In this world, colors are important. Chances are you know at least one extremely organized person who uses color-coded file folders to store important papers. Color coding is also a useful way to highlight important facts on graphs, tables and charts.
As anthropologists, psychologists and interior decorators know, there's another kind of color coding going on all the time - and it varies from culture to culture. Colors, it turns out, have symbolic meaning for people in all parts of the world. The interesting thing is how different those meanings can be.
Take red, for example. Now many American women wouldn't think to wear a red wedding dress. In some sectors of Chinese culture, however, a red wedding dress is sanctioned by tradition. Wear white to a wedding in China? That's a great way to raise an eyebrow. White is traditionally associated with funerals in China.
As a guy with 14 siblings once said, "It's all relative." On the other hand, Max Luscher, a Swiss psychologist, has made the case that our color choices can tell a lot about our state of mind. In his view, color coding can reveal specific things about us in rather absolute terms. No pressure, but what color shoes were you planning to wear to the New Year's party?
Naturally, when it's all said and done, you're free to imagine colors any way you want. What do different colors make you think of? Share your best and worst associations. And have there been times in your life when color choices had an impact on a major life decision?
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Comments: 8
She looked at me and said "Oh tha's easy, just tie him in." I was a gast! Tie my baby tohis bed?No way?
"Oh yes she said each of my children had a different color rope and each night they would tir them selves into their beds."
"what if there is a fire?" "Oh they know how to untie themselves. It is just a physcological thing to keep them from wondering around at night." I told her she was just ucky child services never got her. And put a little bell on the crib! But the point was, after all that was that my bestfriend's rope was red andhe said that years after she had taken away the rope he missed it because it gave him a sense of security!
Years later I gave him a piece of red rope for christmas!!
green is my favorite color and i always percieve green as a happy, upbeat color.
i haven't had my choice in colors change my life directly, however my ability to attend events in the same color palate (sp) as those i would like to align myself with has been helpful over the years.
=)