GREEN COLOR: MEANING AND PSYCHOLOGY - ARTE

The green color is between yellow and blue in the visible spectrum; She is the protagonist of almost everything that Mother Nature does. It is a vital and energetic color because it reminds us of life on Earth, that place that some like to call “green planet”.

The psychology and meaning of the color green is summarized in its association with nature (life, food, spring, rebirth, freshness, ecology), health (vitality, balance, equilibrium, harmony, youth, happiness, fertility), money (progress, productivity, creativity, wealth, achievement) and strength (start, push, advance, energy, regeneration).

We cannot talk about the psychology of a color if we do not first address the symbolism that it hides. The symbolism of each color is a complex cultural phenomenon. As such, it crosses borders, religions, and comes from the origin of time to our days.

The color green, like all the others, has a set of universal associations. Let's get to know some of them:

Nature (life, food, spring, rebirth, freshness, ecology).
Health (vitality, balance, equilibrium, harmony, youth, happiness, fertility).
Money (progress, productivity, creativity, wealth, achievement).
Breakout force (start, push, advance, energy, regeneration).

There are also symbolisms for each culture. For example, for the Japanese, green is the color of eternal life. For Hinduism, it is the color of the heart chakra (anajata), which is what allows you to love more, feel compassion and practice charity.

Other specific cultural associations with green are:

It is a sacred color in Islam, representing respect for the Prophet Muhammad.
It is also a sacred color for Iran and represents Paradise.
It is the color associated with royalty in Aztec culture.
In some places in Scotland, people wear green clothing as a sign of honor.

And of course, like any other color, green has some negative associations. Among them are feeling sick, decomposed, toxic and poisonous. Also envy and greed.

In the psychology of color, the negative pole also counts, to achieve balance with the positive. Sometimes the same color can generate opposite emotions, just as it happens with some people. It is a matter of integrating them into our experience of perception.

The palette of emotions and ideas associated with green

Among all the colors that the human eye is capable of capturing, green is one on which we can perceive greater variations. About a hundred or so. This comes from an evolutionary need of our ancestors to survive in the middle of green nature.

That ability of perception has reached our days intact. That's probably why green is the second favorite color, according to polls. And that is why the palette of emotions it produces is almost as large as the amount of greens that we can detect.

Eva Heller, in her famous study on the psychological perception of colors, incorporated the term "psychological colors". By this she means that the perception of color is more than an optical phenomenon; important psychological factors are involved.

Her list of psychological colors involves the 13 colors that she observed to be independent of each other from the experience of the viewer. This includes primary colors, secondary colors, mixed colors, plus black, white, gold, and silver.

However, on each of these colors, he explored the emotions and ideas that their nuances generated. On green, he developed a list of 19 variations, where he indicated the associations made by the respondents.

Look at the list below, and explore the emotions or ideas that they generate in you, and then compare them with the ones that most perceive. Maybe you agree on some of them.

Source: green colors, wikipedia.

The psychology of green

In politics and decision making

Green is associated with balance, because it is chromatically in the middle of two polar colors: red and blue. And, unlike the other secondary colors, it is a primary color in people's psychological perception, as it abounds in nature.

So red is warm and blue is cool, while green is temperate. Red is dry, blue is wet, while green is wet. Green therefore represents the middle ground, conciliation, harmony and diplomacy.

It is excellent for decorating spaces where neutral decisions must be made, because it promotes tolerance. Especially if it is accompanied by blue, which is a calm color.

Green is useful for boardrooms, where the most important decisions of a company are made. For letters of apology, amnesties; To wear it on your clothes at some point when you want to smooth things over.

In productivity and economic success

Green is also associated with nature and nature, especially in city settings. Planners are working on creating “green spaces” to eliminate the feeling of fatigue caused by the leaden colors of the city. Green is natural rest ⁵.

Using green in very closed offices helps increase productivity and motivation, as well as reduce stress. This, either with artificial elements or plants. Helps employees feel freer and less trapped.

In addition, since green is the color of natural and ecological, it helps a product to be more appreciated. Leave the feeling of being an extension of nature and, therefore, be healthy.

