Colors in Psychology

Color psychology is rarely brought up yet colors play a huge role in our lives every day; they are all around us. Colors can change our moods, opinions, body temperature, and even our appetites! For example, warm colors can trigger your appetite, and many fast food chains have caught on to this, so they have made their logos warm colors to attract more customers. Animals use colors to their advantage as well. Zebras have unique black and white stripes on them, so if they are being chased, predators will be confused by the stripes and not know where to attack. Even in the fashion industry, designers meticulously choose which colors to utilize in their work. For example, the color red is attention-grabbing, it is the color of desire and romance, and can enhance our view of the person wearing it. So how else are colors used and perceived in the world?

In the modern world, red, orange, and yellow can mainly be found on signs on the side of the road. This is because they are all bright, attention-grabbing colors. Because of the sunlight reflected from these bright colors, they absorb less heat, making them an optimal choice of clothing during hot weather.

The color orange has been proven to stimulate the right half of our brain, which is responsible for our creativity and intelligence. Orange is associated with the sun rising, which sparks optimism and hope for those who see it. Yellow is a very diverse color. Yellow is the brightest and most vibrant color in the color spectrum, it can increase our metabolism and put us in a cheerful mood. However, due to the brightness it reflects, it can cause eye strain and headaches. Warm colors trigger our appetites. In nature, this is because many fruits and meats are warm colors, while rotten fruits and meat are cooler colors.

Speaking of nature, green is one of the most common colors in the world. From the tallest of trees to the lowest of seaweed, green symbolizes life and health. Nowadays, green is mainly recognized for money, and lights on traffic signs signal to go, which makes it a very happy and promising color to us, but humans didn’t always see green in this light. Before humans were able to protect themselves from nature and wildlife, green was seen as dangerous. Tall, green grass could have inhabited any dangerous animal, and poisonous plants were disguised as food. Many bacteria and algae are also green, which brings sickness and plague.

Another common color in nature is blue, it surrounds us from the sea to the sky. Blue is often perceived as good and non-threatening. It is proven that blue is a calming color, as it can lower your blood pressure. Historically, it is a very loved color. The ancient Egyptians and Romans made many of their clothes and art in this color, because more blue meant more water, and more water meant more crops for their people. It symbolizes new beginnings, like the changing tides and the change from day to night. Purple combines the intensity of red and the positivity of blue. For humans, purple means royalty, as it was the most expensive color of fabric to produce. Purple is rare in wildlife, so it is mysterious and intriguing. Because of this, the color purple can make us interested in something.

Colors can also deceive us, primarily in wildlife. Many animals have camouflage to blend in and not be easily visible to animals around them. Polar bears are entirely white to blend in with their arctic terrain, sharks are often blue or gray on the top so that they blend in with the water or sand underneath them, however, they are white on the bottom so that they blend in with the sun reflecting over the water above them. So how exactly can colors influence us in these different ways? To understand that, you have to understand the science behind it. Light travels through electromagnetic waves, with each color having its respective wavelengths. They hit our eyes in different ways and travel from the eyes to the hypothalamus, located near the center of the brain. The hypothalamus is responsible for maintaining homeostasis in our body through sleep, metabolism, temperature, and behavioral patterns. Colors play a huge role in our lives and deserve to be studied more to understand their full capabilities.

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Author Nicholas Rodriguez is a sixteen-year-old living in Chicago, Illinois, who holds an innate passion for learning. With a GPA of 4.1, he has taken leadership roles in charity events and has done research in the fields of psychology, law, astronomy, and political science. He spends his free time with his friends, exploring the city, and writing