How Colors Affect Emotions???

When choosing colors for your designs, it would be wise to refer not only to what variations look best or are complementary on the color wheel but also be aware of the affect that colors will have on the emotions of your project’s primary audience. Great artists throughout time have utilized colors to convey symbolic meanings as well as develop hierarchies in works of art. Many studies have been done including Lüscher’s Color Diagnostic which have revealed some interesting connections between color and emotion. Here is a simple rundown of the basic emotions evoked by each color.

White:

light, goodness, cleanliness, innocence and purity

Black:

power, elegance, formality, death, mystery and evil

Red:

danger, war, energy, strength, power, determination as well as desire, love and passion

Orange:

heat, sunshine, the tropics, enthusiasm, fascination, creativity, determination, attraction and success

Yellow:

joy, happiness, energy and intellect

Green:

nurturing, safety, growth, freshness and harmony

Blue:

trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, faith, truth and intelligence

Purple:

power, nobility, luxury, ambition and wisdom

Art and Emotion

Many artists express their emotions through their art-making, and the finished art will reflect that emotion. Other artists may make an image with the hope of creating an emotional response in the viewer. In looking at the details of several famous paintings below, which emotions do you feel? Decide for yourself first, and then scroll down to the bottom to see if you read these paintings the same way Artsology does.

So, what did you think? Here's how Artsology reads these emotions, although this is the beauty of art - there is no "right" answer, you may respond in a completely different way.

Matisse: joy

Lichtenstein #1: fear

Picasso: sadness

Chagall #1: love

Lichtenstein #2: anger, creating fear

Bacon: anger, or pain

Chagall #2: happiness

Wood: serious, grim

The Emotion of Shapes

Take a look at these two shapes. Which appears more "joyful"? Which appears fearful?

How about these shapes? Which is angrier? Which appears to be suffering more?

If you're like most people, the shapes that appear to be less stable (number 2 in the figures above) are also more fearful. Those that are rotated more from the vertical position (again, number 2 in the figures) are more suffering and less angry.

Assigning emotions to shapes is nothing new. In experiments as early as the 1940s, individuals have been found to consistently apply the same emotions to shapes in schematic cartoons: "angry" triangles and "loving" circles. But only one study had attempted to see if people consistently assigned emotions to static shapes based on the appearance of dynamic forces.

In that study, participants viewing two slashes ( / / ) tended to see the slash leaning towards the other as "bossy," while the one leaning away was "submissive." In 2005, Irena Pavlova, Arseny Sokolov, and Alexander Sokolov made the first study of emotions and dynamics in single shapes: they showed participants triangles, ovals, and lines in a variety of orientations, and asked them to rate the figures for the emotions they conveyed.

The triangle balanced on its point (Number 1 in the above figure) or lying on its side was viewed as the most stable, and similarly, the oval balanced on either its end or its side was seen as stable as well. Instability correlated significantly in these figures with perceived suffering and fear.

For the triangle, the oval, and the line, there was a significant negative correlation between joy and the degree of rotation from vertical: the more vertical, the more joyous the figure appeared. This correlation held for anger as well, but only in the case of the oval and the line.

Pavlova and her colleagues argue that the implied imbalance in the pictures of static objects is what leads individuals to attribute emotion to them. They note as well that neural imaging of patients with Asperger Syndrome shows that the parieto-frontal circuits in these individuals are activated differently compared to normal individuals. Since one symptom of Asperger Syndrome is an inability to detect emotional states of others, the team suggests that there is a direct link between perception of the physical orientation of an object and perception of emotional states.

This finding has implications for the field of art as well. If certain shapes are indeed associated with emotions, then this may partially explain the appeal of abstract art. Rather than being a seemingly random collection of shapes, abstract art may evoke common emotions in many viewers.

Pavlova, M., Sokolov, A.A., & Sokolov, A. (2005). Perceived dynamics of static images enables emotional attribution. Perception, 34, 1107-1116.

Source: http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2006/03/the_emotion_of_shapes.php

Caption About Emotion

I had found some quotes or captions about the emotion.

1. Sadness is almost never anything but a form of fatigue. - Andre Gide

2. If you want to be happy, be. - Leo Tolstoy

3. "Being frightened is an experience you can't buy." - Anthony Price

4. Stress is poison. - Agavé Powers

5. You can be happy where you are. - Joel Osteen

My chosen caption is “Stress is poison. “ This caption is about the emotion of stress and tension. I choose this caption because it is short, catchy and easier for people to remember.

Emotion

What is emotion?

The word emotion includes a wide range of observable behaviors, expressed feelings, and changes in the body state. This diversity in intended meanings of the word emotion make it hard to study. For many of us emotions are very personal states, difficult to define or to identify except in the most obvious instances. Moreover, many aspects of emotion seem unconscious to us. Even simple emotional states appear to be much more complicated than states as hunger and thirst.

