Artists carefully choose the palette of colors for their art to create a specific mood for the viewer. Whether certain colors are painted on canvas or used in costume design for a show, artists utilize specific color choices to elicit a response from the audience. Sometimes, these colors mimic natural occurrences in the world. In other cases, more abstract art might consider the implications of emotions.
I used to love to pull out my Canon camera and take scenic photos of the differences in colors. Depending on where I was or the time of day, the sky would often look very different, which could lend itself to being brighter and calmer for the viewer or darker and more tense. I have lost time in recent years to focus on photography, but something I always enjoyed was the coloring of each photograph.
If the purpose of the piece is to extract a specific feeling, the color choice directly affects that feeling. It has been shown that different colors can impact our mood or are aligned with different emotions. Why is it that these different hues and tones can change our outlook, and how can we utilize this phenomenon to improve our daily lives?
Jan 2025; Emory Campus, Atlanta, GA
Oct 2019; Airplane Somewhere on the East Coast
July 2019; Amelia Island, FL
We can perceive colors through the visual pathway that receives specific wavelengths. The light acts as the stimulus that is received by photoreceptors and carried by the optic nerve into the lateral geniculate nucleus to be processed. These photoreceptors are rods and cones, but we are particularly interested in the cones when discussing color processing. The different hues of each color are determined by the wavelength, with red being the longest while violet is the shortest. In class, we have discussed this pathway many times, so it is not uncommon for us. However, the interplay that causes emotional responses is another connection of the brain. The connection is available through the limbic system, specifically the amygdala. This system is crucial for applying emotional responses to unique color stimuli.
The interconnected systems of color and emotion could be biological due to evolutionary aspects (Elliot, 2015). For example, the color red could heighten arousal due to the context perceived throughout nature, such as a flush to the face showing anger. In another context, green on the face can show sickness, so green could correspond to nausea and unease. However, the face is not the only place we perceive colors. Environmental circumstances can also correlate certain colors and memories together. Green is the color of many plants in nature, so that could communicate a feeling of being grounded and peaceful.
Similar to the interplay of natural situations connecting color and emotions, a study by Suk and Irtel shows the connections in new circumstances. Colors by themselves can elicit emotions that can be measured on scales of pleasure, intensity, and a sense of control on a Self-Assessment Manikin scale with high correlations in each of the categories (Suk and Irtel, 2008). Interestingly, combining specific emotions with other stimuli can intensify this reaction. “After running a statistical test, we determined that the judgmental shift of 17 colors from Experiment I to Experiment II was significant (p=0.028) in the arousal dimension, partially confirming [the hypothesis].” This means that the context itself can affect the response to the color. With that being said, it was found that these connections weren’t fixed and could be altered based on the context.
This powerful connection between color and emotion reveals how deeply visual stimuli influence human psychology without us even realizing it. Maybe you are naturally “green with envy” or sometimes “feel blue”, but these specific emotions don’t have to be the end-all be-all. By relating these colors to more positive situations, your mood can be altered and color a whole new shade of life.
Citations:
SUK H-J, IRTEL H. 2008. EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TO SIMPLE COLOR STIMULI. KANSEI Engineering International. 7(2):181–188. doi:https://doi.org/10.5057/kei.7.181.
Elliot AJ. 2015. Color and Psychological functioning: A Review of Theoretical and Empirical Work. Frontiers in Psychology. 6(368). doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00368. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4383146/.
Note: I tried to include a graph from the study, but the blog website would not let me. I tried to delete all my other photos before importing the screenshot, but there was still an error. I also tried to save it in different forms. In short, I apologize for not including a graph.
This topic was really interesting! I like how many of your own personal pictures you included, it made the post much more personal. The post was very thought provoking as it made me wonder what type of experiences are different for people who have some sort of color blindness or blindness in general. Would they have a difference in emotions perceived by colors?
This is really interesting. I knew I felt this way about blue but not that it had neurological implications. It’s really interesting also how red is arousing because people get flushed when angry.
I notice color’s effects in emotions often in films when it comes to color-grading. I once watched a romance drama called “More than Blue” and felt the episodes to be extremely depressing and lethargic. The filters of all the scenes had a blue tint and all the usual vibrant colors of nature were muted and muddy. I cried a lot and did not think the overall vibe of the drama was uplifting at all. It’s so interesting that our amygdala can associate colors like this!