What emotion does yellow represent?
Yellow can quickly grab attention, but it can also be abrasive when overused.
It can appear warm and bright, yet it can also lead to visual fatigue.
Illustration by Cindy Chung, Verywell
At a Glance
“How wonderful yellow is.
It stands for the sun,” the artist Vincent Van Gogh once said.
In fact, joy and happiness are the emotions that the color yellow represents for many people.
Istockphoto
However, color psychology can be influenced by a range of factors, including individual characteristics and cultural influences.
Learn more about some of the emotions and moods that the color yellow creates.
How does yellow make you feel?
The Spruce / Ashley Poskin
Do you associate yellow with certain qualities or situations?
Remember that the associations people have with colors are not necessarily universal.
Both cultural differences and individual experiences can shape how people feel in response to certain colors.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
It is often used in situations and products intended to create a sense of excitement or energy.
It is bright and immediately grabs the eye.
It can seem fresh, intense, overwhelming, or even brash and forceful in its energy.
“I know that I would probably go nuts in a house with LEGO yellow walls.
“Yellow makes me feel cheerful and energized.
I love the bright sunny color and the way it makes me feel.
I feel warm, like summer.
Perhaps sometimes startling, but then that is what energizes me,” suggested another Verywell Mind reader.
Sometimes yellow can come off as very aggressive and even confrontational.
In great quantities, people may be left feeling irritated or even angry when surrounded by yellow.
“I agree that there is a level of aggression and frustration associated with yellow.
Other readers also reported that they personally find yellow an aggressive, or even abrasive color.
“I find yellow to be a highly irritating color.
How you respond to yellow might have something to do with your personality.
Yellow is exciting for some, but others find this quality more aggressive and irritating.
One reader even suggested that yellow is more of anextrovert’scolor.
Not everyone responds to this color in the same way.
While some people might find it bright and cheery, others may find it grating and obnoxious.
“I like yellow.
To me, it’s a happy colour associated with flowers and sunshine.
He also becomes much more impatient and argumentative,” another reader reported.
“I have always suspected that it is the colour of the walls.
Yellow Is Cheerful
For many people, yellow is seen as a bright and cheerful color.
Advertisers may use it to not only draw attention but also to evoke a sense ofhappiness.
“I had a math classroom that was painted bright yellow halfway through the year.
It completely changed the atmosphere, and everyone’s grades seemed to go up,” reader Fred explained.
“Our teacher joked it must be the new paint job, but I entirely believed it was.
It gave a cheery atmosphere, and the lessons were far more light and enjoyable!”
Some responses, such as the tendency to find yellow difficult to read, are more universal.
Other associations are often cultural and even specific to each person thanks to different backgrounds and experiences.
Elliot AJ.Color and psychological functioning: a review of theoretical and empirical work.Front Psychol.
Similar patterns of emotion associations with colour patches and colour terms.Iperception.
2022;8(1):e08804.
Published 2022 Jan 25. doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08804
