[Science Solitaire] Why you click on Rappler’s Mood Meter

The world’s ugliest color was “discovered” in 2016 by an Australian research group sometime in 2016. That color is Pantone 448C or “opaque couché” and is the color of sludge. It was associated with “death,” “filth.” It was part of a color quest to identify the color that could repel people from buying cigarettes. It has proven to be so successful that even the World Health Organization called on countries to compel tobacco companies to employ this “color of death” in their packaging, together with horrible images of diseases associated with smoking. 

Why does color have that kind of power?

Pantone 448 C is a hue in the visible color palette. Just like any color, you cannot get it by itself. You cannot want “yellow” alone and strip it from sunshine. “Color” always has to be a part of something. 

We humans have over 100 million photoreceptors that make us detect visible light – wavelengths from 400 (violet) nanometers to 700 (red), and therefore color. We are biologically wired to integrate “color” into our own experience and through our experiences with the natural world and the one we created from it – culture – we have built up our associations of color with emotions. This is how color has that power to influence our choice or refusal of a thing or an experience like a cigarette. That is the power of color in shaping the human experience. 

Other animals, too, take color as cues. I remember being in the Galapagos enjoying watching female frigate birds flying around. They get attracted to male frigates when their throats are inflated red. My husband tried wearing a bright red shirt to see what would happen and sure enough, female frigates started landing on him (and got disappointed). Color cues can be that vital in making sure life goes on.

A very recent study tested over 4,500 participants in 30 nations speaking 22 languages and found that indeed, there are 20 emotion-color associations that they all share. “White” was generally associated with “relief,” “black” and “gray” with sadness, “red” with the contrasting but powerful “love” and “anger,” and “yellow” with “joy.” But the more interesting was that the similarities among the nations were influenced by how close the nations were in terms of their geographical proximity and the languages they spoke. This suggests how culture plays a sharp role in the way we associate colors with our states of being. There have been many studies on which this recent study stands on, but it claims to be the largest one yet.

Film studios have a whole process called “color scripts” that map out the colors to evoke the emotions they intend. While it is shadowy in its silence – in the way it presents merchandise and experiences like film, you cannot strip all those with color and still think they make you react to them the same way. This proves that “color” is not a shady player in the way we experience our lives.

What “color” do you feel today? If you find yourself responding to the Rappler Mood Meter prompt, then you have proven once again how “color” is a natural part of the human experience. – Rappler.com

Maria Isabel Garcia is a science writer. She has written two books, “Science Solitaire” and “Twenty One Grams of Spirit and Seven Ounces of Desire.” You can reach her at sciencesolitaire@gmail.com.