The most relaxing colors, and the strange science behind them (7 Photos)

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Via WikiMedia Commons

Before we get into this, this comes from a survey from the University of Sussex, specifically The World’s Favourite Colour Project, which surveyed 26,586 people from 100 different countries. So, pretty wide net.

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But more importantly, a professor looked at their findings to explain what they mean. Believe it or not, there’s actually a ton of studies out there about how people react to specific colors, and to those people, the results of the survey probably aren’t surprising:

1. Navy blue
2. Teal/Turquoise
3. Pastel Pink

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So, why? Why those colors? Professor Anna Franklin, an expert in color psychology, wrote on her blog about the study, and her insight is pretty fascinating:

“Many studies have investigated the link between color and emotion. Although not all of these studies agree, some consistent results can be extracted from the literature. First, the more saturated the color is, the more it is associated with excitement and stimulation. Second, the lighter the color, the more it is associated with calmness and relaxation. Many studies have found that blue and green are also associated with calmness and relaxation (fewer studies find no association).”

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Let’s break this down a bit more. That last line relates to something called “ecological valance theory,” which claims that the reason why humans like shades of green and blue are because we associate them with good parts of the environment, like a clear sky, clean water, and all sorts of plants.

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On the flipside, that’s why humans tend to dislike brown. We associate it with dirt and… Well, to be blunt, shit. We associate it with shit.

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The study itself though points out that these associations are not necessarily universal:

“Several studies suggest that color associations, particularly abstract concepts, can vary across cultures. For example, whereas white is associated with peace in some cultures, in others it is associated with death.”

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There’s a part of me that wants to disagree with all of this just to spite the study, but I’ve got to be honest: My favorite color is blue (and now that I think about it, my brother’s favorite color is green). So, I guess the ecological valance theory applies to my brother and me.