Psychological Effects of Colour

Abstract

Colour makes an immediate visual impact and creates mood. Physicists, physiologists, psychologists and industrialists work with the visual and emotional effects of colours. Our emotional reactions to certain colours are partly due to the symbolic meanings that have association with them. In the earlier days, colours were used to convey definite ideas to the people who were unable to read. White was employed for innocence, black for evil or death, grey for penitence, red for love, blue for sincerity or hope etc. Colour because of its emotional effect upon us, is largely responsible for the atmosphere of a home. It is capable of soothing or irritating, cheering or depressing, charming or boring, welcoming or repelling. An important thing for a decorator to know is how to use colour for its emotional effect. Different colours excite different emotional responses and some persons are more sensitive and more stimulated than others.