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1. Science of Behavior
How Colours Affect Human Behavior
Lecture 02
Dr. Nabeel Fattah
NF

2. Contents
o Colour psychology,
o Colour Perception,
o Colour Associations,
Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, orange, Purple,
Pink, Black and White
o How we see colour
o References
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3. • Color psychology is the study of how colors
affect human behavior, mood, or physiological
processes.
• Colors are thought to influence our buying
choices, our feelings, and even our memories.
• Ideas related to color psychology are heavily
implemented in the areas of marketing and
design.
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4. • Companies choose colors that they
believe will motivate customers to
buy their products and improve brand
awareness.
• Colors have even been used in color
therapy techniques to treat various
diseases.
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5. Color Perception
Color psychology is a relatively new area of
study that faces several challenges. A major
difficulty that arises when investigating this
topic is determining how to actually measure
the effects of color.
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6. Color Perception
Color perception is very subjective, as
different people have different ideas about
and responses to colors. Several factors
influence color perception, which makes it
difficult to determine if color alone impacts
our emotions and actions.
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7. Factors that influence color perception
include age, gender, and culture. In some
cultures, for example, white is associated with
happiness and purity.
In a situation where a woman is wearing a white
wedding dress, is she happy because she is
influenced by the color white or because she is
getting married?
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8. Answer:
To someone from a different culture, wearing
white may signify sadness. This is because in
those cultures, white is associated with grief
and death. These and similar factors must be
considered when investigating the influence
of colors on human emotions and behavior.
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9. Colour Associations
While no direct cause and effect relationship
between color and behavior has been found, some
generalizations about colors and what they may
symbolize have been determined. Colors including
red, yellow, and orange are considered warm
colors and are thought to stimulate excited
emotions.
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10. Cool colors are found on the blue end of
the visible light spectrum and include blue,
violet, and green. These colors are
associated with calmness, coolness, and
tranquillity.
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11. Color symbolism is often employed in the field
of graphic design and publishing to evoke certain
emotions. Whether influenced by age, gender,
culture, or not, research studies indicate that
colors do have some impact on physiology,
behavior, and mood in some individuals.
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12. Red
Ideas, attitudes, and emotions
associated with the colour red include:
• Warning
• Love
• Courage (bravery)
• Aggression (violent behaviour)
• Rage (anger, angry)
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13. • Red is the longest wavelength of light on
the visible light spectrum.
• In western cultures, red is associated with
power, control, and strength. It also signals
danger and triggers alertness.
• Red on traffic lights signal drivers to be
alert and to stop.
• Some animals, such as snakes, have red
coloration to indicate that they are
dangerous and deadly.
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14. • Red also signifies passion and
invokes the fight response.
• Red is thought to raise metabolism
and blood pressure, which are
needed to prepare for action
during an alarming situation.
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15. Blue
Associations with the Colour blue
include:
• Trust
• Efficiency
• Coolness
• Security
• Sadness
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16. • Blue is associated with calmness
and tranquillity.
• It is a symbol of logic,
communication, and intelligence.
• It is linked with low stress, low
temperature, and low pulse rate.
• Blue is also associated with a lack
of warmth, emotional distance,
and indifference.
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17. • In research studies, blue light has also
been found to reset sleep-wake cycles. It
is the blue wavelengths of light from the
sun that inhibit the pineal gland from
releasing melatonin during the day.
• Melatonin signals the body that it is
time to sleep
• Blue light stimulates us to stay awake.
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18. Yellow
Yellow is vivid (can be seen clearly) and
lively. Associations with yellow include:
• Energy
• Hope
• Honour
• Fear
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19. • Yellow is a bright color and the most visible
color to the eye.
• It is associated with happiness, friendliness,
and signifies competence.
• Yellow is the color of optimism and creativity.
• It attracts our attention and signifies caution
as yellow is often used along with black on
traffic signs, taxis, and school buses.
Interestingly.
• Yellow is also associated with fear and
sickness.
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20. Green
Green symbolizes ideas such as:
• Health
• Compassion (concern for the sufferings
of others)
• Favour (support)
• Ambition (a strong desire to do
something)
• Passivity (acceptance of what happens)
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21. • Green is located between yellow and blue on
the visible light spectrum and represents balance.
• It is the color of springtime and is commonly
associated with growth, life, fertility, and nature.
• Green represents safety and is linked to
prosperity, wealth, good fortune, and finances.
• It is considered a relaxing, soothing color that is
thought to have a calming effect and to relieve
stress. Negative associations with green
include selfish, jealousy, no motivation, and no
energy.
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22. Orange
Associations with the Colour orange
include:
• Wisdom (he quality of having experience,
knowledge, and good judgement)
• Pleasure
• Desire (want)
• Loneliness (feeling alone)
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23. • Orange is found between red and
yellow on the visible light
spectrum.
