The way in which we talk about the psychology of color also fall into the category of human invention, if not fake news. And unfortunately, there is very little research about how the brain actually responds to color. Most color psychology, quote unquote, “facts” are not based in science. And to understand our responses to color, it's crucial
to look at three different ways color affects our psychology. The first is our biological response. And we do know a bit about how we respond biologically, for example, to red objects. They inspire fear and sexual desire in scientific studies that have been done. We also know some things about how we respond biologically to blue light. It can help us with everything from seasonal affective disorder
to issues with our internal clocks to problems with concentration. The second is our cultural response. For example, in the West, blue is by far and away the favorite color and yellow, the least favorite color. But if you move to the East, yellow climbed to the top of the charts. And these differences have to do with different cultural associations with various colors. And the third is our personal association with color.
So if you happen to have gone to prison and were put in a pink cell, you probably have a pretty negative association with pink. But if you had one of your best nights of your life in this beautiful pink restaurant, you probably have a very positive association. So don't be fooled by claims like peach increases the appetite or green calms you or yellow uplifts you.
These might be true for some people whose personal, cultural and biological responses line up to support these claims, but test a different group of people across the globe or even in the same family, and you might find completely different results. It's not to say that color doesn't affect people. It of course, affects people. And often it's the same color can affect people all at once.
For example, if you put a group of people in a fluorescent yellow room with yellow floor walls and ceilings, I'm sure that group of people is going to feel something. But whether everyone in the room feels the same thing for the same reasons is at this point very hard to prove.