GREEN COLORS YOUR THINKING
Artists are moved by the color green, more than any other, according to a new study published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. It stimulates their creativity. It’s true for all of us. We think more creatively when we see green.
Photo: SplashH2O
All it takes is a two second stare, and your creative thinking power is significantly boosted. Stephanie Lichtenfeld, Markus A. Maier, and Reinhard Pekrun, researchers at the University of Munich, along with Andrew J. Elliot of the University of Rochester, recently studied the psychological effects of the color green. This is the first study investigating how green might influence creativity. The researchers exposed their subjects to brief flashes of a variety of chromatic and achromatic colors, after assigning creative tasks, then measured their subjects’ creative performance. They looked at both visual and verbal creative expressions.
Sixty-nine people were given challenges, such as brainstorming uses for a tin can. Half were exposed to a white rectangle, the other half were shown a green one. The green group produced both more and better ideas. This test was posed across a range of creative queries. Both creative quality and quantity were measured.
Why is it that green juices our brain’s creative abilities? Perhaps, as Lichtenfeld postulates, it is because green signals growth. Our minds have to expand to conjure new ideas. The specific hue used in the study is a common green found in nature."Green may serve as a cue that evokes the motivation to strive for improvement and task mastery, which in turn may facilitate growth," Dr. Lichtenfeld suggested in an interview with NBC News.
The idea that our abilities to solve problems, create art, and invent might be somehow tied to the growth of plantlife is a bit wild. But, why not? Colors play a role in signaling many behaviors. Lichtenfeld and her team have also found that the color red stimulates negativity. Think: danger, emergency, failure, war, anger. And it is interesting to note that these two colors oppose each other on the color wheel.
The effects, as observed in the study were subtle, but clear. Green means “go” for a reason. "Even very subtle stimuli, such as color, can influence our motivation, cognition, and behavior," says Lichtenfeld.
If you look at green for a longer time, will it make you a creative genius? Who knows? But, instead of looking at the world through rose colored glasses, maybe we can change the world if we look through green ones?
