What does the color brown mean in Psychology?

The brown color is very present in nature, and it also has many meanings.

The brown color (color café in Latin America) is a color often associated with neutrality, or with unpleasant emotions.is a color often associated with neutrality, or with unpleasant emotions. It is a chromatic stimulus very present in nature, so it also has ambivalent meanings, as well as many different uses.

We will now see what the color brown is, how it is known in different places and, in general, what the color brown means, in general, what the color brown means in terms of the sensations and feelings it expresses.

The color brown: what it is and how it is obtained.

As stimuli that are part of our daily environment, colors have been very present in our cultural development. For the same reason they play an important role in our psychological expressions: they manage to evoke different emotions and even perceptions about the objects around us, even without us being aware of it.

Specifically, the color brown is obtained by mixing the three primary colors (generally using a little less blue and red, to avoid generating a grayish tone). In this sense it is considered a tertiary color. In addition, being a mixture of different shades, it is considered a non-spectral color, which is visually located in a wavelength that is between 580 and 620 nm.

The term "brown" is taken from the French "marron" which means "chestnut", which is why it is the name by which this color is known in many parts of Europe. However, this color is called by different names depending on the geographical location.

In several parts of Latin America it is known as "coffee" color, although, when it comes to naming the hair tone, the term "brown" or "chestnut" is used. Another common way of naming this color, depending on the specific shade, is by the word "chocolate", "cinnamon", "mahogany" or "honey", among others. Its oldest name is "pardo" color.and it received it because it is a color present in the leopard's fur.

What does the color brown mean?

In studies on color psychology, brown usually generates negative or usually generates negative or at least neutral responses.. For example, in Clarke and Costall's (2008) study with university students in Germany, 44% of the participants reported that coffee has very few, or even no, emotional qualities. On the other hand, participants who related this color to a particular emotion, added comments describing brown as "earthy" "muddy" "natural" or phrases such as "it does not cause me any sensation" and "I have nothing to say, it is just brown".

In the same sense, Manav (2007) finds that brown color is related to insensitivity and a despondent mood, or else to boredom. It is also related to adversity and depression. In his study on color preferences, brown is found in the lowest scores.

The psychotherapist and author of the Color Test, Max Lüscher (cited by Rivera, 2001), described brown as a sensory and passively receptive color in his studies. However, this color not only indicates neutrality and bitterness, but, like all colors, it can have an ambivalent meaning, can have an ambivalent meaningwhich in this case is related to vigor, strength, solidarity, dignity and confidentiality.

In another study conducted with Mexican students, Rivera (2001) finds that the main descriptors of women about the color brown are "serious" "sad" "branch" "bears" "dark", and in the case of men the main descriptors are "coffee" "tobacco" "excrement" "life". The common descriptors that the participants had in common are "earth", "logs", "wood", "tree", "trunk", "chocolate", "seriousness", "brick", "ugly", "beautiful".

In this sense, the same researcher concludes that the color brown is one of the colors that evoke objects and/or nouns (others are dark blue, green and yellow). Brown also evokes qualifying adjectives (as well as pink, gray and orange), unlike other colors that evoke emotions, such as white, red, light blue and even black.

Cultural meanings

Eva Heller (2005) suggests that the combination of brown with other colors can generate opposite effects at both psychological and cultural levels. For this author, at the psychological level, brown is related to the is related to the unsympathetic, the anti-erotic, the unpleasant, vulgarity and foolishness..

Its combination with the color blue can evoke at the same time a spiritual and earthly symbolism, whose translation can be of nobility and impunity. The opposite combination (brown-white) can evoke at the same time dirt-cleanliness. And its mixture with black is an indication of evil.

At a cultural level, its meanings have been similar, since it is related to the color of autumn and the withered, which in turn is the end of the world.It is in turn the end of spring, a season more related to joyful emotions. In the same sense it usually represents what is old-fashioned and what is becoming extinct, or also that which gives the appearance of maturity and of being a classic. For this reason, it is a color that has been very present in the most recent aesthetics and modern clothing. In spite of this, according to Heller (2005), brown tends to be more rejected as age advances, and is in fact the most rejected color of all.

Main uses

Everyday the color brown has been very present in decoration, as it is the raw material of several pieces of furniture. Not only that, but it is very present in nature. In this same sense, it is a color that has been very present in cave paintings.

Brown, as well as black and red, are often used to generate dramatic effects in advertising and cinematography, and can also be used strategically to make a place feel more cozy. Especially when these colors are not mixed together.

On a political level, brown is usually used in local or provincial flags, although at some point it was associated with Nazism, as it was used by the storm troopers. During the Middle Ages it was associated with serfdom, because of the color of the clothing when it was lightly dyed.. For the same reason it has traditionally been understood as an antagonist of elegance.

Bibliographical references:

• Clarke, T. and Costall, A. (2008). The Emotional Connotations of Color: A Qualitative Investigation. Color Research and application, 33(5): 406-410.
• Heller, E. (2004). Color psychology. How colors act on feelings and reason. Editorial Gustavo Gili: Spain.
• Llorente, C. (2018). Comparative analysis of chromatic symbology in advertising. Nike in China and Spain. Vivat Academica. Journal of Communication, 142: 51-78.
• Manav, B. (2007). Color-Emotion Associations and Color Preferences: A Case Study for Residences. Color Research and Application, 32(2): 145-151.
• Parodi Gastañeta, F. (2002). Chromosemiotics. The meaning of color in visual communication. Retrieved September 17, 2018. Available at http://200.62.146.19/bibvirtualdata/publicaciones/comunicacion/n3_2002/a07.pdf.
• Rivera, M. A. (2001). Perception and meaning of color in different social groups. Revista Imagen, 53: 74-83.