How color change your behavior, or even help your diet?

We often hear the about the psychology of color, dozens of sources on the net write about it and it often has the same conclusion with the most familiar diagram being this one:

Different accounts on how color would make a room feel bigger, taller, and how it would effect your emotions; they all fall on how color and human perception interact. This field of research is called color theory.

One of the leading researchers this field is Fabre Birren, and he proposes that:

"Rather than saying that colors have a direct influence on emotions, Birren wrote that it is the human perception of colors that affect our emotions."'

Culture, history, and upbringing of a person would be some of the factors on determining how one reacts to color. Emotional responsive people tent to be more susceptible to the effects of color than introverts in general.

But could color affect more than emotions and moods, even to the point of affecting our biological reactions? Recently, modern science are now considering the merit of Chromotherapy, using color as medical treatment which once considered as "quak" science.

Chromotherapy and Color Theory are now being applied and tested in different applications. Here are some of the interesting cases and stories that we came across:

1. Pink Detention Cells soothes children

"When children under detention at the San Bernardino County Probation Department in California become violent, they are put in an 8-foot by 4-foot cell with one distinctive feature - it is bubble gum pink. The children tend to relax, stop yelling and banging and often fall asleep within 10 minutes, said Paul E. Boccumini, director of clinical services for the department."

Pink walls also have been reported to lessen graffiti.

2. Color can save your Diet

Wansink and van Ittersum, made a test in which people who lined up to a buffet were given red and white colored plates to get pasta of red and white sauce. Participants then scooped up the amount they wanted. Plates with the same color contrast (red sauce on red plates/ white on white), had 30% more pasta than plates with different contrasts.

3. Baby and Life Saving BLUE

"Within the past decade, baths of blue light have replaced blood transfusions as the standard treatment for about 30,000 premature babies born each year with potentially fatal neonatal jaundice."

4. Blue Lights SAVES LIVES, not only BABIES

The London’s Blackfriars bridge was painted blue, in an attempt to lessen suicidals jumping off it. So far reports show that there was a 34% drop of suicide attempts on the bridge.

The same case would go in Japan. A Railway company changes the color of eight lights at the edge of their platforms to blue light for the same reason. Since the implementation, no attempts was made.

In Glasgow, Scotland, blue lights were used in street lights which lessened the amount of crime in the areas.

5. Color can make your sports team win!

A study based on historical data showed that black uniformed sports team are more likely to receive penalties, and students were likely to associate negative qualities to black uniformed players. Red colored uniformed teams, on the other hand, showed a higher chance of winning, probably because red was found to increase anxiety levels and over aggression.

But maybe having Michael Jordan does have a effect on winning too? Who knows?

6. Color can lower your blood pressure

A study was conducted changing the walls of a schoolroom from orange to blue. Then the rug from orange to grey. The lighting was also changed from conventional fluorescent light with diffusers to full spectrum lighting.

"As a result, Professor Wohlfarth reported, the children's mean systolic blood pressure dropped from 120 to 100, or nearly 17 percent, The children were also better behaved and more attentive and less fidgety and aggressive, according to the teachers and independent observers."

With so many cases already evident, "hue" will have to rethink what color to paint your room next.

Any interesting stories about color? Let us hear them, by commenting below.

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References:

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/19/science/color-has-a-powerful-effect-on-behavior-researchers-assert.html?pagewanted=all http://www.wonderfulcolors.org/blog/birren-color-theory/ http://www.wolfcreekcompany.com/psychology-of-colored-light/