MetaChat - Does this mean MeFites are Calm and Truthful?

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04 April 2006

Does this mean MeFites are Calm and Truthful? A British police station is decorating with colour psychology in mind: "Designers have painted the frames yellow, which researchers say is a calming colour" and "cells contain a royal blue line because psychologists believe that the colour is likely to encourage truthfulness" →[More:]

"Blue is said to suggest trust, efficiency, serenity, duty, logic, coolness, reflection and calm," but also "coldness, aloofness and unfriendliness". Hm.

"Yellow is linked with optimism, confidence, self-esteem and friendliness. Get the shade wrong and it could provoke irrationality, fear, depression and anxiety, but the right yellow can lift spirits and self-esteem". So what do you think? Are we MeFites and Mechazens logical, serene and confident? Or unfriendly, irrational and anxious? It's all in the blues and yellows, apparently. (via we make money not art)

post by: taz at: 05:05 | 11 comments

This explains why everyone spills their guts here at the slightest provocation! PsyOps!

posted by Miko 04 April | 07:23

Dude, yellow? Never paint a room yellow or you'll always have fights in it.
Green is a calming healing color. That's why hospitals often have that weird greenish-white going on.

posted by dabitch 04 April | 07:56

I agree with dabitch. All the studies I've seen say yellow icites anger in people. I believe they particularly avoid it in prisons and mental institutions.

posted by shane 04 April | 08:44

Am I the only one who puts up art with lots of red on his cubicle walls to energize myself?

I once lived in a room with red carpet and sort of pink walls (it was like that when I moved in.) I never got so much done in my life. I slept 5 hrs max per night, worked full-time, went to school full-time and got nearly straight-As.

posted by shane 04 April | 10:15

Get the shade [of yellow] wrong and it could provoke irrationality, fear, depression and anxiety, but the right yellow can lift spirits and self-esteem.

Hmm. I wonder what the right shade is? Prints of some of Van Gogh's heavily yellow paintings don't seem to bother me.

posted by shane 04 April | 10:22

I never got deep into color psychology. I believe that certain colors provoke aggression (and the perception of aggression!) but not that colors can induce truthfulness. I'd want to read the papers and see what their methodology was. It seems like any number of other environmental cues could and should override the color of the paint.

posted by Eideteker 04 April | 10:37

Yeah, I live in a yellow room. I'm irrationaly scared, depressed, and anxious. I should paint it sky blue, calm myself as well as the ghosts. Also my bed linens would match better.

posted by Hugh Janus 04 April | 10:54

Be careful with blue, Hugh. Too much is depressing, although certain shades are both calming and innervating.

I moved from the red room to a blue room (light blue walls, dark blue carpet) and my mood (and life) went straight to hell.

Ask, what the hell is with Western Union? They're marketing is obsessed with a certain yellow (PMS 109C in Lexan; they're very exacting and specific.)

posted by shane 04 April | 11:23

Yeah, I was thinking a blue like the background here. Maybe with a gradient up to the ceiling, too.

I don't have a carpet, but I'll probably end up getting some kind of (maroonish) rug for the floor.

Sky blue and claret! Go... Villa?

posted by Hugh Janus 04 April | 11:40

Shane, they 0wnerz that yellow. No kidding. Like UPS Owns brown, and Ikea used to have the rights to a specific red. It ain't no Yves-Klein blue. Why they stick with it? I have no idea. It's fugly.
≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by dabitch 07 April | 14:19

Shane I have a red bedroom now. Primary, fresh blood red, with some red lights (and some white lights too that I rarely turn on). White ceiling greyish carpet. Dark blue "light out" blinds that kill even the strongest daylight. It's like climbing into a womb and I can sleep forever in there. This is it.
≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by dabitch 07 April | 14:24

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