Color Psychology Paper
Research Question:
How does color affect one’s mood?
Review of Literature:
Colors may just seem simple and unimportant, but they affect our daily lives more than we may know. If someone is feeling angry, it could just be because they’re angry, or it could be perhaps that they are surrounded by or looking at the color red. That’s right! People’s moods can change just because they are looking at different colors! There are many theories on how just a simple color can change one’s whole mood.
According to Johnson (2007), color does affect mood by producing certain chemicals and stimulating different feelings such as hunger. For example, blue can make one feel calm because it releases calming chemicals, and red can make one hungry because it is an appetite stimulant. Yellow can make one feel irritated, and it is a fact that people lose their temper most in yellow rooms. However, pink is tranquilizing and can make one feel weak. In conclusion, Johnson says that depending on the color, one’s body can do things (like producing chemicals) that cause a certain emotional reaction (mad, sad, etc.).
Another idea, by Smith (2007), is that the effect color produces is based on what one’s body does in response. For example, yellow is mentally stimulating, and activates memory, whereas red increases confidence. Also, brown can make a person feel orderly and stable, while a dark blue can make one feel sad. Therefore, Smith says that different colors do in fact change one’s mood and the consequences can be negative or positive.
A third writer, Wollard, (2000) seems to think that color can affect one’s mood, but the effect also can depend on one’s culture and what one’s personal reflection may be. For example, someone from Japan may not associate red with anger, as people from the U.S. tend to do. Also, a person who likes the color brown may associate