It interested me when they brought up how red is seen in the natural world as a "danger" color. I wonder if our perceptions of color are more of a visceral, animalistic effect, or whether cultural symbolism, as in their mention of China, would be the overriding element?
I would be really interested to know how much of this effect is due to cultural conditioning. When American test subjects were asked what red or blue made them think of, they said that “red represented caution, danger or mistakes, and that blue symbolized peace and openness.” This seems like a cultural construct. The article mentions that in China red is a positive, lucky color. I would be interested to know if the brain is universally hard-wired to associate certain colors with different emotional/psychological states (kind of like a mild universal synesthesia)
I wonder about people's individual preference for a certain color; why do we have favorite colors? Is it memory? In addition, is there a difference in terms of gender? Socially, blue is associated with boys, and pink is linked to girls. Are certain colors, perhaps yellow, innately neutral? Or is it all a product of social conditioning?
I'd like to know more about how this sort of research has been applied to child development and learning. Also, I wonder how a child, who's been less subjected to this 'social conditioning' would react in these experiments.
This quote-- "Still, Dr. Schwarz cautioned, color effects may be unreliable or inconsequential. “In some contexts red is a dangerous thing, and in some contexts red is a nice thing,” he said. “If you’re walking across a frozen river, blue is a dangerous thing.”" makes me rather mistrust the conclusions being presented. It seems that people can be made to experience a color as indicative of any number of things. I would be interested in seeing further research narrowing responses down.
There are also cultural implications of this study. For example, the implications of a family more prone to choosing a particular color. This might seem slight but cultural implications often prove to be difficult to detect and simultaneously easy to glance over.
Further, I wonder whether this type of research can extent in to other types of sensory processing such as sound. For example, I have heard that listening to classical music while studying makes you retain the information more steadily.
This is a bit random but is there any accuracy in those "color personality" marketing schemes, like some makeup companies and clothing companies give you a color profile based on skin tone and personality to make you feel more comfortable/confident, or just that they are 'your' colors. Do they have any accuracy? Or are they like horoscopes and fortune cookies telling us our lucky color for the week. I am also curious about the participants in the yellow room eating more; I have heard many times that sunny yellow is the right color for the kitchen.
It interested me when they brought up how red is seen in the natural world as a "danger" color. I wonder if our perceptions of color are more of a visceral, animalistic effect, or whether cultural symbolism, as in their mention of China, would be the overriding element?
ReplyDeleteI would be really interested to know how much of this effect is due to cultural conditioning. When American test subjects were asked what red or blue made them think of, they said that “red represented caution, danger or mistakes, and that blue symbolized peace and openness.” This seems like a cultural construct. The article mentions that in China red is a positive, lucky color. I would be interested to know if the brain is universally hard-wired to associate certain colors with different emotional/psychological states (kind of like a mild universal synesthesia)
ReplyDeleteI wonder about people's individual preference for a certain color; why do we have favorite colors? Is it memory? In addition, is there a difference in terms of gender? Socially, blue is associated with boys, and pink is linked to girls. Are certain colors, perhaps yellow, innately neutral? Or is it all a product of social conditioning?
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ReplyDeleteI'd like to know more about how this sort of research has been applied to child development and learning. Also, I wonder how a child, who's been less subjected to this 'social conditioning' would react in these experiments.
ReplyDeleteThis quote-- "Still, Dr. Schwarz cautioned, color effects may be unreliable or inconsequential. “In some contexts red is a dangerous thing, and in some contexts red is a nice thing,” he said. “If you’re walking across a frozen river, blue is a dangerous thing.”" makes me rather mistrust the conclusions being presented. It seems that people can be made to experience a color as indicative of any number of things. I would be interested in seeing further research narrowing responses down.
ReplyDeleteThere are also cultural implications of this study. For example, the implications of a family more prone to choosing a particular color. This might seem slight but cultural implications often prove to be difficult to detect and simultaneously easy to glance over.
ReplyDeleteFurther, I wonder whether this type of research can extent in to other types of sensory processing such as sound. For example, I have heard that listening to classical music while studying makes you retain the information more steadily.
This is a bit random but is there any accuracy in those "color personality" marketing schemes, like some makeup companies and clothing companies give you a color profile based on skin tone and personality to make you feel more comfortable/confident, or just that they are 'your' colors. Do they have any accuracy? Or are they like horoscopes and fortune cookies telling us our lucky color for the week.
ReplyDeleteI am also curious about the participants in the yellow room eating more; I have heard many times that sunny yellow is the right color for the kitchen.