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We all know that a red traffic signal means stop. In other contexts, the color red signifies danger, closure, excitement, prohibition, or importance. A green traffic signal means go, and the color green also signifies safety, openness, routine, permission, or normality. My question is, do these colors (and yellow for caution) mean these things because we as a society have decided to make them represent these things, or is there something about these colors that cause people to associate them with these meanings, even in the absence of society arbitrarily choosing them? If we had decided that a purple light meant stop, a pink light meant caution, and an orange light meant go, would it be as "natural" as the red-yellow-green meanings are for us?
We all know that a red traffic signal means stop. In other contexts, the color red signifies danger, closure, excitement, prohibition, or importance. A green traffic signal means go, and the color green also signifies safety, openness, routine, permission, or normality. My question is, do these colors (and yellow for caution) mean these things because we as a society have decided to make them represent these things, or is there something about these colors that cause people to associate them with these meanings, even in the absence of society arbitrarily choosing them? If we had decided that a purple light meant stop, a pink light meant caution, and an orange light meant go, would it be as "natural" as the red-yellow-green meanings are for us?
Have you ever read about how colors create psychological responses? Some colors are calming (all is well, status quo, continue), others raise excitement, anxiety (do something different NOW!). Warmer colors (red, orange, yellow) tend to jump forward visually so they grab your attention sooner. Others retreat into the background.
When you think about it, consider the evolutionary advantage to pay more attention to certain colors. Primates that were better at distinguishing ripe fruit or a dangerous predator from out of a primarily green background ended up being more successful. Eyes that responded faster to those colors evolved, along with a brain that attached more significance to them. Some colors apparently stimulate the pituitary, maybe other hormone-secreting glands. Which came first?
On top of that, add society that eventually builds on evolution and fitness. Success tends to foster tradition; it's safer. Something other cities or countries do successfully becomes familiar and accepted. Is it really worth doing it differently and risk more confusion when taking the right action is important?.
Red and yellow are used to convey more restrictive status because they are more visible in sub-optimal conditions (fog, bad weather) and green is the "other" primary color.
Ever notice how real fog lights are amber in color? Same reason amber traffic lights are amber, they warn you that a more restrictive status is forthcoming.
Red and yellow are used to convey more restrictive status because they are more visible in sub-optimal conditions (fog, bad weather) and green is the "other" primary color.
You're mixing up additive and subtractive primary colors there. The additive primaries (such as combining specific colors of light to achieve some other color) are red, green, and blue. The secondary colors you get by combining two of these three primaries are yellow, magenta, and cyan, which are also the subtractive primaries (such as when using paint pigments to selectively reflect specific colors and not others - although painters typically refer to yellow, red, and blue rather than yellow, magenta, and cyan). By combining two out of three pigments of these subtractive primaries in the correct proportions you end up with red, green, or blue (assuming your light source is white).
As far as signals are concerned, some early examples did not use the schemes which we regard as being the obvious choice today. Early railroads using colored lights instead of semaphore signals sometimes used red for stop and white for proceed, with green for a "proceed with caution" aspect which we now associate with yellow/amber. With low-power lamps (sometimes oil lamps) the "white" would tend toward a yellowish color anyway. One major problem with this system was that a broken colored lens resulted in a white (yellowish) light being displayed when it should have been red or green. With higher-power lamps and improved manufacturing techniques for lenses, the red/amber/green used today became the norm.
One very early traffic light installation (I forget which major city it was now) used a system where at any given moment every direction always saw the same color light. Red meant stop, green meant traffic on the main street could proceed, and yellow meant traffic on the cross street could go. The arrangement didn't last long, probably not least because it relied on drivers having to remember if they were on a street where yellow meant go or where green meant go.
Eventually the red for stop, green for proceed became the accepted norm, with yellow/amber indicating the change period. By extension of that, flashing yellow came to be the general caution indication.
In other fields there is sometimes a direct conflict between two schools of thought when it comes to red and green indications. Various industries often have completely different ideas about which way round these two main colors should be used with indicator lights. Some process industries work on the idea that green means something is running, operating normally, while red indicates something is not running, or shut off, not in its normal operating state. In some ways this corresponds with the now-common use of a green button for start and a red button for stop. But in other industries, the exact opposite convention is used on the basis that on, running, energized indicates danger so the light is red, while off, stopped, de-energized means safe so should be indicated by a green light.
I've picked those examples just from personal knowledge, but I'm sure others can think of many other contradictions and ways of applying the colors, not to mention that sometimes there are cultural differences in color associations.
It's just one of those universally known things, I guess. I've read a little so far on how colors are used to evoke certain feelings & emotions, like for ex., how blue is positive and a good color for all to wear, etc. How many color their kitchens yellow, etc. Notice how fast food places use red & yellow together a lot to give your subconscious a feeling of hunger?
Since we're on this topic, I don't like how everything negative has the word BLACK in it & I'm sure some racist person/people way back in the day started all that & people just caught on & continued it to this day:
- Blackball
- Black market
- Blacklist
- Black eye
- Black out
- Black box
- Black mood
- Black magic
- Black death
- Black sheep
- Black face
- Blackmail
- Black cats = bad luck
- etc.
Here's some interesting articles to read if anyone cares to:
It's just one of those universally known things, I guess. I've read a little so far on how colors are used to evoke certain feelings & emotions, like for ex., how blue is positive and a good color for all to wear, etc. How many color their kitchens yellow, etc. Notice how fast food places use red & yellow together a lot to give your subconscious a feeling of hunger?
Since we're on this topic, I don't like how everything negative has the word BLACK in it & I'm sure some racist person/people way back in the day started all that & people just caught on & continued it to this day:
- Blackball
- Black market
- Blacklist
- Black eye
- Black out
- Black box
- Black mood
- Black magic
- Black death
- Black sheep
- Black face
- Blackmail
- Black cats = bad luck
- etc.
