, Akalin-Baskaya, & Hidayetoglu, 2007). It would seem perceptions of colors can impact your mood.
Wexner (1954) conducted a study to determine what colors we associate with adjectives that possessed the same meaning as the mood-tone. Participants in the experiment were asked to choose the color that best fit each word group (which consisted of the mood-tone and adjectives). As most people might expect, black was associated with power, yellow with cheerfulness, and so on. What is interesting is that the intensity of the color affected which colors were associated with which words. In other words, how dark (or light) the color was determined if it was appropriate to associate it with a word, such as dignified.
In a separate study, it was found that color also has an effect on the way that we react to and perceive various scenes, particularly when the structure of a scene is obscured in some way (Castelhano & Henderson, 2007). How is this related to Wexner’s experiment? This indicates that atmosphere of a room and the mood we get when in a room is altered by the color, very much in agreement with the study done by Yildirim, et al. (2007), where the structural elements in the area weren’t changed.
Apes tended to like the color blue the most, closely followed by green when the effect of color was observed on them. (It should be noted here that apes may not differentiate much between blue and green). Red was found to be least favored, which could be considered odd, given the importance of red in our environments. It was noted in the experiment that the color preferences may have been influenced by the type of stimuli presented and also the conditions in which it was presented, since there have been certain situations in which the apes gazed intently on red objects (McDonald, Ringland, & Wells, 2008). Not too surprisingly, the apes echo the negative perception that humans have of “warm” colors and the more favorable perception we have of “cool” colors (Yildirim, et. al., 2007).
People, when presented with a word that had either positive or negative connotations, linked positive words with a brighter colored square and negative words with a darker colored square. This seems to imply that societal color conventions can have an effect on what shades (dark or light) individuals associate positive or negative words with outside of just “warm” or “cool” colors (Ahlvers, Crawford, Meier, & Robinson, 2007).
Taking into consideration all of these studies, it might be gathered that color does indeed have an effect on mood. However, it might also be concluded that the amount of light within the given color (changing the brightness or darkness of the color, the shade of the color) could actually be the source of our moods. Additionally, the color temperature(whether they look warm or not), what environment we associate colors with, and what environment we have adapted to may influence whether or not we link colors with something we perceive to be positive. Which colors can be associated with which words and potentially moods could just be the result of years of people presenting us with metaphors or other expressions linking colors with something negative or positive.
References
Ahlvers, Crawford, Meier, & Robinson. (2007). When “Light” and “Dark” Thoughts Become Light and Dark Responses: Affect Biases Brightness Judgments [Electronic version]. Emotion, 7 (2), 366-376.
Akalin-Baskaya, A., Hidayetoglu, M.L., & Yildirim, K. (2007). Effects of indoor color on mood and cognitive performance [Electronic version]. Building and Environment, 42 (9), 3233-3240.
Castelhano, M.S. & Henderson, J.M. (2007). The Influence of Color on the Perception of Scene Gist [Electronic version]. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 34 (3), 660–675.
Johnson, D. (2007). Color Psychology: Do different colors affect your mood? [Web page.] Retrieved March 4, 2009 from http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors.html.
McDonald, C.L., Ringland, J.E., & Wells, D.L. (2008). Color Preferences in Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) [Electronic version]. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 122 (2), 213–219.
Wexner, Lois B. (1954). The Degrees to Which Colors (Hues) Are Associated with Mood-Tones [Electronic version]. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 38 (6), 432-435.
Great article. I´m really intersted in learning the effect color have in our behaviour.
I´ve read scientist say that red makes men feel more amorous towards women!
Women wear red!
http://advice-woman-2-woman.blogspot.com/
And that the color of our eyes is associated to our skills.
Comment by Ciel — May 28, 2009 @ 8:54 am
[...] multiple experiments, psychologists have tested the links between color, behavior and emotion. One psychologist found that people were apt to buy more in a shopping area painted blue. Another [...]
Pingback by What Color is Comfort? « Nicolette’s Comfort & Joy Blog — June 20, 2009 @ 9:25 pm
Color psychology is a very interesting topic, especially for me who really has a strong preference on colors.
