Colors: How people understand/react to colors
For centuries people have asked the same questions, how does the psychology of feeling emotions work? How does seeing different colors correlate to different emotions/responses given when seeing a given color? And why is the human brain mapped this way? When the true question that should be asked is why hasn’t a more in depth look on why the brain looks at a color and has a certain emotion to it? Now in truth this question has or is already getting solved; however, this article could shed more light on the theory and maybe give clarity to people who don’t know why their favorite color is their favorite, or why they get upset at a certain color than another.
How this will go is that the list of colors will presented in order, as well as icky colors(colors that don’t fall in the ROYGBIV and tertiary color range one of those being pink, since magenta is a tertiary color) colors like, brown, black, and white. To start there is RED: which represents anger, power, and domination on the negative end, but also represents love, passion, and desire on the positive end. Now, the reason why we feel this way on the negative end is more due to modern invention with stop signs, traffic lights, and sirens. The negative connotation of red is built from the caution provided by people of now as red is the second most visible on the color wheel, it’s perfect for conveying a message. On the opposite end, the positive representation of red is built from olden times; for example, cupid shoots heart arrows to make two people fall in love and hearts are usually depicted as red, or how roses are given as a gift to a significant other and roses are also usually red.
Next is ORANGE: which represents spiritualism, optimism, and creativity on the positive end, and on the negative it represents impatience, pride, and deceit. The reason we feel this way when we come across the color orange is; because, the connotation behind which colors that mix into orange, is why we feel optimism and creativity when we see the color, and the colors that mix into orange are red and yellow. Both are usually positive colors that bring some clarity to things that don’t make sense, these colors are probably most of the reason why optimism and creativity are felt when orange is seen. However, how orange correlates to such strong negative emotions on the opposite spectrum is a mystery, some may correlate the negative emotions orange brings to be what the color green might make some people feel and yet the negative emotions of pride, impatience, and deceit are still felt when orange is seen. But one that makes the most sense is pride, as pride is always a brash and stubborn emotion that despite being mostly negative, does have some positive connotation; however, in this case unfortunately the bad weighs out the good.
YELLOW: is next and it represents attention, frustration, and can be really hard to read. On the positive side of things, yellow represents energy, joy, hope, light, serene, dignity, etc. Now it isn’t surprising that yellow has more positive connotations than probably any other color, but one thing should be understood about the color yellow and that it is the brightest color on the color wheel; therefore, there’s a reason yellow is so positively seen. It built a reputation for how bright it is and it will keep that reputation; because, in truth, none of the negative connotations can get rid of the reputation of happiness and good the color yellow seems to bring. However, the thing that made the color yellow so famous also somewhat makes it the most infamous, of course that is how bright the color is, and that can be a huge problem besides how positive that makes it. To understand how bright yellow is, try to picture it in a bright background no one would be able to find it because, the brightness of the color is overlaid with the brightness of the other colors around it, the text saying YELLOW at the beginning of this section isn’t even true yellow it is a darker shade ex.(YELLOW to YELLOW).
Next is GREEN: which represents nature, safety, luck, motivation, and the shades have different connotations too ex. Olive green represents tranquility, earthiness, and elegance, pale green represents peace, and yellowish green represents illness, envy, and decay. The most curious thing about green is how many meanings it has, then again all colors and their different shades have meaning; however, it is different when all those different colors and their meanings are directly shown in research. But it makes sense given that most of what people see outside is green with nature and plant life almost everywhere around the world, it is what populates everything and gives life to everything too. Just like everything, another reason why green is seen a certain way is not exactly a positive one, being that green is the color of money, and money leads to greed, so while being the universal color for life, it is also the universal form of greed.
BLUE: is next being that it represents sadness, distance, even aloofness. Though that comes more from Picasso’s “blue period,” where he depicted somber looking paintings that were meant to tell more emotion, so aloofness was not the only one of these negative connotations depicted in Picasso’s work sadness and technically distance can be contributed too. On the other spectrum the positive representations of blue are productivity, calmness, and stability, as well as peaceful. The reason why we feel good towards blue is not too hard to figure out and that correlates to water, more specifically the ocean and how calming it is, how smooth the waves are and how they cover up entire ecosystems full of life. And the feeling of water around as some may float, some may swim, and some may appreciate the silence the experience brings, all of it is the same when waves surround someone.