Here's some interesting articles to read if anyone cares to:
I read the 99 Designs article. Very informative! I'll get to the other ones soon.
As for the negative associations with the color black, I wouldn't be so quick to play the race card. Some of them, at least, have perfectly logical explanations that have nothing to do with racism.
Black eye - literally the color of the area around the eye when it gets hit.
Black out - when the lights go off, all you see is blackness all around.
Black box - so-named because of the use of black to describe something mysterious; but it's kind of stupid because actual black boxes (i.e. aircraft flight recorders) are painted bright orange.
Black face - again, this describes the literal color of someone's face when they mark it up with black powder.
Black cats - I don't know where this one came from; every cat I've ever owned was black (actually coincidental, not intentional) and they were all wonderful, loving, good-luck cats.
Please, not this ridiculous race nonsense over terms which just happen to use the term "black" in them. The color (or lack thereof) black has had connotations with things unknown or undesirable in many European societies since long before the majority of people in those societies had ever seen a black person - Nothing whatever to do with race.
As for black cats, in my native England superstition has it that they are considered good luck (as a cat lover who currently has cats both black and other, I consider them all to be good luck!).
Please, not this ridiculous race nonsense over terms which just happen to use the term "black" in them. The color (or lack thereof) black has had connotations with things unknown or undesirable in many European societies since long before the majority of people in those societies had ever seen a black person - Nothing whatever to do with race.
As for black cats, in my native England superstition has it that they are considered good luck (as a cat lover who currently has cats both black and other, I consider them all to be good luck!).
Black is associated with darkness, negativity. As you said, these words existed before Europeans saw a black person.
I had a black cat. I agree. All the cats are lucky!
Re race, though, a black friend said that when she was little she asked her mother why the devil's food cake had to be the dark one and the angel's food cake was the light one. Lol.
Angel's food cake came first and was so named because of its light, airy texture. Devil's food cake came later and was named in response because it was heavy and rich with extra chocolate.
Thread derailed in 4 posts. As far as I know, black is not used for traffic signal lights.
THE ORIGIN OF THE GREEN, YELLOW, AND RED COLOR SCHEME FOR TRAFFIC LIGHTS
In London, England in 1865 there was a growing concern over the amount of horse-drawn traffic causing danger to pedestrians trying to cross the roads. A railway manager and engineer named John Peake Knight, who specialized in designing signaling systems for the British railway, approached the Metropolitan Police with the idea of using a semaphore/lighted system for road traffic. In the daytime, this semaphore method used an arm or arms that could be raised or lowered by a police officer, notifying carriages when they should stop when the arm(s) stuck out sideways. At night, his system used the red and green colors for stop and go.
As far as I know, black is not used for traffic signal lights.
No, but there is the somewhat-related issue of what color the physical assembly which holds the lights is painted. I'm not sure there's any real psychological association with the different colors which are (or have been) used, more a case of the color(s) available from any given manufacturer that a jurisdiction buys from, in some cases with considerations for local conditions which make the whole assembly more visible. Black assemblies will show up well against light backgrounds, the yellow assemblies used in some areas provide good contrast against dark buildings in urban areas, etc. Dark green was also quite common in the past. In my native Britain at one time the top and bottom sections were painted black with the central section holding the amber light painted white, an extension of the striped black and white poles which were used to hold both signals and signs at the time.
One or two things prompted by some of the notes and questions there.
Semaphore signals in combination with red and green lights were also adopted by some American cities in the earlier days of automobiles, Los Angeles probably being the most well-known since they can be seen regularly in 1930's movies.
Although the yellow caution/interval signal was adopted quite early on in principle, many places used the simpler two-color red/green lights for many years. I know there were still some in use at smaller intersections in parts of New York City as late as the 1990's. Sometimes two-color lights were designed with a warning interval which consisted of either the green light going out a couple of seconds before the red coming on (prone to misinterpretation of a burned out lamp if somebody didn't see the green go out first), or by the red lighting a couple of seconds before the green extinguishing, giving a bi-color warning interval:
green --> green+red --> red --> green
On three-color signals there wasn't universal agreement on the way the yellow light should be employed during its first few decades of use. Some systems always had the yellow by itself in both change directions:
green --> yellow --> red --> yellow --> green
The obvious drawback there is a driver seeing a yellow light without seeing what came immediately before it, and being unclear whether it would be followed by red or green. A variation always had the yellow overlap with red and green, so that the direction of change would always be clear:
green --> green+yellow --> red --> red+yellow --> green
A variation had the yellow appear only with the green before red:
green --> green+yellow --> red --> green
It's then one small step to today's (American) system, which was used in some areas while all of the other schemes were in use in other areas:
green --> yellow --> red --> green
Some other countries standardized on sequences which retained a yellow overlap, either one way or both ways. For example, the U.K. standardized on yellow-overlap with red back in the 1920's, but adopted yellow alone during the green-to-red change, a sequence which is still used today:
green --> yellow --> red --> red+yellow --> green
I'm familiar with all of these schemes from an interest in signaling rather than psychology, but I don't know if there might by any psychological issues associated with these variations, except for the obvious ambiguity issues with some arrangements already noted.
By the way, some notes in that article also refer to the relative position of green and red, and obviously red at the top came out as the clear winner, but there was no real agreement in the early days. Some early signals also used just three lamps which shone through lenses in four directions at any given moment, so with that arrangement each signal head had to have red on top for one street and green on top for the cross street. Where multiple lights/lenses were employed, railroads standardized on the opposite, with red at the bottom.
P.S. Yes, I know that in reality the interval/caution light is amber rather than yellow, but it's traditional to refer to it as yellow in American traffic engineering.
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