The Color Blue: Psychology, Personality, Benefits & Fun Facts

beautiful blues

How do you feel about the color blue? It is the most popular color worldwide for both men and women, and it’s one of my favorites too!

That comes through in my photography too; my blue art prints make up my absolutely largest color collection.

I love deep dark navy, pale baby blue, and every shade in between. There are so many! I was trying to find a definite number of blue hues, but I couldn’t.

Blue mood board by Cattie Coyle Photography. © 2017, all rights reserved.

Going Places - Fine art print by Cattie Coyle Photography in living room. © 2017, all rights reserved. — Going Places

Why Is Blue The Most Popular Color?

What is it about the color blue that makes to so appealing to the majority of people? Are we hardwired to like it?

Not according to psychologists Karen Schloss (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Stephen E. Palmer (UC Berkeley), who have done extensive research on color preferences. They say that it’s not built into our DNA; our favorite colors are based on how much we like the objects we associate with that color.

I’m not sure that I agree with that, yellow is one of my least favorite colors, but I like many yellow things (the sun, daffodils, lemons, etc.)… But when it comes to blue, it definitely rings true. The first blue thing I think of is the ocean. And then the sky, flowers, and blueberries. All things I love!

Benefits of The Color Blue

I personally think that the many psychological and physiological benefits of blue play into its popularity as well. It is associated with calm, strength, reflection, serenity, dependability, trust, loyalty, honesty, hope, and peace. Blue is also said to lower heart rate, calm the nervous system, and boost cognitive skills and creativity.

The Color Blue Personality

It is said that people with a “blue personality” are:

Reliable	Good listeners	Idealistic
Honest	Enthusiastic	Tactful
Sincere	Imaginative	Timely
Loyal	Sympathetic	Organized
Compassionate	Idealistic

According to The Color of my Personality (an online quiz):

Blues tend to be rule-following, dependable, long-enduring, and tenacious. You make sacrifices in order to rise up the ranks in the world. You put in the extra hours in the office. You always fill out your taxes and pay your bills on time.

You have a plan that you stick to. You never stand people up and are always timely. Most importantly, you’re there for your loved ones when they need you most. You lend an ear, do favors, and don’t disappoint. You don’t cheat and try to be 100% honest in all aspects of life. You value honesty above all.

You might miss out on fun once in a while, due to your discipline. But in your mind, it’s worth it in the long-run. One night of partying isn’t worth not being at your best for work in the morning. You like routines and outlines, things that maintain structure. Organization is key to the way you operate; it’s what makes you staunch, loyal, and trustworthy.

Summer Morning - Fine art print by Cattie Coyle Photography in living room. © 2020, all rights reserved. — Summer Morning

Random Blue Facts

Only between 8 and 10 percent of people worldwide have blue eyes, and they are most common in Europe, especially Scandinavia (my Mom had blue eyes, mine are a bluish green hazel). You might see better at night if you have blue eyes, but you might also have more trouble with glare.
Blue Zones are areas in the world where people have unusually low rates of chronic disease and live longer than anywhere else.
Blue is the least common naturally occurring color in food, and is supposedly an appetite suppressant. Many weight loss plans say to use blue plates because you tend to eat less from a blue plate. Studies have also shown that people tend to eat less junk food out of the fridge if a blue light is placed inside.
Synthetic blue pigment was first produced by the ancient Egyptians. It was made from ground limestone mixed with sand and azurite or malachite, and then heated up to 1650°F. In recent years, scientists have discovered that Egyptian blue glows under fluorescent lights, indicating that the pigment emits infrared radiation.
The most recent blue pigment was discovered in 2009, when a team of researchers at Oregon State University accidentally invented YInMn Blue.
Prussian Blue was also discovered by accident in the early 1700s when German alchemists Jacob Diesbach and Johann Konrad Dippel were trying to create a new red. It quickly became a favorite of many famous artists, and appears in many famous works by for example Picasso, Hokusai and Van Gogh.
Prussian blue is also given in pill form to antidote radioactive cesium and thallium poisoning.
In German, to be “blue” (blau sein) is to be drunk.
Blue is not mentioned a single time in Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey (the ocean is described as “wine-dark”).
Blueprints, as well as cyanotypes, were invented by astronomer, photographer, chemist (and more!) Sir John Herschel in 1842. He also, among many other things, coined the term photography in 1839, and translated the Iliad. 😀
L’Heure Bleue is a French expression meaning The Blue Hour, the time of twilight each morning and evening where there is neither full daylight nor complete darkness.