THE BASIS OF COLOR PSYCHOLOGY

2008-03-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

Selecting color for our homes is usually an experience in self discovery. Some of us endorse the use of color, but need guidance in terms of color adjacencies, intensity of hues, or the correct color to elicit a desired mood. Others of us either are afraid to use color, and this fear or uncertainty pushes us to paint everything a neutral tan or beige. Often we are disappointed in the lack of interest in our rooms. Others of us trivialize the significance of color in our lives, feeling that color is a superficial element to the architectural space. Understanding and acknowledging the role color plays in our lives can be enlightening because color not only enhances our lives, but color is, to a great extent, life itself. Color, as the visible spectrum of light, is an integral element of our world, not only in the natural environment, but also in the architectural environment. It has not only a decorative function, but also it is a means of communication and information, and influences the statement of our man-made spaces. Color has both a psychological and a physiological influence on us, and, therefore, dictates a deliberate and meaningful approach to color selection and design.

To illustrate this concept, try the following simple mental exercise: look outside your window and begin the process of removing the color from the elements you see. Turn the cerulean blue sky to a mid-tone grey, and, next, turn the rich green grass to a darker value of grey. Little by little, paint everything grey: the flowers, the cars on your street, the trees, and the birds. Now imagine walking within this landscape and try to tap into your visceral gut-level emotional response. The adjectives frigid, stark, isolating come to my mind, and my blood literally runs cold. Now in your mind’s eye and with a painter’s brush, restore, one by one, each element to its original color and, again, sense your emotional response.

Color, as sensory information, is a part of the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious and is an experience that is integral to human behavior. We often ignore its affect on our emotions, our thoughts, and our behavior, and even the language we use to describe our moods. We all, at some point in our lives, have either used or heard expressions such as “I’m feeling in the pink”, “She was green with envy”, “I’m feeling blue today”, or “I was so angry, I saw white”. Color and emotions are intricately connected and are part of our collective unconscious. We have inherited primordial images from our pre- human, human, and animal ancestors. We depended on color for our primal survival.

A human being is not born as a “blank slate”, but rather bring with him his primal responses and memories. Researchers in color have shown that color is a visual language shared by all human beings and elicit universal innate mood reactions. They have illustrated that over 81% of human beings, regardless of age, nationality, or culture have the same color associations with emotional and conceptual responses. For instance, typically the colors red and pink associate to love and passion, with red also associating to anger. Red, interestingly enough, also associates to life, as blood is our life force. Yellow, most often, associates to happiness and joviality. Orange signifies a similar emotion, but to a more intense and louder degree. Life and healing are referenced by green, peace and tranquility by blue and blue/green. Purple typically associates to royalty. Black and grey elicit emotions associated with danger, death, and hatred, whereas white references cleanliness and virtue. When we think of heaven, we think white.

While the field of color psychology is extremely complex, we can not ignore the fact that color does affect our physiology, our moods and emotions, and our perceptions of time and space. In reality, only the extremely saturated colors of blue, yellow, and red the primary colors) in their purest forms, will create extreme biological effects on a neurological and hormonal level, resulting in anger, aggression or depression. Mid tone and pastel colors have more associative effects. This is what is called the psychosomatics of color psychology, and refers to the associations we have made over the thousands of years of man’s existence on the planet. This is the reason why the colors we chose for our homes can have an effect on our moods and emotions.

Applied Color Psychology is the practice of applying the above research and knowledge to the architectural space, both inside and out. It is the use of color to produce a visual ambience the will benefit the psychological, and, therefore, the physiological (psychosomatics) well-being of the end user. In future articles to come you will see in depth discussions regarding the various aspects of Applied Color Psychology, which will also entail mood creation, visual ergonomics (the comfort of light and color perception), visual patterning, spatial perception and color, and many other related topics. For now, begin to pay attention to the color in our lives, for color is what truly speaks to us in more ways than we can imagine.

Room X Room Design

THE BASIS OF COLOR PSYCHOLOGY