The Human eye is capable of seeing the beauty of the universe in at least 7,000,000 colours, recognise it’s loved ones and much more. This sensory marvel makes our lives way more interesting and fascinating. The colours we see contain the power to transport us to different realms of mood and perception with just one exposure to it. Definitely, this quality of colours can be harnessed for therapeutic purposes. Hence, we have working chromo-therapies for mood and personality enhancements or peaceful blends into self. The intertwined relation of colours with our lives, mood, emotion and personality can be elicited from our life experiences as well.
We use colours to express our general moods as well. Different social events in our lives get decorated with different colours. In funerals it’s tried to keep the use of colours to the minimum, wearing dull and dark shades of colours and draping the widow in white. In marriages, the decorations are as colourful as it gets, everyone wearing new, bright, shiny clothes.
Use of colour blends beyond just wearing it. Linguistically and artistically we can clearly see that colours reflect the personality and the current state of the mind of the artist. The use of blacks in Theodore Roethke’s gloomy poems clearly shows that had suffered from manic depression throughout his life. Then on seeing the bright colored paintings made by children in kindergartens, we get to feel the happy life they live. Thus, the typical colours used by an artist clearly mirror the psyche and personality of the creator of that work.
The same works for us, fellow humans as well. We end up choosing, selecting and preferring the colors according to our personality. Hence, the choice of colors of an individual can be looked upon to infer some traits of that individual. Many proto-psychologists have classified personalities on the basis of temperaments, humors or personalities. This quad-classification of major personalities is supported by Galen, Alfred Adler, Ernst Kretschmer, Erich Fromm and many others. All of them have explained a similar theory under different titles and some salient differences.
Some personalities and their specific associations with colours are as follows :-
1) Fire / Ruling / Choleric Personality Types
The colour RED signifies passion, aggression, intensity and fire. No doubt, it’s used in all artworks involving passionate love, movies involving aggressive murders and texts involving intense feelings. Along with this, it is commonly used in warning signs too. Individuals preferring red to all other alternatives tend to be more extroverted. They are known to be independent, decisive, goal-oriented, and ambitious; making them natural leaders. It’s shades and blends signify amalgamations in different personalities.
2) Air / Sanguine / Socially Useful personality type
Yellow is a joyous colour, the colour of sunshine, optimism, clarity and energy. The Pinks too symbolize positivity, friendship and unrequited love. People preferring these colours and their shades are more talkative, enthusiastic, active, social and extroverted. Sanguines love to be a part of a group or crowd; for them being social, outgoing, and charismatic gives them happiness and joy.
3) Earth / Avoiding / Melancholic Personality type
Many shades of Blue are famous for signifying depths of oceans, the infinite abyss of the dark night sky, yet also signify depression and sadness. Individuals preferring it tend to be detail-oriented, and are deep thinkers and feelers. More of them are introvert. A melancholic personality makes self-reliant individuals who are often anxious, thoughtful and reserved. They live for perfection within themselves.
4) Water / Getting / Phlegmatic Personality types
Colour Green signifies relaxation, guilt, innocence and fertility. No doubt this colour is widely prevalent in our mother nature and considered holy in some religions. People preferring the greens tend to be easy-going, relaxed, peaceful and quiet. They have high levels of sympathy and care for others too.
5) Blacks and whites
These are two opposite ends on the same spectrum, hope associated with white and despair with the black. Their blend in every colour gives us the shades of mood and it’s the extent of mix keeps changing depending upon the ever-changing nature of the environmental factors.
But it’s the Rainbow which is the marvel of life. Though every colour, every personality is special in itself, beautiful in itself, fascinating in itself but is never complete. It needs support, a color to match along with it. In its absence, color blindness takes everything away. Let it be whites with blues, people of melancholic nature with sanguine personalities or any blend of any colour. Only by being together, as a rainbow, the world can be made a better place to live.
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