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Writer's pictureAdil Malia

Psychology of Colours


colours and psychology

Psychology of Colours ...

'Fauvism' ... well that is the technical name of the style in which the doodles you see illustrating the 'social media' posts you read. The movement started in France in the 12th Century by painters like Matise . Distinguishing point is the use of strong colours over their real representational colours to exaggerate the stressed objects. But educating on Fauvism is not the purpose of this post.

Colours in life are strongly associated with human psychology. Each colour communicates. It has a strong linkage to ones behaviours and experiences. Unconscious to you, each time you were punished by your teacher or rewarded, the predominant colours they were wearing leaves an impression in your psychological associations with those colour shades.

Thus , in a way, it subtly triggers certain reactions and behaviours when you come across, face to face with those colours. Directly it influences selection of behavioural options from among choice of options available. Whilst each colour has a special meaning to each individual, in generality, they have a common collective reference as well depending on the predominant use of certain colours in impeccable cultural artefacts and customs.

Particularly, in 'Dream Analysis', colour recall has a huge implication on interpretation of dreams. For the uninitiated, 'Dream Analysis' has more to do with Psycho-analysis (based on deep doctrines of Freud and Carl Jung) then with coffee-party mystics, casanovas and party entertainers . The most basic question asked for dream analysis is - do you dream in variant colours or multiple shades of black & white ?

Curious to know what colours generally represent psychologically ? It is like this, read on ....

Red..stimulating, hot, passionate, menacing, dangerous. You can well imagine the triggers and association of 'red' with these behavioural values.

Yellow...warm, shinning, bright, happy, mellow. At times, pale yellow also represents something that is unwell, pale or sickly.

Blue...cool, pure, clean, cold and oppressive

Orange ... cheerful, warm, dingy, dominant, powerful, attention seeking

Green ... calm, peaceful, natural, fresh, restorative, cold, fruitful

Purple ... rich, sophisticated, spiritual, sombre

Pink ... soft, soothing, feminine, romantic, fun, sugary, at the palest end -sickly

Gold ... expensive, premium, prestigious, mellow, decorative, brash

Silver ... cool, sharp, rustic, sophisticated, base, cold.

White ... pure, clean, light, cold, fresh, new, beginning, wise

Black ... dark, smart, sophisticated, sharp, dramatic, elegant sophisticated , devils & depressing. No options, no solutions are often reflected in black darker imagery so is black-comedy !

However, be mindful, these colours have personal 'triggering' implications.

Your relationships , your behaviours, your optimism, your sudden anger and at times your sudden unexplainable mood swings....all have a much larger influence from colours than you realise.

Know yourself well - know you colours well enough. Be observant. Use colours to your advantage. In unknown territories, imitation is better. With an unknown powerful negotiator, imitate the colours he generally wears unless you want to make a bold statement !

Good luck to your success in a colourfully influenced world. Now you know why most candidates in interviews wear white shirts and dark blue jackets - sharp, clean and cool is their statement.

(This part of my post is certainly not sponsored by Asian Paints or Colour Plus.)

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