Effects of Different Colors on the Human Mind - Coursework Example

Effects of Different Colors on the Human Mind Colors are an integral part of mans daily life. They live in the world around us. Indeed, without colors, life would be plain and unexciting. Besides, bringing the world around us to life, colors shape the way we think and act. For instance, it would very strange to walk into a restaurant and find that it is painted in gray. Usually, we expect such a place to be painted in yellow or other bright colors that are known to stimulate appetite. However, the significance of colors in shaping the way we perceive phenomena notwithstanding, they have tended to receive little attention from psychologists. This trend needs to change. Psychologists need to demonstrate greater interest in the area. Effects of Different Colors on the Human Mind Introduction Colors play are crucial in our daily lives. Besides making the world around us lively, they also influence our thinking and behavior (Meier, 2012). It is common belief that every color has a peculiar influence on people and elicits different responses. It with this understanding that most restaurants are painted in such “screaming” colors as orange and yellow. These colors are believed to stimulate one’s appetite. This paper posits that contrary to blanket notions of the effects of different colors on the human mind, the effect of any specific color is dependent on the context within which that color is perceived. Thus, while a person in a romantic relationship may interpret their partner’s red dress as an expression of love, another person may interpret it differently. Discussion Blue Blue is widely held as the color of creativity(Labrecque & Milne, 2011). The color is believed to soothe the human mind thereby enhancing its creative capabilities. However, when exposed to this color for long, it may cause depression. Besides intelligence, blue is associated with loyalty. It also stands for security. Consequently, many companies package their products in blue packaging material. A classic example is the case involving Coca-Cola and Pepsi. In order to distinguish themselves from Coca-Cola, Pepsi dropped the red color in favor of blue. It is reported that they went as far as painting an airplane in their corporate color of blue. However, the success of their ambitious marketing initiative is debatable. In a 2010 study, Lauren Labrecque and George Milne set out to investigate the significance of color in marketing(Labrecque & Milne, 2011). They noted that marketers of all types of products, both consumable and durable, use color creatively to enhance the visibility of and loyalty to their brands. They also noted that in spite of the widespread use of color by corporates, the practice had received very little research attention from scholars. About blue, they hypothesized that the presence of blue in the packaging of a brand enhances the personality of the brand. In their findings, however, they failed to test their hypothesis. Green Like blue, green is also believed to enhance creativity. However, unlike the blue color, the positive effect of the green color on creativity has been proven empirically. This was done in a study involving 69 participants(Lichtenfeld, Elliot, & Maier, 2012). The experiment was conducted over the Internet. A black study number in a rectangle located centrally on the screen was presented to the participants. The rectangle was colored in one of two colors: green or white. Upon viewing the cover page, participants completed a two-minute creativity task. Upon completing the task, every participant completed a brief questionnaire. They were asked to indicate the color they had seen on their screen prior to completing the creativity task. In the creativity task, the participants were asked to jot down as many creative uses to which a tin could be put. Their ideas were required to be unique yet practicable. The researchers had stated the hypothesis that a brief exposure to the color green shortly before a creative task enhanced creativity(Lichtenfeld, Elliot, & Maier, 2012). They reported that overall, the outcomes supported their predictions. The participants who had viewed green before undertaking the creativity task demonstrated greater creativity than their counterparts who had glimpsed white. All participants correctly reported the color they saw, even though they did not understand its purpose. Orange Orange is considered one of the warm colors, alongside yellow and red. These colors are known to stimulate. A 2011 survey investigated the relationship between athletes’ level of motivation, hence performance, and the color of their uniforms(Dover, 2011). A total of 59 college athletes were surveyed. Eight colors that feature widely in athlete uniforms were presented to the participants to discover which ones placed them in the placed them in the Ideal Performance State (IPS), the highest emotional state that is associated with good athletic performance. The survey was executed in two stages. In the first stage, the participants wore uniforms with warm colors, of which orange was among the most prominent. In the second stage, the athletes wore cool-colored uniforms. The researchers’ hypothesis was that warmer colors favored the speedy attainment of the IPS unlike the cool ones(Dover, 2011). Their findings supported their hypothesis. Athletes reported better performance when in orange- and other warm-colored uniforms, implying they had attained the IPS. Conversely, they performed poorer while adorned in cooler uniforms. Thus, the researchers were able to demonstrate that orange and other warm colors were capable of stimulating a person to perform better. Yellow In an experiment involving thirty children, all diagnosed with the same disease and required hospitalization, fifteen of them were hospitalized in a ward painted in yellow(Seddigh & Pazira, 2014). The other fifteen were admitted in a ward painted in gray. All the children received the same level and quality of care. Ten of the children admitted in the yellow ward were discharged after two weeks. In the same period, only two were released from the gray ward. This observation drove the researchers to speculate that the yellow color facilitated the recovery of the children admitted there. Many hospital wards, especially for children, are painted in such warm colors as yellow. Being the warm color it is, yellow is believed to expedite the recovery process of patients. However, the effect of colors on recovery has received very little research attention(Seddigh & Pazira, 2014). It is vital that hospitalized patients be exposed to sunlight for sufficient hours. Such exposure is known to improve their blood circulation and metabolism. Designers of health facilities need to be aware of the influence of light and color on the recovery of the patient. With such understanding, they should be able to orient those facilities in such a way as to maximize natural