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Colour psychology essay
How colors affect your mood essay
Colour psychology essay
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Do Colors Have an Effect on One’s Current Mood? Colors are a part of one’s everyday life and are introduced into one’s life starting at birth. For example, when a baby is born, the baby is showered with gifts and the color of the gifts is determined by his or her gender (e.g., blue for boys and pink for girls). Children often are dressed in colors associated with their gender. Furthermore, as individuals age and as their vocabulary increases, they tend to learn about associations between moods and colors and sometimes make those associations for themselves. For example, “I’m red with rage” or “I’ve got the blues” are common phrases used when describing feelings. Most research about the psychology of colors involves preference or association between colors and moods, and thus, the present study seeks to examine whether manipulating the colors of questionnaires will influence one’s self-reported mood. Mood An individual’s mood can be described as depicting an individual’s emotional state which is divided into two broad dimensions: positive and negative affect. Positive affect is characterized as the extent to which one experiences pleasurable engagement with the environment (Clark, Watson, & Leeka, 1989). On the other hand, negative affect is characterized as subjective distress and negative emotional states (Clark et al., 1989). Moreover, one who is high in positive affect is low in negative affect, and vice versa. Descriptors of positive affect include: active, alert, attentive, enthusiastic, interested, joyful, etc. Negative affect descriptors include: afraid, nervous, hostile, guilty, sad, etc. Preferences of Color and Emotional State Meerum Terwogt and Hoeksma (1995) examined whether individuals’ separate preferenc... ... middle of paper ... ...hat individuals who had colorful work environments rated their emotional status as higher throughout the year. However, most of the work environments were neutral or subdued, and thus, the authors suggest that a moderate increase of color in work environments will be beneficial for employees’ moods. Weller and Livingston (1988) examined whether the colored paper of the questionnaires affected the participants’ responses to three vignettes describing a murder or rape. The colors used for the questionnaires were pink, blue, and white, and the participants were randomly assigned the colored questionnaires. The authors found that the pink questionnaires had less emotional responses than did the blue questionnaires; thus, suggesting that pink is a calmer color than blue which is contradictory to previously mentioned studies associating blue to relaxation and calmness.
Watson, D., & Tellegen, A. (1985). Toward a consensual structure of mood. Psychological Bulletin, 98(2), 219-235. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.98.2.219
Personality predispositions can determine levels of extraversion, which determine the levels to which one seeks social support, thus determining positive affect. Similarly, personality predispositions can determine levels of neuroticism that may influence one’s style of coping in the face of both positive and negative external factors which can determine negative affect (Diener, 1996). Happiness, a core aspect of positive subjective wellbeing, involves maintaining a superior level of positive affect in comparison to negative effect, based on specific positive or negative emotions linked to the recent experiences in one’s life (Emmons & Diener, 1985). Positive emotions such as joy and pride must trump negative emotions such as frustration and sadness in the recent past or present in order for an individual to feel happy. Life satisfaction builds on this and is a cognitive valuation of the quality of an individual’s experiences as a sum throughout their entire life (Emmons & Diener, 1985). Individual personality traits have been found to influence the different patterns and levels of life satisfaction, positive and negative affects and simply general, overall happiness (McCrae, 1983).
Mood: apprehension, general discontent, loss of interest, hopelessness, anger, elevated mood, mood swings, apathy, euphoria, sadness, guilt, or inability to feel
Color can be a semiotic resource. It has many uses in the cultural association of signs. Some features that contribute as a signifier are saturation, purity, modulation, value and hue. Red can signify danger, green can stand for hope. In most countries black is a sign of mourning. However, in some parts of Europe, brides wear black for their wedding. In China and some other Eastern Asian countries, white is considered the color for mourning. While in America and most of Europe, white is a sign of purity and warn by brides. These contrasts of cultural semiotics make color partly unpredictable. In order for the color to function as a sign, there must be a consensus of meaning. In most cases there is not a consensus that is shared by all societies. There are some regularities and this is what makes color function as a semiotic resource. The challenge is understanding the motivations and interests of different groups. Some colors translate well and some do not. Finding these regularities within groups and applying them as semiotic resources is a challenge (Kress, 2002). Some associations to color are universal and these connections could spread as communication becomes more global (Eiseman, 2000).
