Color psychology impacts our lives more than most folks realize.
Corporations use it when building brands and designing products.
Interior decorators pay close attention to hues, shades, tints, and color stories when curating spaces.
Companies even paint offices certain colors to encourage specific qualities.
But have you ever considered: What is the psychology behind color and personality?
We’re tackling the topic below.
By the end, you’ll better understand personal color theory and what it says about you.
Can our favorite colors serve as windows to our souls? Yes and no.
On the one hand, it’s nowhere near an exact science. Some may even call it a pseudo-science.
However, the more researchers probe the depths of how color impacts personality styles and decision-making, the more interesting “fish” they catch.
So what’s our advice? Understand that color psychology is a fluid and developing area of inquiry.
So don’t bet the farm on color psychology, but don’t completely discount it.
No, it’s not a psycho-behavioral Rosetta Stone, but it can provide clues about people’s personalities — including yours!
Blue Color Meaning for Your Personality
Michigan State University uses the Real Color personality analysis system for several of the university’s specialized programs.
Individuals who fall under the blue category “tend to be enthusiastic, sympathetic, communicative, compassionate, idealistic, sincere and imaginative.”
Some research suggests folks whose favorite color is blue may have advanced artistic aptitudes and are statistically more emotional.
Traditionally, blue is associated with dependability and loyalty, which is why it’s frequently used for law and finance firm logos. It’s also believed to have a calming effect on the psyche.
Red Color Meaning for Your Personality
People who adore red are the dragons of the color personality scale. They’re typically passionate, fiery, and don’t mind commanding a crowd. In excess, red lovers can be hot-tempered to a fault.
But a well-balanced dragon is disciplined and ambitious as opposed to reckless and entitled.
However, don’t jump to conclusions — because red has deep cultural associations that impact attitudes and interpretations.
For example, most Asian cultures revere red as the color of luck and fortune, whereas western sensibilities associate red with aggression, power, conflict, and passion.
Black Color Meaning for Your Personality
Did you know there’s a word for people who love the color black? Melanophile. And people who are drawn to the hue are usually strong-willed, determined, and independent. In some circles, the color is linked to staid sophistication, purpose, and confidence.
On the flip side, people who put black at the head of the pack may also be insecure, suspiciously mysterious, or overconfident.
Additionally, folks who enjoy black clothing and decor are often impressed with power; many become excellent leaders and entrepreneurs. (Think: Steve Job’s ubiquitous black turtleneck)
Pink Color Meaning for Your Personality
Innocence and insouciance convey the essence of the color pink. These days, people who gravitate toward light-red hues are often soft, compassionate souls.
They’re the delicate daydreamers who wouldn’t dream of hurting another person.
In optimal cases, pink-o-philes are the darlings who are in love with love in its purest forms.
People who fall on the dark side of the pink-lover personality may be debilitatingly hypersensitive and punitively judgmental of anything outside their worldview.
Pink, however, is an excellent example of the cultural and contextual fluidity of color psychology because the popular understanding of the shade has done a 180 over the past 80 years.
If we hopped in a time machine and traveled back to 1903, people we interviewed on the street would probably insist pink was a masculine tint that denoted power and strength.
According to an advertisement for Earnshaw’s Infants Department:
“The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.”
By the 1940s, though, the color associations flipped, and since then, pink has become more associated with femininity and daintiness.
Green Color Meaning for Your Personality
According to MSU’s color classification program, if green is your go-to hue, you’re likely an analytical perfectionist who may also be conceptual, calm-headed, logical, and inventive. These are the folks who crave knowledge and are constantly on the hunt for answers to life’s mind-boggling mysteries.
Green lovers may excel at emotional regulation. They’re also solid, supportive friends who’d move heaven and earth to lend a hand.
Orange Color Meaning for Your Personality
People who gravitate to oranges are often fun-loving, spontaneous, quick-witted, and ultimately optimistic. They’re the folks who enthusiastically cheer on and encourage colleagues, friends, and family — and actually mean it.
Bright orange fans are also known for being adventurous, gregarious, inviting, and warm-hearted. When the going gets rough, they can also be reckless, mercurial, and irresponsible.