"The word emotion includes a broad repertoire of perceptions, expressions of feelings and bodily changes."
To clarify the concept of emotions, three definitions of various aspects of emotions can be distinguished:


1. Emotion is a feeling that is private and subjective. Humans can report an extraordinary range of states, which they can feel or experience. Some reports are accompanied by obvious signs of enjoyment or distress, but often these reports have no overt indicators. In many cases, the emotions we note in ourselves seem to be blends of different states.


2. Emotion is a state of psychological arousal an expression or display of distinctive somatic and autonomic responses. This emphasis suggests, that emotional states can be defined by particular constellations of bodily responses. Specifically, these responses involve autonomously innervated visceral organs, like the heart or stomach. This second aspect of emotion allows us to examine emotions in both animals and human beings.


3. Emotions are actions commonly "deemed", such as defending or attacking in response to a threat. This aspect of emotion is especially relevant to Darwin's point of view of the functional roles of emotion. He said that emotions had an important survival role because they generated actions to dangerous situations.

Source: http://library.thinkquest.org/26618/en-1.4.1=What%20are%20emotions.htm

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List of emotions

Fear : Aversion.

Anger : Displeasure , hostility. An emotional state that may range in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage.

Guilt : Culpability especially for imagined offenses or from a sense of inadequacy.

Depression : Pessimistic sense of inadequacy , lack of activity.

Pride : Exaggerated positive evaluation of oneself based on a devaluation of others.

Jealousy : Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that occur when a person believes a valued relationship is being threatened by a rival.

Self-pity : A self-indulgent dwelling on one's own sorrows or misfortunes. An estate of mind of an individual in perceived adverse situations who has not accepted the situation. And does not have the ability to cope with it .

Anxiety : An abnormal and overwhelming sense of apprehension often marked by physiological signs . Sweating, tension, and increased pulse.

Resentment : A feeling of indignant displeasure or persistent ill will at something regarded as a wrong, insult, or injury

Envy : Painful or resentful emotion. Awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage.

Frustration : A deep dissatisfaction arising from unresolved problems or unfulfilled needs.

Shame : A condition of humiliating disgrace or disrepute. Shamery is also a central feature of punishment, shunning, or ostracism. In addition, shame is often seen in victims of child neglect, child abuse. And a host of other crimes against children.

Love : A strong affection for another.

Appreciation : admiration, approval, gratitude.

Happiness : Well-being , contentment.

Hope : To cherish a desire with anticipation. To wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment.

Enthusiasm : A strong excitement of feeling. Great excitement for or interest in a subject or cause.

Vitality : Physical or mental vigor especially when highly developed. The capacity to live, grow, or develop.

Confidence : Faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way . A state of being certain.

Gratitude : The state of being grateful; thankfulness.

Grief : Intense sorrow especially caused by someone’s death.

Negative : Being pessimistic, expressing disagreement or refusal.

Patient : Having or showing patience.

Regret : sorrow, repentance , disappointment.

Resentful : Feeling of bitterness or indignation.

Sad : Unhappy. Feeling sorrow .

Trust : Firm belief in reliability, truth, ability or strength of someone or something.

Vulnerable : Feeling exposed to being attacked or harmed.

Worried : Anxious over actual or potential difficulties.

Optimistic : Expecting the best in this best of all possible worlds.

Denial : An unconscious defense mechanism characterized by refusal to acknowledge painful
realities, thoughts, or feelings.

Offended : To result in displeasure.

Appreciative : Feeling or expressing appreciation.

Apprehensive : Anxious or fearful about the future. Uneasy.

Ashamed : Feeling inferior, inadequate, or embarrassed.

Astonished : To fill with sudden wonder or amazement.

Source: http://www.the-emotions.com/list-of-emotions.html

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Interpretation

Human have lots of different emotions. ( as we could see from the example above.) Each emotion carry different feeling and expression but from the examples above, I found out that those emotions can be group into few categories.

The most common 1 is the emotion of joy. These kind of emotion are very common as people will think of it when we talk about emotion. Such as happy, optimistic, hope, sastify and excitement. All these can be categorize as in the same group. This kind of emotion is the emotion that everyone was hoping for.

Another common 1 which is also the opposite of joy - sadness. These emotion are very familiar to each and everyone of us. It include disappointment, suffer, sad, regret and lonely. Nobody want to have this kind of emotion, people try to stay away from it and ask for joy. But sadness could also act as a motivation for a person.

Next is anger. Sadness and anger is somehow related. Anger might come next after sadness or it can happen another way round. This include envy, jealous, hate, frustration, annoying and fury.

Another group which is fear. Emotion in this group are worry, nervous, tension, shy and panic. This is an emotion to respond towards a threat. These kind of emotion are mostly use to protect the people himself/herself.

This is my interpretation about emotion. We can group those emotions into some groups, and from the group it can be expand. Furthermore, it can also expand into more detail which results there are so many kinds of emotion.

Emotions is things that we could see and feel everyday, it is something that have the power to control our thinking and action.