Colors can be so powerful that we may never notice.Will you feel more relaxed or stressed under the situation mentioned above?
According to a psychologist, a small change in color can affect our emotions as well as behavior.
It can also give ‘energy’ to our lives as each color gives a particular meanings and this in turn shape our rhythm of life.
If you want to avoid unnecessary stimulus that may affect your mood, see how you can mix and match to ‘build’ the best color combination for your day.
Photo source: Ricky Cheung/SCMP
1. Color and personalities
Faber Birren, an experienced scholar in color psychology in the 19th century, said that ‘It is possible to make fairly accurate judgments about the meaning of color preferences and their revelations of personality traits.’
Hattwick, another scholar also found reason to conclude that a delight in color showed emotional tendencies—for example frequent use of blue or black indicated self-control and the repression of emotion.
Below are some personalities interpretation based on color:
| Red
- optimistic and extroverted - Ambitious - Competitive - Accepting challenges - Persistence - Impatient - Demanding others - Dislike restrictions |
Green
- practical, down to earth - well balanced - Kind and generous - compassionate - High moral standard - Avoid change - Not action oriented |
Blue
- Honest, trustworthy and sincere - Conscious people - Do things at own pace and time - Deep need for peace and harmony - Appear as confident and self-controlled but hiding vulnerable side - Too cautious sometimes and worry about trivial things - Disciplined - Low self esteem -Can be pessimistic |
Yellow
- Cheerful and fun to be with - Creative - Impulsive and make quick decision - Tend to hide emotion - Good at networking and getting information out of others - Can be stubborn - Good listener - indecisive - Talks too much - Overestimate result |
Black
- Independent - determined - Non emotional - Like to keep people at distance - Hold things inside - not good at sharing - Never work until deadlines - Pessimistic |
|---|
What kind of personalities you belong to? Put aside those colors that will trigger your bad emotion!
Photo source: K.Y.Cheng/SCMP
2. Color and food preference
As we eat with our eyes, color is one of the key factors that influences our choice of food, a scholar in the area of food science said.
He also found that there is a higher preference for food served on white dishes than on colored dishes, given that the food is not entirely white in color.
A research is also conducted to see in what way color can increase people’s appetite as well as mood during the day.
It is found that meal with complementary and analogous colors is much more preferred than dishes with cold or neutral colors such as white or other light colors.
Have a look of the choice below and choose the right one to make your day more ‘colorful’!
Breakfast: Dried fruit and seeds cereals VS a monotone single color plain cornflakes
Lunch: Fried Red, green or yellow peppers chicken with rice VS a plate of plain pasta with broccoli
Dinner: Steak with broccoli and carrots VS Spaghetti with béchamel sauce
Photo Source: Felix Wong/SCMP
3. Color and emotion
As mentioned before, different color conveys different meanings. It is therefore important to place the right color around us to avoid unnecessary stimulus that may ruin our moods.
Avoid dark color decoration around your desk; pick something colorful to provide you with more energy.
Check the following items, are yours colorful enough??
- Photo frame
- Desktop wallpaper
- Bottle/ cup
- Box of tissue
- Stationaries
….. and more!
Photo Source: Ricky Chung/SCMP
