Synthesis Writing Practice

Question: Does colour affect emotions and behaviour?

Text 1

How does colour affect decision making?

Sally Augustin (2015)

Colour psychology is a very important tool used by artists, interior decorators, and as a marketing
mechanism in many industries. When we visit a museum to appreciate a work of art, we take it in
through the colours we see because they invoke within us certain emotions, making the claim that
everyone sees it differently a reality.Interior decorators survey the effect of colours when deciding
what colour to paint the walls of a certain area in a building. The reason that many offices have a
lot of greys, blues and browns incorporated in their décor is because these colours tend to increase
productivity. Yet, this is not always true in every situation. It is true for a corporate environment,
but if one were to work say, for example, in the fashion industry or the media, the use of brighter
and more “colourful” paints would help encourage creativity.

Many car commercials show black as their model because this certain colour is associated with
affluence and seriousness. This leads the consumer to believe that the product is worth buying.
Even the food and drink industry uses colour to attract more people to certain brands. The purple
and gold packaging of a certain brand of candy bar is a technique to lure the consumer into
believing that this is chocolate royalty.

Colour stimulates our brain, and from the ancient times has proven to be useful
alternative psychotherapy. The Egyptians and Chinese used colours to heal, a process that is
known is chromotherapy. Colours were used in order to help the body function better. However,
there is much doubt today about the effectiveness of colour therapy. Culturally speaking, colours
have different values attached to them. Brides in the western world wear white, whereas widows in
South Asia wear white. Additionally, individually every person has different emotions attached to
different colors, so colours cannot be said to have universal significance.

MUF0011 UNIT 1 ENGLISH

Text 2

Colour Psychology affects Human Behaviour

Regina Bailey (2017)

Colour psychology is the study of how colours affect human behaviour, mood, or physiological
processes. Colours are thought to influence our buying choices, our feelings, and even our
memories. Ideas related to colour psychology are heavily implemented in the areas of marketing
and design. Companies choose colours that they believe will motivate customers to buy their
products and improve brand awareness. Colours have even been used in colour therapy
techniques to treat various diseases.

Colour psychology is a relatively new area of study that faces several challenges. A major difficulty
that arises when investigating this topic is determining how to actually measure the effects of
colour. Colour perception is very subjective, as different people have different ideas about and
responses to colours. Several factors influence colour perception making it difficult to determine if
colour alone impacts our emotions and actions.

Factors that influence colour perception include age, gender, and culture. In some cultures, for
example, white is associated with happiness and purity. In a situation where a woman is wearing a
white wedding dress, is she happy because she is influenced by the colour white or because she is
getting married? To someone from a different culture, wearing white may signify sadness. This is
because, in those cultures, white is associated with grief and death. These and similar factors must
be considered when investigating the influence of colours on human emotions and behaviour.

MUF0011 UNIT 1 ENGLISH