Effect of Colors Essay -- Health, Bright Colors, Emotions

Do Colors Have an Effect on Ones Current Mood?Colors are a part of ones everyday life and are introduced into ones life starting at birth. For example, when a mess up 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, Im red with rage or Ive got the blue 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 field of battle seeks to examine whether manipulating the colors of questionnaires will influence ones self-reported mood. MoodAn individuals mood can be described as line drawing an individuals emotiona l state which is divided into two broad dimensions despotic and negative affect. Positive affect is characterized as the extent to which one experiences delightful 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 stirred State Meerum Terwogt and Hoeksma (1995) examined whether individuals separate preferenc... ...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 colo r 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 at odds(p) to previously mentioned studies associating blue to relaxation and calmness.