Sociology and Psychology of Colors

We see color everyday on everyday things, our world is filled with colors and colors affect our mind and behavior. For example, it could have an effect on our mood, whether it soothing or it will make us fierce and it could also make us interested and attracted to something just through its colors. Thus, that is why for a marketers or advertisers, it is important for them to learn about colors, so that they can identify which colors that suit to their target consumers, so they can attract them and the image of the company want to be seen as. Colors affect people individually and culturally. We have different perception of colors due to what we experience in life and what we associated the color with, for example in Malaysia, Chinese associated the color red with prosperity while for Indian and American they signify red as true love through red bindi and red roses. However, we still have sociology and psychology of colors that is widely known by almost everyone. The five colors that have been chosen to be explain more about are pink, blue, black, green and purple.

Pink

The sociology of pink is that it always been a girly color, it is not because of any discrimination of gender or some sort. It is due to research by Alexander in 1970's found that shade of pink could cause a loss of muscle strength and a slowed heart rate ("Wolfson," 2014). Thus, it leads to the negative meanings of pink which include being physically weak, over-emotional and over-cautious, having emotional neediness or unrealistic expectations, being naive, immature and girlish, lack of will power and lack of self worth ("Understanding the Meaning of Colors in Color Psychology," n.d). Though, it still has a positive meaning which include unconditional and romantic love, compassion and understanding, nurturing, romance, warmth, hope, calming, sweetness, naive, feminine and intuitive energy ("Understanding the Meaning of Colors in Color Psychology," n.d). It is interesting how girls are also usually described as mention above, that is why it is heavily associate with girls. However, nowadays people try to break gender discrimination and we have seen a lot of men interested in pink and wearing pink clothes.

Blue

Blue is also a color that is associate with gender. However, it is not heavily associate compare to pink. Blue is an interesting color; it always sparks a debate whether blue is a warm or cool color. Well, the answer is, it depends on the type of blue, one way that warm blues are those that contain a bit of red, and cool blues are those that contain a bit of green ("Marder," 2016). Since, whenever we saw blue, we will think of the sky or the sea, this makes blue a caring, peaceful and calm color. It is proved in Japan, with installation of blue lights at Japanese train stations, has been shown to reduce the rate of people jumping in front of trains to commit suicide ("Wolfson," 2014). However, depressed and sad, emotionally unstable, predictable and weak also come from the color blue ("Understanding the Meaning of Colors in Color Psychology," n.d). We can see from one of the character in a movie about emotion created by Disney called Inside out, where one of the character named sadness is a blue character. Also, proved by the word such as "feeling blue" and "Monday blues," meaning sad and unwell or unhappy.

Black

The color black creates a heated argument around the globe due to its a association to race. We can see from soap or skincare advertisements where being black is not preferred due to it seen as a dirty or unflattering color. Moreover, it also a color that is widely known as depressing, secretive, sadness and negativity, ("Understanding the Meaning of Colors in Color Psychology," n.d) being a color that is usually use in funerals. Some also argue that black is not a color, that it is a shade. Until this very day it is still complicated and has not confirm whether black is a color or not. However, black is a really popular and appreciated color among fashion world due to it is an easy and safe color to match with any other colored clothes and, it has a slimming effect since it can hide any folds and curves of the body. Furthermore, in contra of it being frequently use in funerals, it also commonly uses in black tie events by reason of it is perceive as elegance, sophisticate and confidence because it creates an air of mystery and intrigue ("Understanding the Meaning of Colors in Color Psychology," n.d).

Green

Similar to blue, green also commonly associated with environment, trees and leaves. So, it lead to positive traits which are harmony, balance, growth, nurturing, compassionate, nature lover and family oriented, practical and down to earth ("Understanding the Meaning of Colors in Color Psychology," n.d).While the negative traits are possessive and materialistic, indifferent and over-cautious, envious, selfish, greedy and miserly, devious with money, inconsiderate ("Understanding the Meaning of Colors in Color Psychology," n.d) it usually perceive as mentioned above by people in western country due to their associate it with money since their money is in the color green. Nonetheless, it is different in Muslim countries, the color green is a symbol of prosperity and good life. It is mentioned in the noble Qur`an as the color of garments and cushions of the people of Jannah [paradise] ("Is there any relation between the green color and Prophet Muhammad?," 2014). In addition, we can see the color green in most Islamic artifacts and flags, for example the dome of the Prophet's mosque, Saudi Arabia flag and Malaysia Islamic party flag.

Purple

Purple is considered as a luxury color due to rare occurring color in nature and made it one of the most expensive color dyes to create. Lavender, orchid, lilac, and violet are purple flowers, considered as delicate and precious (Bourn, 2011). Due to its association with a soft scented flowers and the fragrance that is commonly use in relaxing place such as spa. Purple is perceive as balancing, soothing, gently clarifying, normalizing, romantic, sensual, calming and uplifts color (Smith, 2015). Purple also represents beauty and femininity, it is considered to be the “grown-up” pink (Bourn, 2011). Not only purple is associated with flowers but also gemstones called amethyst, where it is believe to offers a sense of spirituality (Smith, 2015), remove spiritual obstacles, calm confrontations, and re-energize (Bourn, 2011). However, purple also show irritability, impatience, and arrogance (Bourn, 2011).