Colors have meaning. Humans and animals alike use colors to communicate different things. Red means stop, green means go. Plenty of reptiles and amphibians are brightly colored to signal to predators that they are dangerous (ahem…I’m venomous/poisonous so don’t eat me).
As humans have learned to associate colors with specific meanings or even emotions, can we use color to influence our behaviors or moods?
The answer is an emphatic yes!
Psychologists have studied color for many years, but research on color theory has been somewhat inconsistent and hard to replicate.
That being said, if you’re wondering which color can help you study, research points towards blue. This calming hue is known to stimulate the mind, aid concentration, and reduce stress, making it an ideal color choice for your study environment.
Keep reading to learn more about how colors can influence our behaviors and actions.
The psychology of colors
How do humans interpret colors? British chemist and science writer Hazel Rossotti says this:
“…colour is a sensation, produced in the brain, by the light which enters the eye; and that while a sensation of a particular colour is usually triggered off by our eye receiving light of a particular composition, many other physiological and psychological factors enter in.”
Basically, color is a lot more complicated than we think.
Science can’t draw a simple line that says ‘Red = stress’ or ‘Blue = calm’. There are many outside factors, from physical surroundings to one’s life experience, to consider. What we do know is that colors can elicit an emotional response, and those emotions can affect our physiological and psychological state.
What has science found?
Color isn’t a single thing; it comes in varying hues, saturations, and brightness levels. A 2018 study that considered these three variants found that brighter, more saturated colors had a stronger emotional effect on participants.
The Journal of Physiological Anthropology published a study that examined participants’ EEG measurements while they viewed red, green, and blue paper. The researchers found differences among the color conditions, including greater alpha, theta, and total-band power for red than blue in certain brain regions.
The study concluded that, “Red paper’s effect to activate the central cortical region with regard to perception and attention was considerably more distinguishable than was the biological activating effect of bluish light in our study.”
The Journal of Physical Therapy Science published a study from Korea that examined how different color temperatures affected children while they worked on puzzles. The researchers measured brainwave activity, task-completion time, and self-reported emotional reactions while the children worked under different colored lamps. They found that changes in color temperature affected participants’ reported emotional responses more clearly than their brainwave activity.
One important thing to remember about color is that our associations with specific colors are heavily influenced by society and culture. For example, in the United States, black is often associated with death, and people traditionally wear black to funerals. In China, white has traditionally been associated with death and mourning.
What does this mean for better studying?
Most of us can’t study productively when we’re overly angry or upset. While no study has shown that studying in a blue room will help you ace that test, you can experiment with color to adjust your study environment.
A pop of red may help you feel alert and focused, but too much can feel overwhelming or stressful. If you’re feeling amped up or angry, blue may help you create a calmer environment. Feeling sad? Yellow is often associated with happiness and optimism.
Behavioral science is tricky. Some findings cannot be replicated consistently across studies and participants. That doesn’t mean the research is meaningless, but it does mean scientists cannot say with complete certainty that a particular color will produce the same reaction in every person.
Just like listening to music while studying or filling your room with plants, using color theory to adjust your study habits is a personal choice.
If your study sessions are getting harder and harder to start or get through, try experimenting with colors. You don’t have to repaint a room. You can change your computer’s background picture, hang something new within view, or wear a different colored shirt.
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