235 - Friday Fix: Surprising Ways Colors Affect How You Feel and Behave

The Verywell Mind Podcast

Dotdash Media Inc.

Health & Fitness, Self-improvement, Mental Health, Education

5 • 703 Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A town in Scotland made its street lights blue, and the crime rate decreased. Casinos keep people gambling at their tables longer by making the tabletops red. Those are just a couple of fascinating examples of how color affects behavior. The colors around you can have a bigger impact on you than you might think. Colors evoke emotions. And they can affect your choices and your performance. Companies know this, so they use color to their advantage. Everything from logos to website colors is created to cause you to feel a certain way. The color of the walls in a store or a restaurant is often based on what the owner wants you to feel. Do they want you to slow down and relax so you’ll stick around and spend more money? Or do they want to energize you so you’ll make impulse purchases? Learning a bit about color psychology might help you better understand how companies try to use your emotions to their advantage. You can also use your knowledge of color psychology to create an environment that will help you be your best when you’re working, when you’re eating, or when you’re relaxing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Very Well Mind podcast. We've interviewed over 100 authors, experts, entrepreneurs, athletes, musicians, and others to help you learn strategies to care for your mental health.
0:22.9	This episode is hosted by psychotherapist and bestselling author Amy Morin. Now let's get into the episode.
0:48.8	Okay. You're listening to the Friday fix. Every Friday, I share a quick mental strength strategy that can help fix the thoughts, feelings, and actions that can hold you back in life.
0:53.1	Today I'm talking about color
0:54.4	psychology, and you might wonder what on earth this has to do with mental strength.
0:59.4	Well, I've done episodes before on how outside forces affect your inner strength. Everything from
1:05.4	how much clutter is in the room to the people who surround you affect the way that you think,
1:11.9	feel, and behave. And the colors that surround you affect the way that you think, feel, and behave.
1:18.1	And the colors that surround you have a big impact on you too. Companies know this and their marketing experts use it to their advantage. There are so many products and services vying for
1:23.9	your attention and of course your money. And research shows you're likely to make a
1:28.6	decision about whether to buy something in about 90 seconds. So companies use color to evoke
1:34.8	certain emotions so that they can increase the chances that you'll buy from them. Fast food
1:40.5	restaurants carefully pick out their color schemes to match the behaviors that they want you to exhibit.
1:45.7	Take McDonald's, for example. They use what's known as the ketchup and mustard colors for a reason.
1:51.8	Red can make you eat more, and yellow can make you eat fast. They want you to feel excited and energized, so you'll eat a lot of food in a short amount of time, and then you'll
2:01.5	leave to make room for more customers. Compare that to organic food stores. They're more likely to
2:08.2	use earth tones on their walls to remind you that their products are natural, and that might
2:12.5	make you buy more food because you believe it's healthy. Color doesn't just affect what you buy or how much you spend.
2:19.3	Understanding how color impacts behavior might help you use color to your advantage at home too.
2:25.3	Let's say you want to eat less. Well, try eating on a blue plate. While the research isn't always consistent,
2:31.3	there are some studies that have found people consume less
2:34.7	when they eat on a blue plate. The theory is there aren't a lot of foods that are naturally blue,
	...

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