Psychologist Carl Jung once called colour “the mother tongue of the subconscious.” From memory to sexual attraction, energy levels to hunger, different colours and hues have mysterious effects on our minds.

As we head into springtime, we tend to see a lot of yellow. Daffodils and new-born chicks, Easter decorations and bumblebees. But what do we associate with the colour yellow? How does it make us feel and behave? 

According to Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, yellow is a joyful, outgoing and friendly colour associated with comedy and playfulness. 

Yellow is also supposed to stimulate the left, logical side of our brains, according to ColorPsychology.org. It’s a creative colour that can help encourage new ideas and ways of thinking. Your yellow post-it notes might be providing more inspiration than you realise! 

However, many people report that too much yellow gives them sore eyes and even causes dizziness and nausea. Some find it induces irritability and babies have been known to cry more in yellow rooms. For these reasons, yellow is often avoided in bedrooms and onboard aeroplanes. 

Of course, different cultures will take different psychological cues from colour. In Italy, giallo (meaning yellow) is a genre of crime novels and cinema. So, Italians might be more likely to associate the colour with mystery and danger. In much of Latin America on the other hand, the colour is used to symbolise death and mourning. Personal preferences, life experiences and context all also come into our perception of colour and its varying effect on our psychology. 

Many of us here in Britain feel a gladdening of the heart as clumps of nodding daffodils – alongside the whites and purples of crocuses – announce the arrival of spring. Do you need more of this colour in your life? Then join us on a wander through a world of yellow. Click on the links below: