Two students are sitting side by side in math class, getting ready to take notes. They pull out their notebooks. One is red and one is blue, and they get into a heated argument over which is the true color of math. Who is right?
Students at the school have passionate opinions about the colors they associate with each subject, but there are commonalities between their color choices and general patterns behind the reasoning for their decisions.
For instance, people tend to draw on their emotions about the class when deciding the color it is associated with. “English is blue. I think from either middle school or fifth grade or sometime later elementary school I found English…to be really relaxing for me,” junior Rebecca Gao said. AP Psychology teacher Jennifer Bauer utilizes color theory, the study of how colors work together and how they affect peoples’ emotions and perceptions, to support Gao’s beliefs. “There are certain colors that people associate with certain emotions…yellow tends to be a happier color, orange tends to be a color associated with fall, green tends to be a calmer color, green and blue,” Bauer said.
A common feeling among students at this school is the association of math with red. “Math has always been a problematic subject on my end and problems in general are associated with the color red,” Gao said.
Freshman Claire Weed agrees with Gao’s color choice and reasoning. “Math is red because it’s blood and math makes me want to die,” Weed said.
Not only do people utilize their emotions to make color decisions, but they also consider their personal experiences. In particular, color associations from when people were younger tend to stick with them. “Think about [the] color that you picked out when you were in kindergarten or first grade. Chances are that color followed you through for most of your life,” Bauer said.
As a result, the color preferences of someone’s elementary school teacher can have a large influence on their own beliefs. “I think a lot of times in elementary school a lot of teachers will, in their classrooms, have labels with those colors and I think with that it became embedded in our thinking and it grew on us,” Gao said.
People also tend to consider their favorite colors when deciding the colors their classes get. “If you go to Target and pick out your notebooks or folders for every class, you’re going to put your favorite color with your favorite class,” Bauer said.
Weed uses this method of thinking when making her color choices. “English is blue because blue is my favorite color and English is my favorite subject,” Weed said.
Sometimes students don’t consider their personal experiences, emotions or beliefs; sometimes, they just rely on logic. “Science is obviously green just because the Earth and most of nature is green,” Weed said.
No matter their reasoning, people are passionate about their color choices. “If you think that math is anything other than red, you are wrong,” Gao said.
