In any given society, particular colors affect almost everyone in the same way. “Colors have a uniform effect within a Western European tradition, which includes Japan,” says Margaret Walch, director of the Color Association of the United States, which standardizes the 192 colors in current use by industry and government.

In general, dark colors strike us as evil and foreboding, while light colors seem not only cheerful but physically light as well. Bonnie Bender, color marketing manager at Pittsburgh Paints and an authority on color and psychology, reports that in an experiment testing the psychological effects of paint on worker productivity, researchers painted heavy boxes white and light boxes black. Workmen had considerable more trouble lifting the light black boxes than the heavy white ones.

Marcella Graham, a medical technologist, color consultant and interior designer, described an equally dramatic example of the use of color to lift depression and stimulate activity. Called in for a consultation on staff and patient apathy in a hospital, she found the whole place painted light and medium chocolate brown and two shades of grey green. Graham advised painting the hospital floor by floor, using pumpkin orange, strawberry pink, emerald green and lavender. (Simply putting in pink curtains or orange bedspreads produced its effect.) Patient response to the brilliant colors was immediate and positive. Elderly men shaved and dressed to get out of bed each day. Female patients began circulating and visiting in the halls and requested powder, combs, lipstick and stockings. Even staff morale picked up.

If colors exert such a powerful force on mental and physical health, it behooves us to know more about them.”

Next time, we will break down each color. I’ll start with this article and add research from other sources.