• It is thought to symbolize qualities
that are a combination of the high-
energy color red.
• Orange is associated with warmth,
approval, and encouragement.
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24. • Orange is thought to affect appetite by
increasing hunger.
• It also is thought to increase mental
activity and take quick decisions.
• In research studies, exposure to orange
light has been shown to improve
awareness and alertness.
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25. Purple
Purple represents ideas and attitudes
related to:
• Wealth (riches)
• Dignity (nobility, majesty)
• Wisdom (he quality of having experience,
knowledge, and good judgement)
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26. • Purple or violet is the shortest
wavelength on the visible light spectrum.
• It is a combination of blue and red and
represents nobility, power, and royalty.
• Purple communicates a sense of worth,
quality, and value.
• Dark purple symbolizes trouble, fear,
and difficulty.
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27. Pink
Pink is considered a fun Colour that also
represents:
• Joyfulness (is a state of being extremely
happy)
• Sweetness
• Calmness
• Passiveness (to describe someone or
something that is not active)
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28. • Pink is the color most associated
with femininity.
• It is tied to ideas of happiness, love,
playfulness, and warmth.
• Pink is also related to harmony and
closeness.
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29. • Pink is thought to have a calming
effect and many prisons have pink
holding cells in an attempt to reduce
violent behavior among prisoner.
• Negative associations with the
color pink include physical
weakness and low self-confidence.
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30. Black
Associations with black include:
• Aggression (feelings of anger)
• Gloom (a state of depression)
• Security
• Coldness
• Emptiness (the state of containing
nothing)
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31. • Black absorbs all wavelengths of the visible
light spectrum.
• It does not reflect color and adding black to a
color creates different shades of the color.
• Black is associated with fear, death, the
unknown, and evil.
• It also represents power and authority.
• Black signifies seriousness, independence, and
is commonly associated with sadness and
negativity.
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32. White
White is perceived as delicate and pure. Other
associations with white include:
• Perfection (the state or quality of being perfect)
• Sterility (the inability to produce a biological
child)
• Cleanliness (the state or quality of being clean or
being kept clean)
• Goodness (he quality of being morally good or
virtuous)
• Coldness (the quality of lacking affection or
warmth of feeling)
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33. • White is the opposite of black and reflects all
wavelengths of the visible light spectrum.
• In eastern cultures, white is associated with
grief and death.
• In western cultures, it represents purity,
innocence, and sterility.
• White is also associated with safety and
faith.
• Negative associations with white include
isolation, emptiness, and a sense of
inaccessibility.
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34. How We See Colour?
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35. How We See Colour
• We don't actually see colors with our
eyes. We see colors with our brains.
• Our eyes are important for detecting and
responding to light, but it is the brain's
visual centre that processes visual
information and assigns color.
• The colors we see are determined by the
wavelength of light that is reflected.
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36. • Visible color wavelengths range from
about 380 -750 nm.
• Different colors along the visible light
spectrum have different wavelengths.
• For example,
o red has wavelengths ranging from 620-750 nm,
o yellow from 570-590 nm, and
o blue from 450-495 nm.
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37. Our eyes are equipped with
special photoreceptors called rods and
cones.
• Rods are more sensitive to light than
cones and allow us to see in dim light.
Rods are not able to detect color.
• Cones detect a range of color light
wavelengths.
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38. Our eyes have three types of cones: blue,
green, and red.
1. The red cones are most sensitive to red
wavelengths,
2. blue cones to blue wavelengths, and
3. green cones to green wavelengths.
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39. When a color is reflected from an
object, the light wavelength hits the
eyes and cones send signals to
the visual cortex of the brain for
processing.
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40. Our brain associates the wavelength with a
color.
The brain integrates these overlapping
wavelength signals sent from cones
enabling us to distinguish between millions
of different colors.
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41. Sources
o Regina Bailey, ThoughtCo, Science, Tech, Math – Social Sciences, 06 May
2019
o Azeemi, S. T. Y., & Raza, S. M. (2005). A Critical Analysis of Chromotherapy
and Its Scientific Evolution. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative
Medicine, 2(4), 481–488. http://doi.org/10.1093/ecam/neh137
o Chellappa, S. L., Ly, J., Meyer, C., Balteau, E., Degueldre, C., Luxen, A., Phillips,
C., Cooper, H., & Vandewalle, G. (2014). Photic memory for executive brain
responses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(16), 6087-
6091. doi:doi: 10.1073/pnas.1320005111
o Dzulkifli, M. A., & Mustafar, M. F. (2013). The Influence of Colour on Memory
Performance: A Review. The Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences : MJMS,
20(2), 3–9.
o Holzman, D. C. (2010). What's in a Color? The Unique Human Health Effects
of Blue Light. Environmental Health Perspectives, 118(1), A22–A27.
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