The next color is INDIGO: which represents, integrity, sincerity, idealism, and truth on the positive end and on the negative end indigo represents fear, depression, intolerance, and self-righteousness. Now indigo is a curious color as it is not technically a color, actually it is more like a darker shade of blue that got classified as separate; because, it was spotted in the color spectrum of a rainbow, with that in mind it is also technically purple which means indigo is a tertiary color. But just because it is a primary color combined with a secondary color does not mean it lacks the share of connotations that the other colors have, the negative connotations it brings are worse than other colors; however, that makes sense seeing as a pattern the darker a color gets the worse connotations it may bring. The reason why this may be is because it is a color closer to purple but still a darker shade of blue, so the aspect of purple in it could represent royalty and that is why indigo is more negative. Back when purple was popular it was worn and used by these great rulers who most would be bad or controlling over their people. On the opposite end I believe blue is the very reason why this color remains with good emotions; however, since it is a darker shade of blue these positive connotations are more deep and meaningful than the regular color.
VIOLET: is next, the last color of the rainbow and of the ROYGBIV system. This color represents mystery, royalty, and wealth. Now the confusing thing about purple is that you would not expect wealth to be negative; however, there is a factor here and it is the wealth can lead to corruption same with royalty, as for mystery that only negative with which type of mystery being presented, is it something that is needed to be known or something that should not. As for positive connotations, purple brings imagination, emotionality, and rarity to the table. Now the fact that rarity is positive and wealth is not may concern some people; however, there is a perfectly good reason why. The reason why rarity is better than wealth is because, rarity could mean anything, not just money it could represent a flower, or ingredient for food, etc but with wealth it is always about money and that is the difference.
Next is WHITE: which is where all other colors come from since whenever it is being drawn paper it blends with the color; however, the more it is applied the more the color is overlaid and eventually the paper being drawn will be white once again. This color represents innocence, peacefulness, cleanliness, peace, and healing, on the opposite end this color represents judgment, power, emptiness, and prophecy. Now overall white is a positive color that is why most of the connotations it possesses are positive and even with white’s negative connotations they are not as bad as some of the other colors; in fact, it could be said that out of all the other colors white’s negative connotations are the least concerning. This is why prophecy is considered negative because, the connotation of a prophecy is subjective, on one hand it could be a very good and fruitful vision; however, on the other it could be something really bad like “Next week on the 20th of April, a tree will fall onto a car.” As for white’s positive connotations, it is not hard to figure out how positive the color is afterall it is technically the universal translated color for life, that is why it is usually the most pleasing and positive looking color, the very essence of it represents tranquility and peace.
GREY: which represents the medium between the brightest and darkest color, it is the perfect balance between light and dark. This color represents reliability, dignity, maturity, and elegance; however, on the negative end grey represents indecision, apathy, boredom, and isolation. Now all these may sound like big words and phrases, but that is because they are, as grey is the medium color, that means it represents big aspects of both black and white, it is the perfect medium there is no other. To represent this grey’s good connotations come from human manners or truth, maybe even human fanciness; in any case, this color represents the more internal and personal emotions that humans have to grapple with and master. However, on the other spectrum, the negative connotations is also something all humans deal with, but that does not mean they want to deal with it, and frankly the negative connotations usually bring a sour and/or bitter taste to normal life.
BROWN: Is a unique color as it shares properties with the last color on this list, what is most interesting about it is how it is not only outside the ROYGBIV system, but also outside the color range of white, grey, and black and yet it is still considered an ICKY color. That aside, brown represents dullness, decay, emptiness, and timidity and on the other hand represents appreciation, simplicity, security, and earthiness. This is an exact example of brown being an icky color despite the uniqueness it brings, as it centers around complex emotions and has more of a feeling of one than the other. In this case brown represents more positive aspects, as it brings a strong but centered and yet relaxing feeling as it brings together humanity's most comfortable emotions/emotional feelings in one color alone. However, because it brings comfort and strong feelings on the positive end, means that on the negative end, brown brings humanity’s most uncomfortable feelings and emotions together, that is the contrast and a perfectly balanced one at that.
Finally the last color being represented in this slide is the darkest one of all and that contrast will probably show in the emotions and connotations this color brings, and the last color is BLACK: This color represents prestige, boldness, and sophistication on the negative side black represents authority, sickness, unhappiness, evil, and death. Now just like white and grey, black is the representation of their own negative connotations and especially like white the color black is sort of seen as the representation of death, as white was with life. This is also the reason why there are more negative connotations as well; however, just because the color black is usually seen in a bad light doesn’t mean it is a negative color, this goes for all the other colors as well. One of the main reasons why it is seen negatively could be; because, on the color spectrum it is the one color that absorbs all the others and is why when you mix all colors together you get either brown or black. As for black’s positive connotations, they represent higher society, now while yes high society can be bad their not always the worst of people, mainly it is more down to character than the representation of richer people and that is why they are mainly seen in a bad light.
Sources: Verywell Mind, and Empowered by color.
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