Color Psychology and Color Therapy

by Faber Birren

A detailed study of the various sources and biological and emotional uses of color in all phases of human existence by a leading researcher in the field

Genres: Psychology, Design, Art, Nonfiction, Science

302 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2010

About the author

Faber Birren makes his living by prescribing color. He is a consultant on the use of color in industrial and other applications and has advised governments, schools and the armed forces as well as industry and commerce.

Reviews

[Vincy · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I was looking for some facts about colors and how they affect human mind and emotion, most of the book was irrelevant. If you are looking for the same thing, just read part 4 and 5.

[Araminta Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is clearly dated science, but much of the science it purports has not changed dramatically. Some of the experiments were particularly interesting (such as the apparent electromagnetic effect of color on blindfolded humans whose arms are drawn closer or further apart depending on which side of the color spectrum is the color placed in front of them). One note toward the end I found laughable was the scientific study Birren references that the sex of an offspring can be affected well into the third trimester simply by exposing the mother to colored light. Haha. What we know now...

The impact of color on the human organism...that's pretty interesting. I was definitely intrigued by the practice of altering perception with color, to be sure. I mean, most of us already knew color had an impact on the psyche when we learned the so-called reasoning that fast food chains painted themselves red or orange (to give the impression of speed and to speed up patron's use of the space), or that hospitals are painted blue (to create a sensation of serenity). So it's pretty reasonable (or at least sociologically accepted) that color has a great impact on the observer. I found this book very interesting, to be sure.

[Tigg · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was expecting something slightly different. I ejoyed the chapters dealing with early applications of colour by the early scientists and mystics. Birren was objective and it was interesting.

For the rest of the book, I was expecting more of a sceientic perspective on the ideas that the mystics laid down but what I found was that the book was more about 'how we see' with ocular vision and seemed to me to be always leading up to his own particular baby of his achievements in colour coding the industrial and corporate environments.

[Zulugoat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stopped midway, author's style has not aged well, and the research presented seems either obsolete or dubious... pass

[Charlie]

I'm on page 27. Reading this out of pure fascination. I'm learning a lot about the history of color and how people used to interpret color with so much more mysticism than we do now.

[Tedi Beemer · Rating 4 out of 5]

did not answer why Green best color

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very inclusive and thorough. I read it as research for my novel. Chapters 7 (Growth of Plants), 11 (emotional reactions), and 20 (prescriptions of color) were informative.