FREE ESSAY ON THE AFFECT OF COLOR ON HIGH AND LOW SCREENERS

THE AFFECT OF COLOR ON HIGH AND LOW SCREENERS

Running Head: AFFECT OF COLOR
The Affect of Color on Low and High Screeners
Abstract
Color in the environment and how persons perceive can greatly affect their productivity
and mood. Each person has a different abilities of being able to screen out various
stimulus that is around them. Low screeners have a difficult time ignoring overpowering
stimulus in their environment while high screeners need to perceive a great amount of
stimulus to work to the best of their ability. Mood is affected by color, when a person
is in a red room to long they can become agitated and confused. A person in a blue room
is more relaxed. This study looks at the affects three different color schemes on college
students ability to perform well on a test.
The Affect of Color on Low and High Screeners
The way we perceive color can affect our emotions and productivity in many different
ways. Certain colors can make us excited or stimulate while other colors can leave us
feeling helpless or overwhelmed (e.g., Murray & Deabler, 1957). Violet can leave
individuals feeling sad or fatigued while red can induce anger and tension (e.g., Levy,
1984). What if the color around us could actually help us feeling calm or excited in
different appropriate circumstances.
In college settings there are many times that students sit through hours of lectures
without any outside stimulation and other times students take very involved test that can
leave them feeling very out of control. Sitting in a lecture hall can make students very
tired and their minds soon begin to wander so that they are stimulated instead of just
watching a professor talk. I can remember sitting in many lecture halls trying to keep
focused on the professor, but the classrooms are often so plain that the mind begins to
drift. If certain colors were in the environment of a lecture hall students may feel
stimulated to grasp more of the subject that a professor is speaking on. When students
are in a lecture hall taking a test they may be over stimulated and colors around them
that are calming may help them to concentrate to the task at hand.
Previous research on color and how it affects humans has been limited to only showing
participants color swatches or lights and the data has been very inconsistent from study
to study. In Levy's research blue was associated with a calming affect while Stone and
English (1998) found that blue surroundings can induce depression. Levy has also found
that warm colors such as red can provoke active feeling. Kwalleck, Woodson, Lewis and
Sales (1997) have seen that red can cause disphoria and confusion. In current research I
have not found two studies that exactly agree on the effects of color in our
environment.
Most homes, offices and institutions are mainly the color white which has had little
research conducted. Most of the research conducted on the white stimuli was with light
and not with the walls in an environment. Few researchers have actually assessed the
effects of interior color and light. Gerard (1958) tested participants in a one stimulus
condition and found that red produces more alertness and blue produces more relaxed
feelings for individuals. Color in these findings does not seem to affect heart rate.
Levy conducted research that had students look at a screen with different colors
presented to each individual. After the exposure participants filled out the Profile of
Mood Status, POMS, which asses mood status. Levy's research connected color to emotion
and not productivity in any type of task. Participants associated blue with sadness,
green with assertiveness, and orange with anger. It was also seen that if the individual
was exposed to light blue they had an aroused feeling of relaxation.
Stone and English among other conditions tested color in the workspace. It was found that
a low stimulating task, such as typing names into a computer, can benefit from the color
red in the environment. With the extra stimulation individuals performed better in their
jobs that were not high demanding. When working in blue rooms with a high demand task
individuals became overwhelmed. In the high demand task all of the names and addresses
that needed to be put in the computer were very similar to each other. One benefit from
the blue room is that individuals felt like their workspace was more private and so in
turn kept on task more. 
Kwalleck, Woodson and Robbins (1988) examined effects of the color red versus blue in the
environment. Participants were given a typing task and asked to rate their mood while in
the room. The researcher found that their was no significant differences on mood. It was
found that individuals who remained in the red room experienced more anxiety and stress
then participants in the blue room.