lighting, especially in the wards. Also, they need to paint the interiors of health facilities in such warm colors as yellow. Pink Of all colors, people consider pink the most romantic of them all. In addition, it is common practice for parents to dress their female babies in pink clothes and their male babies in blue. Research has shown that overall, children prefer blue to other colors, whether male or female. However, until recently, there was no empirical evidence to the effect that girls prefer pink to other colors. In a study, several male and female children aged between seven months and five years were each offered eight pairs of items and asked to pick choose of the two items in the pair(LoBue & DeLoache, 2011). One of the two items in all the eight pairs was pink. By the age of two years, girls chose more pink items than boys. By the age of two-and-a-half years, they had a marked preference for pink. Meanwhile, boys increasingly avoided the pink color. Thus, as they grow older, girls are increasingly attracted to pink while boys avoid the color(LoBue & DeLoache, 2011). Thus, the findings of this research argument what is popularly believed: that pink is the color of the girls. Red In common parlance, the red color is associated with increased appetite. However, research has revealed that whether or not the color red will stimulate a person’s attitude will depend on the psychological context in which the color is perceived(Meier, 2012). For instance, a study held in 2012 by Brian Meier and their colleagues revealed that the color red had different effects on the speed at which the participants walked, depending on the setting within which the participants perceive the color. In a romantic context, in which the participants were interviewed about dating, red increased their walking speed. In an achievement context, on the other hand, where participants were interviewed on their achievement, the color had the effect of reducing the speed at which they walked. Among animals other than human beings, red is perceived to mean not only danger, but also sexual excitement(Meier, 2012). Thus, Meier’s experiment also demonstrated that red has different effects on man and other animals. Based on this revelation, Meier and their colleagues speculated that man’s perception of red is the result of both innate predispositions and learned experiences. Anxiety and Stress Several colors have been found to cause anxiety and stress. Three of these are discussed here. A study was conducted in 2012. It involved 29 undergraduate students from a small college of liberal arts. The study examined changes in the levels of anxiety, measured on the State Trait Anxiety scale, before and after the students received their test results marked in red and black inks(DiRicco, 2012). The students whose scripts were marked in red registered reduced levels of stress compared to those whose scripts were marked in black. Several days later, the students retook the test. They did not register any improvement in their performance. Thus, the researchers could not establish a change in performance resulting from a change in anxiety. Unlike red, the blue color has been found to reduce anxiety. In a study, twenty adults comprising men and women were each exposed to ten minutes red light and another ten minutes of blue light(Honig, 2009). Before being exposed to each of the two colored lights, each participant was exposed to light of no color for five minutes. The researchers measured anxiety before and after exposure to the colored lights using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory developed by Spielberger. The participants who were exposed to the red light registered increased anxiety while their counterparts who were exposed to the blue light registered less anxiety. However, because of the sample size, this finding falls short of being authoritative. Gray color is associated with anxiety. An experiment was conducted involving 323 adults(Crruthers, Morris, Tarrier, & Whorwell, 2010). Of these, 105 were healthy, 110 were anxious and 108 were depressed. A color wheel of 38 shades was emailed to each participant. They were each asked to pick two colors: their favorite color and the color that represented their dominant mood over the last several months. For all the categories of participants, yellow and blue were the two most favored colors. However, when it came to mood, the participants diverged. The majority of the healthy group did not associate their mood with any color. For those who did, Yellow 14 was the most prevalent one. 30% of the anxious group picked a shade of gray as did over 50% of the depressed group. The researchers concluded that when assigning a color to a mood, the shade matters. Conclusion Despite the undeniable effect of colors on the way we think and act, this area has received little attention from psychologists(Meier, 2012). Many psychologists have tended to dismiss the study of colors, claiming it is only a matter of aesthetics. However, given the growing evidence of the link between colors and the way we think, psychologists need to develop more interest in this area. However, even as they do so, it is important to understand how different colors affect different people in different situations. For them, it would not be sufficient simply to say that yellow color stimulates appetite. They must dig deeper and discover under what conditions that happens. References Crruthers, H., Morris, J., Tarrier, N., & Whorwell, P. (2010). The Manchester Color Wheel: development of a novel way of identifying color choice and its validation in healthy, anxious and depressed individuals. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 10(12) DiRicco, D. (2012). The Effect of the Color Red on Test Anxiety and Academic Achievement. Williamsport: Lycoming College. Dover, J. (2011). Uniform Color and the Athletes Ideal Performance State: An Emotional Connection. Proceedings of the Big South Undergraduate (pp. 27-35). Lexington: Virginia Military Institute. Honig, L. M. (2009). Physiological and psychological response to colored light. Oakland: Saybrook University. Labrecque, L., & Milne, G. (2011). Exciting red and competent blue: the importance of color in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 1-17. Lichtenfeld, S., Elliot, A., & Maier, M. (2012). Fertile Green: Green Facilitates Creative Performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(6)784-797. LoBue, V., & DeLoache, J. (2011). Pretty in pink: The early development of gender-stereotyped color preference. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 29656-667. Meier, B. (2012). Color in Context: Psychological Context Moderates the Influence of Red on Approach- and Avoidance-Motivate Behavior. PLoS ONE,7(7)1-5. Seddigh, M., & Pazira, P. (2014). The Effects of Color on Patient Recovery Process Centred at Child Psychology. The International Journal of Engineering and Science (IJES), 3(1) 30-39. Read More