Analysis of "Psychology of Color"

The article the Psychology of Color: How Reds, Blues, Greens & Oranges Affect Your Mood & Emotions by Laurie Pawlik-Lielen, presents the psychology relationship between colors and their affects on the human body. The author provides supported details for her points and has written numerous health related articles that support the belief of her being a qualified writer for this topic. The main theme in this article is that yes, colors can affect people. It appears as a good article but it doesn't give any doubt that the color makes a difference. For this reason the author comes off as biased toward the subject.

Differing colors may affect people based on the past events that the people relate them to. The color red often is in correlation with blood, heat, passion, Valentine's Day, Christmas and danger. These thoughts are not calm and soothing thoughts, but those that stimulate people to make them excited, nervous or fearful. From understanding where the connection comes from, it is understandable why the connection can be made. Blue is known for its calming affects because it is related to the sky and spirituality; both are commonly connected to memories of being content for people. Green is the color of nature which represents health and abundance. It also is linked to money, and luck. Being so, this color can bring freshness and clarity. Orange is used for Halloween and Thanksgiving; both times of celebration. Orange shows the affect of over-emotion, but it also is associated with arrogance and danger.

From this article we can find out what would be considered the independent and dependent variables while doing research on this topic. The independent variable is the color that something is and then removal or change of that color to some other color. The affects that that occur to a person after the colors have been changed is the dependent variable. The internal validity of this change is hard to record because when measuring these slight changes, there is not a lot of information to collect data from.

Because changing the color is a means of 'treatment' to say, alleviate stress, color psychology would be considered a Cohort study. Since the color in itself is not the problem but a solution, we would make changes and work from there to see the effects that result from it. Using the Experimental Research Design on this topic would be affective. If there was a family with their usual all white walls, the control group, compared to a family that originally had all white walls but changes them to specific colors, the experimental group, researchers could monitor the results easily.

Although the information presented by the author appears to be reliable, there are some variables that can cause this theory to become flawed. The people that are having the colors around them may cause a miscalculation in the research. If a person was part of the experimental group and severely wanted the results to benefits the researcher because that person what their significant other, they would over exaggerate the effects, possibly without even knowing it. If someone just really didn't want to believe that colors could affect their mood because they didn't want their environment changed to start with, they would show that no change took place through their stubbornness.

Another situation that could cause the information to be misrepresented is past history. This lurking variable could derive from a person having a severe association with a certain shade of blue that no matter if the color's usual role is to provide a calming effect, all the person would be able to think about is that experience. This also could occur with red perhaps; a person has a bad memory associated with it so it's not the color in itself, but the memory that comes with it.

A person's demographics should be considered. When it comes to male verses female, typically women like the different hues of purples and reds more than men. If a man doesn't like the color, it can make him feel uncomfortable in the room or environment. Age and job status can also become key factors. Children are not near as stressed compares to adults so colors will not matter to them as much. The job environment plays a role because although blue may be good for calming, if it is the same color as the stressed office environment, it will be associated with the office and create stress.

Despite the flaws that may occur with the research, from what the author has gathered, the article seems to be reliable and valid. All the points that are made about the colors are backed up with examples that that common day person can understand. If, however, an expert were reading this article, there may be a conflict because it is 'dumbed-down' for the audience. This article presents information that may not have been known to some before and brings in new aspects from colors. Before this article, one would not think to connect restaurants being colored red and people's appetites always seem large.

Source :Psychology of Color: How Reds, Blues, Greens & Oranges Affect Your Mood & Emotions by Laurie Pawlik-Lielen,