Kwalleck, Woodson, Lewis and Sales (1997) also conducted a study that concentrated on the
effects of color on workers performance and mood. These researchers also came to the
conclusion that many researcher have not really studied color and what it does to an
individual. The researchers realized that different people perceive these colors at
different rates of stimulation. Before beginning their research they gave their
participant a test that would asses whether they were a "high" screener or a "low
screener as determined by the Mehrabian's Stimulus Screening Questionnaire. This
questionnaire measures the individual differences in automatic screening of and
habituation to irrelevant stimuli ( Kwalleck et al., 1997) Low screeners are individuals
who can not screen a lot of incoming sensory information.
These researchers put different participants in rooms that had been regulated in color
and light. Every room used had the same amount of light and there was not a window in the
rooms. One room was painted completely white including the door and the desk. Another
room was painted with red on the top 75% of the wall and blue-green on the bottom 25% of
the wall was red. For the third room the top 75% of the wall was red and the bottom 25%
of the wall was blue-green. 
Subjects performed a variety of office task throughout the week with each person
completing the same amount of work. Each worker filled out a POMS questionnaire once at
the beginning of the day and once at the end of the day. The MCT, Minnesota Clerical
Test, which measure clerical speed in different task was administered on the morning of
the first day and the afternoon of the fourth day. The results of this study showed that
workers who were low screeners performed more poorly in the red office then those who
were considered high screeners (Kwalleck et al., 1997). It was also true for the reverse
with high screeners performing worse in the blue-green room then low screeners.
High screeners are not affected by the arousingness of the color red so they are able to
perform their duties to the best of their abilities (Kwalleck et al., 1997)). Low
screeners are very distracted by the incoming stimulus to a point were their performance
deteriorates. In contrast, the blue green office is very relaxing so that the high
screeners are not getting enough arousal to reach their optimal level of performance. Low
screeners are more near to their optimal level of performance in the relaxing blue-green
room. Results for the white room were not listed for high or low screeners in
performance. Performance was not effected by any of the color schemes until individual
screening abilities were taken into account.
Kwalleck et al. (1997) believed that one explanation to this is the Yerkes Dodson
principle. This principle proposes that arousal and performance go up together until a
point. After reaching the optimal level of arousal, any increase in arousal will lead to
performance decreasing. Generally more cognitively complex task require less arousal to
reach an optimal performance (Kwalleck et al., 1997).
In relation on the effects of color on mood it was found that workers in the red office
reported more disphoria than workers in the blue-green office. Low screeners reported
more disphoria then high screeners in the rooms with a red color scheme. Low screeners
also reported more disphoria in the white walled room. This was explained by that low
screeners can not ignore the starkness of the white pigment while high screeners can.
The goals of this study are to find out what testing conditions are best for low
screeners and high screeners. The hypothesis for this study is that low screeners will
have higher test scores in the blue room then the high screeners. In the white control
room and the red room the high screeners will have higher test scores because they need
more stimulation in their environment for optimal performance. Low screeners need less
stimulation to reach their optimal performance levels. I believe that all participants
will have less confusion and depression in the blue room.
This research will involve three different college classes in three different color
scheme rooms, white, red, and blue. I will have the students take a test that shows
whether they are a high screener or a low screener. Equal amounts of low and high
screeners will be put in each room and then be lectured to by a professor about a subject
not previously covered in the class. I will then have the students fill out a test that
shows what they are feeling in the classroom and then they will take a test on the
subject lectured on.
I believe that a wide range in emotional state and test scores will be found in each
room. In the blue room students will feel calm but the low screeners will test better
than the high screeners. In the red room I believe that all students will feel more
agitated but high screeners will test better in this room. In the white room I believe
that the starkness of the color will affect the low screeners but high screeners will
test higher, but not as high as in the red room. I believe that POMS questionnaire
results will be higher after the test then before.
Method
Participants 
Participants will be freshman college students in a introductory psychology class. There
will be approximately 90 students; 30 students in each color scheme.
