Drawing lessons - illustrated lesson notes for teachers and students

The psychology of color

7-4 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF COLOR

Psychology is the study of human behaviour ...

What has this to do with color? We must first decide whether there is a genetic or instinctive

behavioural element in hue recognition. Then we might ask if there are any environmental

aspects that have a universal effect on the human species.

1. Genetic - I have seen no evidence of the first. We are not like bees or birds where the
   recognition of the hues of flowering plants are somehow passed on from one generation to the
   next.


2. Environmental - I have seen green associated with health - and with rotting meat, red with
   luck and danger, blue with pain and tranquillity, yellow with disease or elsewhere intellect.
   Summing up I know of no universal acceptance of a particular hue or color that has a universal
   significance across all societies. Movment has more significance for survival purpose for the eye
   discerns movement before anything else. The eye discerns movement at a span of 180 degrees

where hue, depending on its saturation, can be seen only to 140 degrees.

When awareness of red is combined with a sense of heat then we might say the combination is

universally one of fire. This and many other instances of combined sensory experiences are

manifold but those instancing color alone escape me. I must conclude that singularly hue has

no universal behavioural consequences and therefore no psychological implications - unless

combined with other senses or hues. Remember there is no universal hue indicating the

ripeness of an apple.

This thesis runs a parallel to music where no universal psychological analysis can be made of

single notes but when combined with others we can have harmony or disharmony and moods

created with various combinations. To take this analogy further it might be argued sensitivity to

color is rather like sensitivity to musical notes where some individuals can tune instruments

easier than others, some folk dream in color and some remember color easily while others

desire to train their color discernment to high levels of sensitivity. Sensitivity to all elements of

life is the key that opens the door to happy appreciation. The alternative is to dark to consider.

Fig.1

The adjacent effect .... color residuals of the eye. With musical melodies we have ‘progression’.

I mean by this intervals of time between notes that allow the brain time to understand the tune.

If all the notes were played simultaneously any melody would be incomprehensible. But in

painting all colors are played both individually and together, depending on the position of the

viewer, and they must work on both levels. As the eye physically moves between adjacent

hues, a negative residual interferes with the ‘melodic’ appreciation. Note the rather sickly Fig.1

combination above. This can be overcome with a transitional or neutral hue as shown below.

or

As a practical example ...

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