The Duality of “RED”

Psychology of Colors.

The psychology of colors is the study of how different colors affect human emotions, behavior, and perception. This area of study explores the way that colors can be used in various settings, such as marketing, art, and interior design, to create specific moods, convey messages, and influence people's actions. We associate different colors with different emotions subconsciously and constantly. Generally, warmer colors like red, yellow, and orange and their shades are meant to provoke feelings of optimism, happiness, energy, and passion while colors like green, blue, and purple depict gloominess, calmness, professionalism, mystery, and so on. However, in the psychology of colors, the color red is considered interesting because of its nature of depicting two completely opposite feelings (in different contexts). This duality is exactly what will be talked about in this article.

The color red is known for its duality in the psychology of colors. While it is often associated with love and passion, it can also be used to represent anger and danger. Similarly, red can be both: catchy and repulsive in different contexts, making it a powerful marketing tool for attracting attention. These contradictory associations are also evident in the biological responses to the color red, with some animals perceiving it as a threat while others are attracted to it. Overall, the duality of red makes it a fascinating and complex color to study in the field of color psychology.

1. Red as ‘love’ and ‘hate’.

Shades of red and pink are often used to resemble Cupid while portraying a picture of Cupid or anything related to love as such. Similarly, red is also often used to portray the devil/ hate using its darker shades. This shows us how red is used to show both feelings of love and lust and also hatred depending upon the contexts that they’re used in. A symbolism of red as a way to convey hatred is seen in many video games and movies where the evil characters or the evil side are often shown in red.

2. Red as something ‘catchy’ and ‘repulsive’.

If you have ever noticed outside stores or while shopping online, most of the time the offers/sales areas are shown in red. This is because red is a color that catches attention very quickly (just like the color yellow). Many apps, sites, companies, and brands like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, KFC, YouTube, Reddit, Pringles, etc. contain red as the primary color in their logos. Similarly, other companies have red in some small proportions as either the text or the mascot of their brand. This is a marketing strategy that relies on the psychology of the color red and is used widely by almost every other brand in existence. This shows the ability of the color red to be attractive. But on the other hand, the repulsive nature of red can be clearly seen in warning signs, danger signs, etc. Red shows us signs of distrust as well. It’s also taken in a negative way as it is used to show a financial loss in trading or the economy.

3. Biological Duality of Red

• As humans, we have a well-developed vision as compared to other animals like deer, cows, bulls, etc. To us, red is a warm, noticeable color; but to such animals, it always seems like a threat as they’re unable to figure out what the red-colored object really is. Bulls show a lack of cone cells (similar to colorblind people) that makes them unable to differentiate red from other colors. In fact, they are basically unable to see red! This causes them to tend to be aggressive toward red-colored objects.

• Red is a color that shows dominance and valor as well as a form of bleeding and injury. According to studies, when a person wears red clothes, their confidence tends to slightly increase; showing just how the psychology of colors comes into play (subliminally) a lot. Red also shows a high resemblance to bloodshed and weakness which is the opposite of the dominant nature of the color. There is also a theory in boxing about why top players used to opt. for the red side during a match. According to the theory, the player with the red side should be considered as advantageous because of their subconscious state of confidence. The same goes for the team wearing a bright red colored jersey in games like football and cricket.

• When a person gets angry, the redness of their face is visible because of the rise in blood pressure in the state of anger. Where else do you get to see a similar red face? When a person blushes, we see the same redness on their face. This goes to show how red can capture both anger and happiness at the same time. We are biologically manufactured to bend towards both these emotions considering the conditions or the situation.

• Animals like the ladybug or a red dart frog look very beautiful. However, they both are poisonous and can’t be consumed by any other animal. Although the red-colored animals look mostly beautiful they are mostly harmful to other animals that wish to prey upon them. This shows how nature has made these animals in a way that they can spread beauty and danger altogether.

Science and Psychology.

There can be several explanations for the dual nature of the color red, these are the most reasonable and acceptable reasons/explanations for the behavior of this color. Red light has a larger wavelength than most other colors of light, hence it is more noticeable/perceivable to the human eye. This is an explanation of why it is so noticeable. Another reason why the color red gets more noticed than others finds its roots in evolution; as it is the color of blood and fire, animals (including humans) tend to avoid it in the back of their heads. Some cultures use red as a symbol for evil deeds making it seem like an intimidating color. The reaction of your brain to the color red depends on its past experiences with the color (like your reaction to a red light in traffic signals is because of you being taught that red means stop and green means go).

Red is truly one of the most interesting colors amongst all other colors with regard to psychology. Its suitable yet opposing characters make it so that it can be used to convey different messages in different settings. It is an important asset while marketing and an even more important one biologically. It is the symbol of love and hate, dominance and weakness, attraction and warning, life and death.