When it comes to the influence of color on the human psyche, they often recall bright, so-called chromatic or spectral colors. The nature of their effect on our body largely depends on the wavelength of the reflected light, which creates the sensation of a certain color in the brain.
However, the famous researcher of color perception Max Luscher included black in his color test, which is neither spectral nor chromatic. In fact, it can even be called a color with great reservations, but it has a rather strong influence on the human psyche.
Psychophysiological features of black
As you know, the surface of any object can both reflect light rays and absorb them.
- For example, grass and leaves appear green to us, because their surface reflects blue, yellow and, in fact, green rays, and absorbs red and orange.
- The red surface, respectively, reflects the rays of the long-wavelength part of the spectrum, and absorbs the blue and green.
- When the surface of an object absorbs all the rays of the visible spectrum, then we are dealing with black.
Therefore, it is rather not a color, but its absence. “Black is the absolute border where life ends,” wrote M. Luscher.
From the point of view of physiology, black color has a depressing effect on a person, suppressing the course of almost all organic processes, it is not without reason that it is associated with death. Under the influence of this color, a person’s heart rate decreases, breathing slows down, but in black there is no peace of blue, but there is tension and a painful sensation close to depression. This is what the people call “black melancholy” – lack of positive and passivity, unwillingness to do anything.
Black color and psyche
The association with hopeless and oppressive darkness and death evokes an irrational, ancient feeling of fear in a person. This is perhaps the main emotion associated with the impact of black on our psyche. V. Kandinsky, in his description of the characteristics of flowers, speaks of black as a complete immobility, an extinguished fire and the end of all development.
The perception of this color, associated with the forces of evil and darkness, creates a feeling of mystical mystery, the transcendental horror of the other world. And even the very name of it can cause a feeling of horror. Suffice it to recall children’s horror stories: “In a black-black city, on a black-black street, in a black-black house …”
Prolonged exposure to black and any shades of gray can lead to color hunger. This state manifests itself not only in oppression, depression and depression, a person begins to experience physical ailment:
- headache;
- muscle weakness;
- dizziness;
- decreased performance.
Black color suppresses not only positive emotions, but also thought processes. It seems that our thoughts are dying, bogged down in the thick black tar of nothingness. Together with bright colors, bright, lively thoughts and feelings also go out. It is not for nothing that the black robes of monks are a symbol of renunciation of the mundane, of the vivid feelings and colors of the living world.
Black creates a peculiar optical effect. Objects painted in this color seem to be smaller in volume, but heavier than the same ones with a lighter color. The visual reduction in volume makes black popular with obese people, as they seem slimmer in a black dress or suit.
Black symbolism
Despite the predominantly negative attitude towards the black color, it occupies an important place in the culture and religious traditions of all peoples, and its meanings are very diverse.
- Black is a symbol of dark, evil forces that hide under the cover of night. And even in our language there are many phrases with the word “black”, which are negative in color: “black cat”, “black melancholy”, “black market”, “black magic”, “black envy”, “black raven”, etc. .d.
- Black is the color of asocial forces: pirates, anarchists, evil sorcerers, etc.
- Black is associated with death, as nothingness and the loss of the bright living colors of the world.
- In Christianity, black is a symbol of humility and rejection of worldly goods.
- In European culture, this is the color of mourning, grief for the dead relatives and friends.
- Black is associated with otherworldly forces, the ancient magic of nature, so black animals are endowed with magical properties and cause fear: black cats, crows, even a black chicken is considered a servant of the devil.
- At the same time, black has been considered the color of femininity since ancient times, just like night, which belongs to a woman, while day is a man’s time of day.
- The fashion for black in clothes, which has spread in Europe since the 19th century, has made this color a symbol of elegance, respectability and solidity.
And yet there are more negative meanings of this color, which is associated not only with cultural traditions, but also with the objective features of black, which causes painful depressive states in people.
