Color psychology

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. Colours can also enhance the effectiveness of placebos. For example, red or orange pills are generally used as stimulants. Colour can indeed influence a person; however, it is important to remember that these effects differ between people. Factors such as gender, age, and culture can influence how an individual perceives color. For example, males reported that red colored outfits made women seem more attractive, while women answered that the color of a male's outfit did not affect his attractiveness.

Color psychology is also widely used in marketing and branding. Many marketers see color as an important part of marketing because color can be used to influence consumers' emotions and perceptions of goods and services. Companies also use color when deciding on brand logos. These logos seem to attract more customers when the color of the brand logo matches the personality of the goods or services, such as the color pink being heavily used on Victoria's Secret branding. However, colors are not only important for logos and products, but also for window displays in stores. Research shows that warm colors tended to attract spontaneous purchasers, despite cooler colors being more favorable.

Perceptions not obviously related to color, such as the palatability of food, may in fact be partially determined by color. Not only the color of the food itself but also that of everything in the eater's field of vision can affect this. (Alcaide, J. et al., 2012). Josef Albers' role in the understanding of color perception was through his research of how colors interact with each other. He also studied the optical illusions of color and how different hues looked the same. This was during his tenure at Yale University.

The color of placebo pills is reported to be a factor in their effectiveness, with "hot-colored" pills working better as stimulants and "cool-colored" pills working better as depressants. This relationship is believed to be a consequence of the patient's expectations and not a direct effect of the color itself. Consequently, these effects appear to be culture-dependent.

In 2000, Glasgow installed blue street lighting in certain neighborhoods and subsequently reported the anecdotal finding of reduced crime in these areas. This report was picked up by several news outlets. A railroad company in Japan installed blue lighting on its stations in October 2009 in an effort to reduce the number of suicide attempts, although the effect of this technique has been questioned.

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