But since green is the universal color of money and the color of the bourgeoisie in ancient Europe, its relationship with wealth does not end there. Dressing in green elements can give the feeling of greater entrepreneurship, and generate confidence in a future investor.

In addition, green is a youthful color, so its use can help show an idea as more innovative, fresh and attractive. Green being the color of vitality and health, it can make a worn idea look renewed and full of life.

"Greenlight" something is not a random expression. It is a position that the color green has been won by its optical characteristics that have passed to the psychological field. Therefore, it is the ideal color to start projects, contracts and any economic relationship.

On health and fertility

In the same way, it is useful for the recovery of health. Many pills use a light green, like the walls of many hospitals, because it improves the willingness to heal ⁵. Surrounding a sick person with plants can renew the spirit and spirit to continue fighting.

Green, for the same reason, can help you cope with a duel. Being the green symbol of life (even eternal life in some cultures), surrounding yourself with green in the middle of a duel will make it more bearable. Likewise, it will help during depression.

A room with green elements can be the ideal setting for a couple looking to have a child. Green being the color of fertility, it can provide the couple's mood and confidence in the resources of their body.

Similarly, spring is the season of love and fertility, and it is a green season. Planning a romantic getaway to some green wilderness could be the perfect aphrodisiac for your search for a child.

In the spiritual

Green is a sacred color in many religions. In Islam it is, because the Prophet Muhammad wore that color. In the Catholic religion, priests wear green most days and the Holy Spirit is represented by the color green ⁵.

But green is also the color of hope, as polls show. For this reason it is a perfect color to pray, meditate and to reconnect with your own faith. It is the color of trust, and all faith feeds on this.

Being reborn, resurrected, reincarnated or having eternal life is the promise of many religions, and all of this is associated with greening and not withering. Hence the hope that green generates.

Because green is a calm and peaceful color, it is ideal to meditate, to rest, to reflect and to seek peace with oneself. It is a color that allows the self-absorption necessary to explore spirituality.

If your favorite color is green, your personality is…

Color psychology also takes note of personality traits, according to the colors we like the most. It is logical that people who like green have many of the aforementioned traits (balance, vitality, spirituality). But what else?

Let's look at ten key points of the green personality. (If your favorite color is green, evaluate how closely it resembles you.)

They are people with a practical vision of life (with their feet on the ground).
They are good companions in crisis, as they can remain calm.
They are intelligent people, skilled at capturing new ideas and concepts.
They may have a high need for affection and group membership.
They have a high moral standard. They need to do things right.
They are great lovers of food and the pleasures of life.
They tend to like to observe and analyze more than to take action or a match.
They are not detailed people. Details can bore them.
They can become very complacent, forgetting about themselves.
They seem innocent at first glance, but they are quite cunning.

And if you don't like green, what happens? Well, the colors that we don't like also say a lot about our personality. Those who hate green can be unsociable people and those who do not like nature.

They are also people who do not like to do the same as most. That is, they are not so adaptable or flexible people, so they focus more on their own needs.

In short, they can have several values opposed to the green personality, but the color they like the most will also depend on it. If you are one of those who reject green, perhaps you have discovered new reasons to surround yourself more with that color.

A green mandala to close

Mandalas, originally, are spiritual symbols of Hinduism. But in Carl Jung's deep psychology, they are used as a relaxation technique. Drawing and coloring mandalas "helps to stabilize, integrate and reorder the inner life."

If a mandala is colored from the outside in, it allows us to progressively access our unconscious. If it is colored from the inside out, it allows elements of our unconscious to be brought into consciousness.

So, we invite you to integrate the benefits of the psychology of the color green, coloring the mandala below. You can also use a different one, which is to your liking. The idea is that you color it using combinations of different types of green.

We invite you, then, to print the image and focus on the psychological aspects of the green that you want in your life or outside of it. According to your interest, you will choose the shades of green and the orientation in which you color it.

GREEN COLOR: MEANING AND PSYCHOLOGY - ARTE - 2025