We tend to be negligent on the effects of colors. The article concludes colors have power in altering our mood. This is actually quite obvious in everyday life, for example, we feel more comfortable and relaxed in a warm-colored setting than a cold-colored one. The article points out researches on discovering how human beings and apes perceive different colors. The perception of colors indeed involves a great deal of subjectivity. We all have our preference and interpretation towards colors based on our own experiences, living environments, cultures etc. For instance, when we look at all those colorful national flags, though the colors used do not differ that much, they stand for different virtues and concepts valued by people in various nations.
But apparently, to a certain extent, we also share the perceptions on colors. How can we come up a societal color convention? I think it would be very interesting to trace back to the originality of color symbolization, and discover how we relate those colors to specific things, concepts and states. Why does yellow imply cheerfulness to most of us? Why does black imply evilness, but not innocence? Also, can our common perceptions be manipulated and altered? These are all intriguing questions for us to consider.
Comment by Jacqueline Tam — September 30, 2009 @ 9:46 pm
This subject is particularly fascinating to me when viewed from the light of film. Color in movies is so essential to how a scene will be interpreted. In your article you mention that humans, and monkeys, tend to prefer cool colors to warm colors, and yet in film warm colors often convey safety while cool colors represent danger and discomfort. (http://www.outside-hollywood.com/2009/03/color-theory-for-cinematographers/) Film likes to challenge our perception of color. Who can forget when sepia tones turned to bright, saturated colors in The Wizard of Oz? As Dorothy’s world changed, ours did as well, and when she returned home, the colors of her farm that once seemed dull made us feel safe after our journey through bright, disorienting color. The contrast between black and white and color is also used in Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, where the only color is the bright red of a little girl’s coat. The contrast is poignant, and catches our eye. We know this girl is important in the eyes of the protagonist because of the color she wears. In the Coen brothers’ Barton Fink, the title character spends the majority of his time in a dark room of sickly yellow-green. This bleak color sets the tone of the film and is contrasted with the bright red flames when the room burns to the ground at the movie’s climax. Different tones and saturations of color can change how we perceive the world. Whether from an advertisement, a landscape, or a film, the profound psychological effect of color influences our everyday lives. (http://thethemeblog.com/tutorials/evoking-emotion-with-color)
Comment by Sarah Backal-Balik — October 4, 2009 @ 12:41 pm
I think the article brings up some interesting points. Color associations play a major role in our various day-to-day perceptions, even affecting mood sometimes. In fact, the influence of colors is so powerful that an entire sub-field of psychology is dedicated to the study of color implications. Industrial psychology employs people’s impressions and reactions to certain colors in marketing certain products (Psychology of Color). For example, if you were trying to sell a glass of lemonade you would use bright colors to impart a sense of refreshment on a sunny day. Just looking around the mall or watching commercials on TV, you can see how companies specifically design advertisements in accordance to the emotional response they are hoping to evoke.
Psychology Of Color. Precision Intermedia a Northern California MultiMedia Marketing Agency. Retrieved October 4, 2009, from http://www.precisionintermedia.com/color.html
Comment by Andrea Fahmy — October 4, 2009 @ 3:59 pm
I think it is so interesting that we have these associations with colors. Though some are obvious and some are more subconscious, these associations are definitely there. Kenji Kitao and Kathleen S. Kitao did a study in 1986 that showed that these associations are at least partly learned based on culture. They showed that Americans an Japanese people make different associations with color, and these differences actually had an impact on the communication between the two groups. As this article says, part of the reason colors might have such an effect on us could be the result of other people causing to make these associations; this study would support that claim.
http://www.eric.ed.gov:80/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED273134&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED273134
Comment by Hannah E. — October 7, 2009 @ 11:00 pm
So I heard an interesting story about green rooms (the room in a theater where actors relax before a performance). I was always curious as to where the tradition of a green room came from, so I asked a friend one day. I was told that they were called green rooms because green as a color was supposed to have relaxing or soothing qualities, and that the use of the color green calmed actors before a performance.
Having done some of my own research, I discovered that the origin of the word predates accepted psychological studies of colors. It is actually widely believed now that the term originated in the 18th century when green rooms were filled with plants. The moisture given off by the plants was considered healthy for actors voices.
So regardless of where the term came from, color psychology does reveal that the color green can have a calming effect on those around it.
http://kenstein64.wordpress.com/2007/06/12/why-is-it-called-a-green-room/
http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/color_green.htm
Comment by Kris Adkins — October 14, 2009 @ 12:36 am