The Psychology of Colours

Another psychology post is up, this time dedicated to my pal Chester who was extremely enthusiastic when I came up with the previous psychology post and had encouraged me to continue doing so, making it a monthly thing or such. I cannot promise you that it will be a monthly thing but hopefully it will come up as often as I can find a psychology topic to write about.

This time around, I am going to write about the psychology of colours. It is an extensively studied topic and there are many websites and even books that you can find to read up about colours and how it can actually affect us as individuals.

Have you ever wondered if it’s true? Looking at one colour we feel happy, looking at another you feel sad or angry? Is it too much to handle? It’s like picturing ourselves like bulls and the colour red. Well, as hard it is for us to comprehend, this is true. Different colours convey different feelings to us. Let us analyse.

What do you think of a room which is painted black or brown? And compare that to a room painted white or cream or beige? A room appears bigger than it is when it is painted of a brighter colour and feels more spacious. I’d say, a more spacious and bright room seems way better to live in as compared to a shady feeling room, don’t you agree?

However, have you heard about this theory? Wear darker colours, and you’ll appear thinner than as compared when you wear white clothing. To those that feel insecure with yourself, wearing black can help to bring a little self-esteem back. However, try not to do this even during the holiday seasons because black is also associated with death and mourning. I’m sure you would not want to ruin the festive mood with the wrong choice of colours.

Apparently, the most favoured colour by men based on a study is the colour blue. Just like the ocean and the sky, blue is associated with the feelings of calmness and tranquillity. Matter of fact, working in a blue room might just make you be more productive in your work. That is also based on a study done. However, as much as blue is good, blue is also associated with unappetizing. Think about it, no food is naturally blue in colour. And because of that, eating from a blue plate is actually a recommendation listed by certain weight loss plans!

As much as blue may be a special colour, my favourite is green. Green symbolizes nature and is associated with tranquillity and good luck. Green colour helps to relieve stress and help heal. Matter of fact, it’s a good idea to lay a transparent sheet of green paper over reading material to increase reading speed and comprehension! Imagine that! However that maybe, green is also associated with jealousy and envy.

Red is another popular colour. Think about it, why is it the colour that is used to signal for your vehicle to stop in a traffic light? Well, studies show that red is the colour you would notice very easily as compared to other colours so that makes it a perfect colour to ensure you can step on the brakes in time to avoid a horrible accident. Besides that, red is associated with many other things, such as blood…love…prosperity for the Chinese. Red invokes the feelings of excitement or intensity. Red is a colour that evokes strong emotions.

Yellow is an amazing colour because it is associated with cheeriness and joy. Yellow is the most attention-grabbing colour but it can be quite straining to the eyes due to the amount of light that is reflected. Yellow can also evoke feelings of frustration and anger. Studies have shown that people lose their temper more likely in a yellow room and babies actually cry more in a yellow room as well.

Purple is usually associated with royalty and wealth. Besides that, purple represents wisdom and spirituality. Purple is also associated with mystery just as those magicians tend to be surrounded with dark shades of purple to mystify their audiences. Purple can also appear exotic or artificial as it does not occur naturally.

Brown is a very strong colour. Imagining a tree trunk, and you’ll know what I mean. Brown evokes the sense of strength and reliability as well as natural and down-to-earth. Brown is also conventional but it can be sophisticated at the same time. Feelings of sadness and isolation are also associated with brown.

Orange is not much different from red and orange. It is a very energetic colour and attention-grabbing but to a certain extent.

Pink is associated very closely with red. Pink is essentially light red and is usually associated with love and romance. Pink portrays a calming effect and a certain shade of pink known as ‘drunk-tank pink’ is sometimes used inside prisons to calm down its inmates. Matter of fact, sport teams keep their opposing team players passive and less energetic by painting their locker rooms pink. Although pink does demonstrate a calming effect, pro-longed exposure to it can cause agitation. Studies show the calming effect of pink only occurs during the initial exposure to the colour.

White does not require much introduction. White is generally associated with purity or innocence. White is also described as cold, bland and sterile, just like the hospital and the clothing the hospital workers use.

Black is also another colour that needs much introduction. Black symbolizes menace or evil, unhappiness, formality and sophistication. Black is often used in fashion because of its slimming quality as I have mentioned earlier. Black is also mostly used because it absorbs all light in the colour spectrum, making it easier to read especially in fonts!

There is a link that you can click to, to read a much clearer diagram with the entire colour spectrum for you to analyse. This is the link:

Click here

So, how are you so far? Have you a favourite colour and are you dying to know what it means? Well, just to let you know, just because a certain colour is your favourite, it has nothing to do with how your personality is. All the explanation above was concerning the effects of different colours on us. Please take a note on that.

Thanks again, my readers. I was very happy to write and share this post with you, Hopefully you enjoyed what I have written as well.