Colors of Emotion

The Colors of Emotion University of Arkansas - Fort Smith Psych1163 Tuesday / Thursday, 11:00 a.m. By: Eryn Johnston

Colors of Emotion Abstract The research conducted by the authors of the article Color and Psychological Functioning engaged my attention and interest when the research focus was directed at the specific issue of the lack of objective research regarding the actual effects of color on affect, cognition, and behavior. Within this review, attention will be directed toward the methods they utilized in their research and the outcomes.

Colors of Emotion The Colors of Emotion Whether in photography activities, building of furniture, designing features in a room, developing products via graphic design methods, or building a website, color and its influence has always provided fascination and intrigue. It is interesting to note how changing the color, shade, or tone of one element within a design can, and does, affect the response of the individuals interacting with the product. Hypothesis In examining the title of the essay, I began to formulate a multitude of ideas on what the essay would be about. The first idea that I formulated is that the essay would be about the effect of colors on the deep psychological portions of the human mind. As I began reading the abstract though, these views began to change. I began to notice that instead the essay also discussed the

lack of true factual and experimental results on the effects color has upon the human mind. I also began to notice after reading a multitude of other essays on seemingly the same subject, that there truly was no experiments or true scientific information, and instead, there was only opinions and the emotions used for years to associate with colors through literature.

Method The researchers began by creating four experiments to test the color red on intellectual performance of a variety of different individuals. This extremely differs from the great variety of other scientists who do not even believe that science should be included within a discussion of the effect of color on the human mind. In one such essay, Kathie Engelbrecht (2003), discusses the use of the hypothalamus, the brain releases the hormone, hypothalamus, which affects our

Colors of Emotion moods, mental clarity and energy level, it is easily seen though, that the hypothalamus is not a hormone, instead, it is a part of the brain located in the forebrain, that helps to control and regulate processes and organs within the human body such as the nervous system, the pituitary gland, body temperature, hunger, thirst, to name a few, but it is not and could and should never be considered as such. To start determining the effects of color on the psychology of the human race, the experimenters created four experiments to assess the influence that the color red holds upon academic execution. Experiment One For the first experiment, the researchers created an anagram test to be completed by participants within the study. All of the tests contained a red, green or black subject number in the upper right hand corner of the test. Green provided achromatic contrast to red, its opposite in several color models, and green has some general associations with approach motivation. Black, an achromatic color, served as a neutral control. (Elliot and Maier, 2007)

From this experiment, the results showed that those who were shown red solved the least amount of anagrams, while those who were shown green or black, did not differ enough to be counted as different and instead were both counted as equal. The Other Three Experiments The other experiments within this study replicated the first with differentiations in the achromatic control, the methods of presenting the color, and the equality of all color parameters except hue.

Colors of Emotion In some of these subsequent experiments, participants motivation and perceived competence were assessed with self-report measures; null results were obtained on these measures, indicating that participants were unaware of the effect color had on their motivation and performance. (Elliot and Maier, 2007) Within these initial reports, participants did not report any conscious feelings of avoidance motivations so two more experiments were conducted to determine the consequences of red on non-conscious eschewal motivation. The Final Two Experiments These two final experiments manipulated the color red by using the test cover procedure from the earlier experiments. In one experiment, after the color manipulation and before (ostensibly) taking a test, participants selected the number of easy and moderately difcult items they wanted on the test; selection of easy items is a classic indicator of avoidance

motivation. Results indicated that participants shown red selected more easy items than those shown green or gray; participants shown green or gray did not differ. In the other experiment, after the color manipulation and prior to (ostensibly) taking a test, participants prefrontal cortical activity was assessed using electroencephalography (EEG); right (relative to left) prefrontal cortical activity indicates that avoidance motivation has been activated in the brain. Results indicated that participants shown red evidenced more right prefrontal cortical activity than those shown green or gray; participants shown green and gray did not differ. (Elliot and Maier, 2007)

Colors of Emotion Findings and Conclusions From these experiments it is easy to conclude that colors do in fact influence the human mind in both the conscious and subconscious aspects. We can also elaborate further to say that the color red is in fact harmful and causes humans to resort to avoidance behavior. In turn this creates lower scoring on tests and other intellectual tasks, shown from the tests taken within the experiments, supporting my hypothesis that colors do in fact influence the psychology of

humans. With these experiments though, the door has been opened to further research within the field of color psychology. Critique I believe that this journal article is entirely true. Instead of using opinions and unproved evidence, it used strong and true facts backed by experimentation to prove the point that colors do in fact influence the psychology of the human mind. I could not find any flaws within the research, due to the obvious amount of research they had done on flawed color psychology. Due to this fact I have no changes or design recommendations for the researchers. Personally, I can definitely relate to this research, because each and every color has a different and individual effect upon my moods and what I achieve within a day.

Colors of Emotion References Elliot, A. J., & Maier, M. A. (2007). Rochester. Retrieved from Rochester Psychology:

http://www.psych.rochester.edu/research/apav/publications/documents/2007_ElliotMaier _ColorandPsyFunct.pdf

Engelbrecht, K. (2003, June 18). The University of Georgia. Retrieved from Facilities Planning, Design, and Sustainability: http://sdpl.coe.uga.edu/HTML/W305.pdf