Psychological Effects Of The Color Pink

Use the psychological effects of the color pink to create a fresh, soft look for your home.

For some general information about Color Psychology, please click here.

(And if you want to read how other colors affect us, you'll find all the relevant links at the bottom of this page.)

The color pink is a 'tint' of the color red (also called a 'pastel' - a color that is desaturated by mixing it with white or light gray). For this reason, the color pink doesn't appear on the basic Color Wheel.

Interestingly, pink is the only tint of a primary color with a name of its own.  (Baby blue is still blue, and light green is still green; names like 'aqua' and 'mint' are relatively recent monikers for "tertiary" color mixes of blue/green/white)

The psychological effects of the color pink are quite distinct from those of the color red.

And just like red, pink color comes in lots of hues. Ripe-peach pink, bubble gum pink, hot Caribbean pink - they each have their own appeal and psychological effects.

In most Western countries, the color pink is seen as a 'feminine' color, and heavily used for anything to do with baby girls.

But that's a fairly recent development - refined, sophisticated (and non-sugary) versions of the color pink have been used in European interior design for centuries, by (and for) both men and women. (The European country with the least hangups about using pink in interior design is probably France.)

Generally, when used in interior design, the psychological effect of the color pink is described as soothing and comforting.

In Rudolf Steiner schools and hospitals, interior walls are often colorwashed in warm, gentle hues of the color pink, because of these soothing, healing qualities.

In not quite the same spirit, the effect of the color pink was utilized at Iowa State University in the 1970s.

Football coach Hayden Fry had the visiting team's locker room painted pink - a much-debated attempt to, erm, relax the players more than they would have liked (the color scheme has been in operation ever since, with varying success).

For another example of the power of pink, think of all the pink-colored candy you have eaten, or been tempted to eat, in your life. Some versions of the color pink have a sweetness and freshness about them that is very hard to resist.

If you're a man, you're probably more comfortable eating pink colored goodies than surrounding yourself with the color pink in your home.

I think this may have more to do with current gender stereotypes in society than with any psychological effects of the color pink as such.

Let's say pink makes for interesting research!

I'm sure color psychology will find out more about gender differences in our color perception in the future, but meanwhile you might want to do some research of your own.

Here's my first experiment:

My husband, an upright Englishman, refused to sleep under bedlinen that I'd just bought. It had gorgeous flowers printed all over it.

Yes ... they were pink!

To check out the psychological effects of other colors, take your pick from the following links:

Effects: Color White	Effects: Color Grey	Effects: Color Black
Effects: Color Brown	Effects: Color Orange	Effects: Color Red
Effects: Color Purple	Effects: Color Blue	Effects: Color Green
Effects: Color Yellow