In life we all go through experiences that cause our moods to change for better or for worse. There are times that we experience degrees of great joy and happiness just as other times we experience great sadness and despair. These polar emotional opposites can be brought about by a cornucopia of circumstances such as the joy and excitement of getting married or the birth of a child to the deep sadness and grief over the loss of a loved one or one’s employment. Feelings of joy and feelings of sadness are normal parts of human life. Some however are unfortunate enough to be force to cope with these emotions to the extreme and on a regular basis. Some individuals must further cope with an ever present emotion rollercoaster, switching from one emotional extreme to the next with regularity. This personality disorder is known as bipolar disorder.
David says, “An excess of freewheeling giddiness and a relative absence of more sober emotions can even be a marker for mania, a dangerous symptom of psychological illness” (124). Negative emotions have copious amounts of bad feelings but can also give people a more balanced life.
Many ‘orange’ people use the left side of there brain first in a situation, and don’t make a decision until they have asked themselves how they feel about it. My color demands that I need harmony and security in my life to be happy. Furthermore, an orange person will thrive off of relationships and they are often found being a caregiver to others, no matter the amount of time they have known that person. About eighteen percent of the population has an ‘orange’ personality. Overall, many of this group is found in the health field, education, and social
The emotions associated by an environment enable personal growth over a lifetime. Negative emotions like hopelessness, anger and sadness all influence and alter people deeply, leaving them
New research shows that “negative” moods, such as sadness, helps improve thinking. Writing in her article “Don’t Worry Be Gloomy,” Susan David complains that “when we’re overly cheerful, we tend to neglect more important threats and dangers” (124) whereas when we are sad, we have a more “attentive, accommodating thinking style (125). In other words, David emphasizes that when a person is happy, they do not think straight because everything appears to be good. But when a person is sad, they have more time to pay attention to details and think long on decisions because they are more skeptical about their surroundings instead of solely focused on
Color theory encompasses a variety of definitions, concepts and design applications. Color theory to create a logical structure for the color. However, there are three main categories of color theory, which is logical and useful. They:
My mood determines how I act on a daily basis. Happiness is a simple concept that makes life immensely more beautiful in its presence.
Subjective well-being is a broad term that encapsulates how a person appraises his or her life and emotional experiences. It has different aspects which includes life satisfaction, positive and negative affect (Diener et al., 2016). Positive affect refers to pleasant feelings such as joy, ecstasy, pride. While negative affect is defined as emotions that are troublesome or that can cause disturbance like anger and guilt. Life satisfaction is the cognitive domain of subjective well-being as it refers to the judgments made by the person about his life as a whole (Suldo and Huebner, 2005). For example, a person evaluates his subjective well-being by looking at his health satisfaction, job satisfaction, and other facets of his life including feelings regarding his life experiences (Diener et al., 2016). People with high subjective well-being are
Rosen, L. D., Cheever, N. A., Cummings, C., & Felt, J. (2008). The impact of emotionality and
Only in recent years have psychologists begun to appreciate the benefits of happiness and positive emotion — benefits that include everything from enhanced creativity to improved immune-system function. Dr. Barbara Fredrickson at the University of North Carolina, a leader in the field of positive psychology, posed the question, “What good are positive emotions?” and came up with the following possibilities.
The human brain is attracted to the presence of color and it leaves a satisfying feeling when it is perceived.(The Psychology of Color—How Color Affects Human Behavior) This can be applied to an everyday society by helping to improve behavior through the spread of colorful graffiti. Color not only attracts the attention of the brain, but it also leaves a lasting impact because of its uniqueness and difference between the norm.(The Psychology of Color—How Color Affects Human Behavior)