According to a recent study, the color green appears to enhance inventiveness. In this informative article, Kate Bratskeir of the Huffington post explores the effects of green and other colors on our ability to create, among other things:
The study, published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, asked 69 men and women to take two minutes to come up with as many uses for a tin can as they could. Before the time started, half the group was shown a white rectangle, and the other half a green one. After the two minutes, a trained coder rated each idea for its creativity. The findings? Participants who saw green before the test came up with the more interesting, imaginative answers.
The study volunteers were also presented with other creativity challenges, where a flash of green was pitted against flashes of red, blue or grey. “The green effect,” as the German researchers dubbed it, again produced the most creative responses.
Why is our creativity sparked by green? Study author Dr. Stephanie Lichtenfeld, an assistant professor of psychology at Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, told MSNBC that the reason behind the creativity hike may be that green is a signal of growth (both physical and psychological). Lichtenfeld says, “Green may serve as a cue that evokes the motivation to strive for improvement and task mastery, which in turn may facilitate growth.”
Follow the link to Kate’s full article, “Color Me Creative: Study Says Green Sparks Inventiveness”. Check out the color slide show at the end of the article.