Color psychology

rdf:langString Color psychology

rdf:langString Color psychology is the study of hues as a determinant of human behavior. Color influences perceptions that are not obvious, such as the taste of food. Colors have qualities that can cause certain emotions in people. How color influences individuals may differ depending on age, gender, and culture. For instance, heterosexual men tend to report that red outfits enhance female attractiveness, while heterosexual females deny any outfit color impacting that of men. Many studies have been published in support of Color Psychology, including studies that have analyzed the effect of colors on mood, behavior, cognition, and mental processes. Although color associations can vary contextually between cultures, color preference is to be relatively uniform across gender and race. Colors can also enhance the effectiveness of placebos. For example, red or orange pills are generally used as stimulants. Color psychology is also widely used in marketing and branding. Marketers see color as important, as color can influence a consumers' emotions and perceptions about goods and services. Logos for companies are important, since the logos can attract more customers. This happens when customers believe the company logo matches the personality of the goods and services, such as the color pink heavily used on Victoria's Secret branding. Colors are important for window displays in stores. Research shows that colors such as red tended to attract spontaneous purchasers, despite cool colors such as blue being more favorable. Red and yellow, as a combination, can stimulate hunger, which may help to explain, in part, the success of fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's, Burger King, and In-N-Out Burger. The phenomenon has been referred to as the "ketchup & mustard" theory. While marketing makes lucrative use of color psychology's principles, the applications of the field touch many other domains such as in medical therapies, sports, hospital settings, and even in game design. Carl Jung has been credited as one of the pioneers in this field for his explorations into the properties and meanings of colors in our lives. Jung is quoted for saying, "colours are the mother tongue of the subconscious"