Materials 
Three different classroom settings will be used for this experiment each with a different
color scheme. The white control room will be a normal white classroom that most college
campuses use. The red room will have everything identical to the white room but the color
of the walls will be red. Except for the color of the walls the blue room will also be
identical to the red and white rooms. I will use average household paint mixed to a light
true blue and a deep red. When students first enter the classroom they will take the
Mehrabian's Stimulus Screening Questionnaire (Kwalleck et al., 1997). This is a 40-item,
9-point scale instrument which measures differences in screening and habituation of
stimuli that is perceived in the environment. Responses for each question range from +4
(very strong agreement) to -4 (very strong disagreement) with a score of 0 being neutral
between the two. Scores of -25 and above define a high screener while scores -24 and
below denote low screeners. After the lecture the Profile Mood of status (POMS) will be
used to evaluate the participants emotional status in the room. This is a
paper-and-pencil test that reveals six different mood factors: Tension-Anxiety,
Depression-Dejection, Anger-Hostility, Vigor-Activity, Fatigue-Inertia, and
Confusion-Bewilderment (Kwalleck et al., 1997). Participants rate their feelings on a
five point scale of 0-4 which stands for "not at all" to "extremely". I will also use a
25 question multiple choice test on the topic covered in the lecture. 
Design and Procedure 
Subjects will be told that they are participating in this experiment for class credit and
will fill out consent forms before the experiment begins. Two days before the real
experiment students will take the Mehrabian's stimulus test that will show whether they
are a low screener or a high screener. Participants will then sign a form attached to the
consent form that says that to their knowledge they are not color blind. These test will
be taken and scored and each room will be given approximately the same amount of high and
low screeners on the testing day. 
Students will entered the color room they are assigned to and listen to a 30 minute
lecture from a topic in their class. After the lecture students in each classroom will be
asked to fill out the POMS questionnaire that will rate their emotional status in the
classroom and how the color around them is affecting their emotion. After all
questionnaires are turned in the professor will pass out a 25 question multiple choice
exam that is based on the earlier discussed topic. Students will be allowed thirty
minutes to take the test and then once again will take the POMS questionnaire. After the
last questionnaire is turned in the subjects in each classroom will be given a debriefing
form with information about the study.
Results 
I would expect to see in the results of this study that the test scores will be highest
for the low screeners in the blue room and the high screeners will have their highest
test scores in the red room. In the white room test results will be higher for the high
screeners but will not be as high as in the red room. I believe that the POMS results
will show that participants in the red room will feel the most agitated and confused. The
white room will have some confusion but mostly for low screeners. The blue room data will
show that all participants are the most comfortable emotionally in this room even though
high screeners will not test well in that environment.
Discussion 
With these results I believe that test taking can be taken to a whole different level in
schools. Instead of taking random sections of courses students would be able to take a
section that is in the color that they perceive to be more stimulating. By being
stimulated to the perfect degree students would be able to get more out of lectures and
be able to concentrate more on their test than what is around them. This type of research
will help low screeners more than high screeners because they have a hard time sorting
through all the stimuli they are presented with. Traditional classroom are usually a
white or cream color and this data will show that this type of environment will hurt the
learning capabilities of low screeners. 
Kwalleck et al. (1997) have shown that workers that are high screeners do work better in
an environment where they perceive the extraneous stimuli to be high. On the other hand
they found that low screeners do better when extraneous stimuli is low. Other literature
points to the fact that color affects different persons different ways, but that it does
have effect on our daily duties. In the future I believe that research should be done on
children to see if the same phenomena is present in them. The gender factor should also
be looked out to see if men or women range differently in high and low screeners. 
Bibliography
References
Gerard, R. M. (1958). Differential effects if colored lights on psychophysicological
functions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 43, 107-112.
Kwalleck, N., Lewis, C. M., & Robbins A. S. (1988). Effects of office interior color on
worker's mood and productivity. Percept, Motor Skills, 66, 123-128.
Kwalleck, N., Woodson, H., Lewis, C. M., & Sales, C. (1997). Impact of three interior
color schemes on worker mood and performance relative to individual environmental
sensitivity. COLOR Research and Application, 22, 121-132.
Levy, B. I. (1984). Research into the psychological meaning of color. American Journal of
Art Therapy, 23, 58-61.
Murray, D. C, & Deabler, H. L. (1957). Color and mood tones. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 41,279-283. 
Stone, N. J., & English, A. J. (1998). Task type, poster, and workspace color on mood,
satisfaction, and performance. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 18, 
175-185.