The psychological-somatic meaning of the colours
| TEST COLOUR | PHYSIOLOGICAL | PSYCHOLOGICAL |
|---|---|---|
| yellowish red | Stimulation, excitation | Activity |
| dark blue | Sedation, calm | Contentment |
| blue green | Contraction, tension | Firmness |
| light yellow | Dilatation, release | Change |
Just as music embodies a highly differentiated expression of feelings, the language of colours is an immeasurably rich and precise representation of the emotions. The sensory perceptions triggered in the process are measurable, objectifiable and, particularly important: reproducible. Thus, when looking at the colour Lüscher red, the pulse, the breathing rate and the blood pressure rise. Conversely, these neurovegetative functions fall through calming colours, such as above all the dark Lüscher blue.
Colours are an international “language” that is not tied to any culture. It addresses precisely determinable feelings in a definable way. Advertising makes use of this. Thus the Marlboro cigarette was able to achieve an increase in sales of 2000% in Switzerland as early as the first year through a new design of the pack, without changing the quality of the tobacco. As a counter-example, a best-selling Swiss nut chocolate could be named. Previously packaged in the right brown and green, years ago there was a wish to modernise it with white and black, colours alien to enjoyment. The chocolate disappeared from the market within two years. Such examples prove how colours influence the buyer and that he understands the language of colours immediately. The hot and cold water taps are distinguished by red and blue. Everyone expects hot water from the red knob and cold water from the blue knob. The red stop light signals danger and is not merely convention: red is exciting and stimulating like danger.
Alongside this objective meaning of the colours, it has been scientifically proven that cell cultures grow almost twice as fast under irradiation with red light.
The clinical Lüscher colour test
The colour test is an objective measuring instrument for assessing the subjective psychological-somatic state. The personal preference for or rejection of a colour shows the attitude and the subjective personal state of well-being, similar to the weather situation on a barometer. What is decisive is.
- 1) the objective meaning of the colour perceived.
- 2) the subjective attitude towards the colour.
In contrast to consciously controlled language, the decision for or against a colour is made unconsciously. The test colours measure the person as he really is and not - as in a questionnaire - as he sees himself, or as he would like to be seen.
Studies at American and European universities have demonstrated with statistical significance that with the “Lüscher colour test” an exact, concordant psychological assessment is possible for the first time.
Colours are preferred or rejected depending on whether we want or do not want what they signal. For this reason, the personal evaluation of the test colours allows conclusions to be drawn about emotional behaviour and the psychological-somatic state. Example: dark blue embodies: “calm”. If it is preferred, there is a need for calm. If, on the other hand, it is rejected, it means: “restlessness”. A preferred, exciting orange-red shows a desire for activity and challenge. If rejected, it means: “exhausted through excessive demands”.
Most important for the assessment are the compensatory favourites and rejections. They show both in what way psychological-somatic regulations are disturbed and the causes of conflicts that can result in psychosomatic symptoms.
The test procedure
From the corresponding charts you select your colours in daylight. Taking the test requires about 5 minutes.
From thousands of analyses, the individual areas of the personality are described individually and in detail on about 6-8 computer pages. The current state is set out in tabular form in comparison with the psychological-somatic constitution, taking the potential for conflict into account. The texts explain, among other things, the control of the ego, compensations, overstimulation, blockages, expectations, the relationship with the partner and performance behaviour. In addition, proposals for therapy and homeopathic constitutional remedies are proposed.
Prof. Max Lüscher
In his youth he read the collected lectures and interpretations of dreams by Sigmund Freud. Then he studied all the writings, from Aristotle to the present day, that could be read in the university library on physiognomy. At the age of 16 he found (1939) a method by which the psychological state can be defined via the contraction of the individual facial muscles. In doing so he developed a characterological system of his own. It forms the first dimension “directive-receptive” and the second dimension “constant-variable” of his present-day regulation psychology. In the period from 1938 to 1941 Max Lüscher also studied the graphology of Ludwig Klages and used his characterology to supplement his own.