This article explains how humans perceive color, and covers the psychological impact and social implications of red, especially for children. It highlights the different ways red affects the body and emotions and the need for a change in grading to take this into account, and discusses how color is more than just visual information.
How do humans perceive color? Light is a type of electromagnetic wave that can be classified into ultraviolet, visible, and infrared depending on its wavelength. When light that falls in the visible region of light that humans can detect hits an object, some of it is absorbed and some is reflected, and the reflected light is transmitted to the human visual cells and perceived as color. In this process, the human eye uses three types of cone cells to distinguish between wavelengths of light, with red, green, and blue light being the most absorbed, respectively. The combined responses of these cells allow us to perceive different colors.
So how does color affect us? Color basically provides visual information that allows us to distinguish between objects. But color isn’t just about visual information. We’ve all heard the saying, “You shouldn’t write your name in red”. Why do people attach so much meaning to color when nothing actually happens when you write your name in red? It’s because color gives people not only visual information that distinguishes things, but also an “image”. In fact, there’s been a lot of research on the effects of color on the human body, both positive and negative.
How does color affect us specifically? There are countless colors that humans can perceive, so let’s take one specific color, red, as an example. Studies have shown that when people are exposed to red, they experience the following symptoms
(1) blood pressure increases, (2) breathing becomes faster, (3) appetite increases, and (4) blood flow increases. (4) Increased blood flow.
Of course, these are just the effects that red has on the body, and we can”t value them as positive or negative. However, colors are known to affect us psychologically as well as physically. For example, the color red is stimulating and warning, making us alert to danger, which can temporarily increase our concentration. This is why many sports teams and brands use red in their logos or uniforms. Consider the following two studies
In the mid-2000s, something unusual happened at an elementary school in the United States. The school encouraged teachers to use other colors, such as purple, rather than red, when grading tests, and even went so far as to put red on a list of banned colors. Parents complained to the school about the use of red in grading, claiming that the teachers were using red to mark papers and that it was causing their children considerable stress. This shows that colors can have negative effects beyond just affecting the human body. Is there any truth to the idea that grading with a red pen has a negative impact on students? In fact, one experiment showed that when students were asked to rate different essays graded in red and cyan, the majority of students rated the red grading as making the teacher seem less close to the student.
There are other studies that suggest the color red has a negative effect on children. For example, the paper “The Effects of Color and Emotion on Recall Memory in Elementary School Students” found that immediate and delayed recall for blue words was statistically significantly higher than immediate and delayed recall for red words. From these experimental results, it is clear that the color red has a negative effect on people, especially children.
Despite these findings, many people are currently skeptical about the idea of stopping grading in red. This is because we’ve gotten so used to grading in red that it’s hard to change, and secondly, even if we know from research that grading in red is negative, it’s hard to feel the impact. Furthermore, red is typically used to highlight important points, so the intensity of the color feels irreplaceable, even though it may be perceived differently than intended.
For fully grown adults, the visual impact of red may not be as strong. In fact, the fact that most of the research on color has been done on children is a testament to this. However, given the research that shows the negative effects of red coloring on children, it would be a disservice to children to not change their coloring for reasons such as “just because it bothers them” or “because they don’t feel like it”. At the very least, I would like to encourage readers of this article to consider using a blue or purple pen when grading in the future. It’s more than just a color change, it’s a small step towards being considerate of children’s emotions and psychological health.
