Colour and Mood Study Brings Science to Aesthetics

There's a big study that's getting a lot of publicity today on colour and mood. It doesn't need any boost from me, but I wanted to note it because of the way it brings scientific perspective to what some might regard as just an aesthetic matter. According to the Daily Mail,

To work out how our moods colour our thoughts, the British researchers created a 'colour wheel' based on the charts used when choosing shades of paint.

They then asked hundreds of men and women, some of whom were depressed, which of the colours they were most drawn to, which was their favourite, and which best represented their mood.

The chart included black and white plus various shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown and pink.

Healthy volunteers in a 'normal' mood, usually chose yellow to reflect how they felt but people classed as anxious or depressed were drawn to grey, the journal BMC Medical Research Methodology reports.

Also,

Both the depressed and the non-depressed said they were most drawn to yellow.

As for blue, far from associated with sadness, it was voted the favourite colour, regardless of a person’s mood, said Professor Whorwell who worked with researchers from the University of Manchester.

The team believe the chart, which they have called the Manchester Colour Wheel, could be used to help diagnose depression.

This study also makes me think of Pantone's annual "Colour of the Year" designations. In December, the colour co. announced that the hue of 2010 was turquoise, which "Transports Us to an Exciting, Tropical Paradise While Offering a Sense of Protection and Healing in Stressful Times". The way Pantone delves into this stuff--into articulating what colours can mean--is both hilarious and fascinating, I find.

Colour wheel from Tiger Color

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