Even though it’s associated with the sun, gold, springtime, and summer, few people cite yellow as their favorite color. But folks who do are often good-natured self-starters. Friends and family typically see them as vessels of love, beacons of light, and breaths of fresh air.
Other positive attributes of yellow lovers include being easy-going, fun-loving, and delightfully self-deprecating.
People with yellow personalities who are down in the dumps or operating from their shadow selves may be insatiable perfectionists, overly cautious, or cowardly.
Interestingly, yellow has a positive psycho-intellectual impact. Studies show that hues in the family stimulate the brain’s logic center. Moreover, some research suggests yellow has a soothing effect on our thoughts.
Gray Color Meaning for Your Personality
Two ostensibly opposing personality types are drawn to grays: detached oddballs and staid traditionalists.
Like yellow, gray is not a popular favorite hue, and people who gravitate toward it are said to be unemotional, stable, and mature.
Conversely, they can be severe commitment-phobes who struggle to form deep friendships and relationships.
White Color Meaning for Your Personality
White is typically associated with purity and peace doves. Resultantly, people who love the hue are seen as optimistic, kind-hearted, and discreet.
Moreover, folks who choose white above other colors tend to be strict rule-followers with strong convictions.
On the dark side of the moon, folks who opt for white can be close-minded, overly cautious, and judgmental.
Interestingly, white isn’t a favorite color that most people stick with for long periods. Research suggests most cling to the hue during transition phases or when they’re seeking mental clarity.
Brown Color Meaning for Your Personality
Brown is another unpopular favorite color, but those who claim it tend to be fountains of patience. They aren’t easily rattled; many are stalwarts of measured calm in the face of turmoil.
Interestingly, it’s difficult to find much information about the negative traits of brown-adoring people. The only other cited characteristics we found are that sepia-hue fans are frequently warm and sophisticated.
Purple Color Meaning for Your Personality
Purple is a complex color associated with several qualities and emotions. Individuals who love it are typically intriguing, private, imaginative, and intelligent. On the flip side, they can be overly timid or standoffish.
Intriguingly, purple-reverence people are more likely to be complicated and may not be easily understood. However, once folks get to know them, purple lovers are often described as calming, engaging, and emotionally stimulating.
Traditionally, purple is associated with royalty, luxury, and spirituality.
Turquoise/Aqua Color Meaning for Your Personality
Turquoise and aqua are gaining ground in the favorite color race. Increasing numbers of people claim the blue-green hue as their #1 shade.
If aqua is your thing, there’s a good chance you’re courteous, pulled-together, stylish, warm, and perceptive. People may often compliment you on being an easy conversationalist.
In excess, turquoise enthusiasts can be non-conformists to a challenging degree — or even narcissists.
What Are the Rarest and Most Common Favorite Colors?
What is the most popular color in the world?
Common wisdom says it’s blue, with about 42% of males and 30% of women citing hues in the family as their favorites. Interestingly, yellow is the least popular favorite color, with only about 5% of people claiming the golden shades, according to a survey by Dulux Paints.
But remember that color is culturally contextual. Moreover, trends are fleeting, and some colors live the comet life, lighting up the charts for a short time, only to fizzle out, never to be repainted.
Let’s look at a few tints that basked in the color-favorite sun only to burn out quickly.
Marrs Green: 2017’s favorite color is now a distant memory.
Millennial Pink: It was all the rage between 2016 and 2018, but now folks barely remember its name.
Beige Rust / Deep Burgundy: Back in the 1970s, you couldn’t escape it. These days, nobody is checking for it.
Majorelle Blue: It’s the color of Frida Kahlo’s “Blue House,” but it’s fallen out of favor as an interior decorating hue.
Final Thoughts
As we mentioned above, color psychology isn’t a hard science. As Adam K. Fetterman, a leading color researcher, once explained, “[Formalized color psychology studies are] focused on personality-related relationships, which are necessarily correlational in nature.
Nonetheless, it may be useful to offer speculations concerning possible causal directions.”
In other words, while scientists are discovering new patterns regarding humans’ reactions to hues, other factors may impact results.
So don’t bet the farm on color psychology standards; instead, use it as a helpful guide that can provide personality insights.
