On the study of color psychology as effects on human emotions and human cognition
Color psychology is still mostly within the realm of folk or common sense psychology and has become widely associated with culture. The importance of color could well be related to particular cultures, emotions, and situations, although there are very few scientific experiments on color or scientifically valid “color psychology.” Color psychology studies the effects of colors on human feelings and behavior. It is generally believed that red makes people happy or fervent and yellow increases alertness, white is about purity and cleanliness, black evokes a sense of mystery, loss or anonymity.
Some of the earliest theories of color and its association with psychology go back to Goethe, who suggested that colors can have moral associations and tend to produce extreme emotional states, such as blue produces calm and red creates excited emotional states. Luscher, a Swiss psychologist, suggested that individual personality traits might be associated with preferences for certain colors. However, these tests have long been considered unscientific and inaccurate, and no general scientific consensus has been reached about the effects of colors on human emotions. However, color theory and the supposed impact of colors have been widely recognized and applied in all facets of life, from advertisements to interior design.
Colors that are abundant in nature, such as blue, green and brown, have a higher acceptability and, being blue the color of the sky or perceived as the color of bodies of water, it appears to have a calming protective effect and People associate blue with calm, tranquility, and serenity. Green is the color of the leaves and symbolizes new life, personal growth and change, so it is also a positive and well-accepted color. Brown is a neutral color but represents earthiness, depth and wholesomeness.
Natural colors are well accepted and universal simply because of their familiarity and this concept could well be used in colors for advertisements or products. Natural products must be sold in boxes or cans with natural colors or must represent the color of the products. Therefore, lemon juice is best sold in a yellow or green container rather than a red one. In fact, in the case of advertisements and products, red cans are associated with cola as clear bottles with blue labels are with mineral water and such established consumer associations should be taken into account before launching products and advertisements. . A completely black can of any beverage could be considered mysterious, dangerous, or even poisonous, and sales can suffer even if the product inside is harmless enough. In fact, for soft drinks, coffee or cocoa, brown or a mix of black and brown might be more suitable than black as a packaging colour. For selling beer or soft drinks, containers or cans in neutral colors like beige, light brown, and faded gold would be more appropriate.
Similarly, the websites should also enhance the spirit of the products or services offered with their unique colors. A venue that provides wedding services should have white or pink as the primary color and a venue that provides funeral services might have black or gray as the primary color. However, this is a cultural variant, as events such as birth, death, and marriage are represented by different colors in different societies. In some Eastern societies, red represents celebration and marriage, while in Western societies, white is widely used in marriage. White is used as the color of death, sterility, and loss in Eastern societies, while in Western societies, black is the color of mourning and loss. The use of colors in different cultures and societies can provide insight into cultural concepts, as white representing death in Eastern societies can not only represent high levels of purity but also rebirth and transition to another form. Giving up one bodily condition for another, as death is a widespread belief in the East, can also be perceived as a cause for celebration rather than mourning. Thus, in general, it can be interpreted that all celebrations are usually represented with white. Death in the West is associated with darkness, evil, the end or loss and black as a concept of rebirth for a next stage of life is not present in Western societies. This may be the central differentiation between materialistic and spiritualist societies that also provides insight into color psychology.
Moving on to the use of colors in practical life, psychology will have to study the impact of colors on humans in a more systematic and scientific way. There are some color experiments that are related to vision and perception, although the main processes in color perception are:
- Warning: Measured with reaction time when seeing a color
- Association: A measure of preference for a particular color to represent particular events and situations
- Retention: measured with prediction using memory and experience to define particular color attributes
Color properties including hue, saturation, and brightness tend to affect reaction time, as strong colors like red and yellow can evoke the fastest reaction times and are attention-grabbing colors. We are quickly drawn to red, yellow, and orange, although the association of particular colors with particular events can lead to a general preference for such colors. Therefore, red is generally preferred as an emergency color for hazards or warnings and in ambulance or fire services and the use of any other color will not produce a similar association. White is a strong color, but it may not draw attention to itself during the day. Thus, color perception depends not only on the attention-grabbing properties of color, but also on the association of colors with certain attributes due to our social or cultural knowledge. In a way, this can evoke human emotions, although the emotional aspect of color psychology should require a different kind of study. Retention is the last phase of color perception which in turn causes reactions since from our memory we predict that certain colors have certain values and associative properties or represent certain established concepts, so red means love, blue means calm, white means peace or purity. and so we
Color psychology should have two distinct branches:
1. The effects of color on human emotions: the emotional and cultural aspects of color psychology showing the importance of color in evoking human emotions.
2. The effects of color on human cognition and perception: the biological and physiological reactions to color that involve the phases of attention, association and retention.
Both effects of color must be integrated into psychology to understand the real significance of color in shaping human reactions, thoughts, emotions, and actions. These two distinct branches of color psychology should be included not only as a theoretical framework in the study of color psychology, but also as a practical framework for applying color psychology to advertisements, products, and services. We live in times where the visual medium has gained considerable importance with product advertisements and messages appearing on the Internet, television, newspapers, billboards, etc. Visual stimuli are an important aspect of modern life, as we are bombarded with visual information and the role of color seems central to our visual experiences.
Therefore, the psychology of color should be studied comprehensively and scientifically and applied to all aspects of the human enterprise, including business and education, and both branches of color psychology that deal with human emotions and Human cognition/perception will need to be studied as an integral unit to understand the social, cultural, physiological, cognitive, and emotional dimensions of color psychology.
