Why the Dark Side of the Force Had to Be Dark

You don’t have to look very hard to see that our culture has some pretty powerful associations between colors and feelings. As a recent example, the new Pixar film Inside Out has characters representing emotions, and the color choices for these characters—red for anger, and blue for sadness—feel right.

Red, specifically, is one of the most powerful colors in terms of its associations and the feelings it generates. Soccer players perceive red-shirted opponents , and one study indeed found that players wearing red shirts . Looking at red also seems to help people focus. Red enhances performance on tasks, whereas and improve the results of creative tasks. Red is also sexual—men find women wearing red to be , and women .