b'words: Anya Kusslerkitchens are red, of ces are blueDont paint your walls greenit makes you want to relax and chill out.Thesewerethewordsofmysister-in-law,whosjustsubjective, it must also be unpredictable. Why, for example, completed her thesis on colour psychology, when I tolddid people respond differently to the same shade? her I was planning to redecorate my home of ce. AndIt was leading UK colour psychologist Angela Wright who, that explained a few things, I thought, gazing at myby studying colour harmonies and the often unconscious green desk, green drawers, green magazine holders andthought processes related to them, developed a means of green views into the bush.predicting our responses to colour with remarkable accuracy. Maybe it was a good idea to opt for blue. After all, TheresaIts called the Colour Affects System and works on two explained to me that this was the colour of intellect andlevels: The psychological properties of each of the 11 basic mental focus. Would I use a strong royal, a pale baby orcolours; and the roles that variations in tones, hues and tints a greenish blue to create the desired effect, though? As Ican play in achieving a desired psychological effect. started doing my homework on the psychology of colour,A key factor in this, Angela recognised, is that it is not I discovered that not all hues are created equal one colour that triggers our responses, but a combination Sciencehaslongrecognisedthatcolouraffectsourofthemillionsofcolours,hues,tonesandtintsthe behaviour and the way we feel. After all, its therst thinghuman eye can distinguish. For example, a grey sky over we register and that we use to help assess the thingsa summer corn eld will evoke quite a different emotion around us, such as whether certain foodsie blue onesthan will a grey winters sky downtown. Therefore, theremight be poisonous, for example.are no wrong colours per se, but different colour schemes To understand these responses, we need to look at how colourdo prompt different responses. works. Essentially, when the light re ected from colouredToapplycolourpsychologysuccessfully,Angelaalso objectsstrikestheretinasinoureyes,thewavelengthsrecognised the need to match the individuals personality are converted into electrical impulses. These pass into thewith the appropriate tonal colour family. There are four of part of the brain that rules our hormones and endocrinethese, each re ecting natures patterns, and every shade system, which are instrumental in regulating our moods.can be categorised into one of them. Unconsciously, then, our eyes and bodies constantly adaptOnce we have made this connection, she says, we can to these stimuli, in uencing our impulses and perceptions.create colour combinations that will help turn our homes While the scienti c study of colour is as old as time, the studyinto spaces that re ect and support the personalities of of colours effects on our psyche is only about a centurythose living there. Even if very different characters liveResene Edwardyoung. Even until only about two decades ago, the commontogether in one house, the right colour palette can ease Resene perceptionwasthat,becauseourresponsetocolouristensions and help create harmony. Regent Grey88 |'