How Colors Affect You: What Science Reveals (Great Courses, No. 7022)

There's more to colors than just aesthetics. There's an actual science behind how colors work on your eyes and your brain. And the secrets that scientists are uncovering offer astounding revelations on how colors influence the way you think, feel, and behave-often without your conscious awareness. It's an exciting time in the scientific study of how colors affect us. Thanks to recent research, we now understand more richly how our brains are affected by color. And knowing how colors affect us informs how we tap into their power to create environments and achieve a breathtaking range of visual goals. It also allows us to dodge popular myths and misconceptions about color that can easily lead businesses and companies to make costly mistakes. Consider, for example, these scientific truths about color: Black uniforms tend to increase aggression and intimidation in conflict situations. Red ties can give you an edge in confrontational negotiations, while blue ties can express a desire to collaborate. Fire trucks increasingly are painted yellow because that's the color most visible to our eyes. Aligning the right colors to products, brands, and ads can make or break a business's success. That's only a small sampling of the increasingly detailed information we have about what colors mean. And what's truly surprising: The way our eyes perceive and our brains interpret reds, greens, blues, blacks, and other colors isn't a subjective experience, but a hard-wired one. It's a profound concept-one whose ramifications extend to everything from business and advertising to politics and entertainment to your personal diet and love life. 6 Lectures 1The Meanings of Color 2The Black and White Lecture 3The Red Lecture 4The Yellow Lecture 5The Green Lecture 6The Blue Lecture