The Psychology of Color

The Importance of Colors in Sports

June 3, 2018 The Maroon Tiger

You may not have noticed it, but colors play a huge role in sports. Of course, when you’re attending your team’s game, you wear their colors, but it’s more than that Have you ever wondered why your team has those specific colors? Well, color plays more of a role than just for identification. Colors have the power to influence people’s moods which is why there are certain colors which are more predominant in sports than others. It’s not typical for a team to wear pink or light purple. Usually, teams are in royal blue, blue, yellow, black, and white. But what do these colors mean?

There has been some various research done in order to support this Back in 1970 to mid-1980s, researchers found that NHL and NFL teams wearing black were penalized more than those wearing non-black uniforms. They found that people are more aggressive in sports when wearing black. So, it’s not only other teams perceptions of each other, the perception the individual has of themselves also changes when wearing a specific colored uniform. If by wearing a black uniform a player feels more aggressive, they’ll play in an aggressive manner. However, if a player is in a non-dominating color such as baby blue, they may not feel the desire to show aggression during a match. It’s clear that colors have a strong impact on human emotion.

Let’s take a look at the color red. Red is viewed as a color of power and is a physical color, one that’s seen on any sports equipment and uniforms. Red is masculine and is used to arouse aggression in others. You can see it in bullfighting, for example, as the color is strongly associated with dominance. This also answers the question as to why so many sports teams have the color read in their uniform as red signifies dominance over another team. However, if we look at the color blue, it has completely the opposite effect. Blue is known as the color of the mind and is highly correlated with logic, calmness, and efficiency. We can see this is table tennis. Though there is no set standard for the color of the table, many table tennis tables are blue. This is because though this game is physical, its needs logic and calmness when playing it. In target shooting, the target is usually in color red because it can be easily seen even from afar. Guns used in that sport also look powerful if there is a touch of red. You can check some MMR comparison with a range of the best target shooting essentials.

Sports are not simply physical games or games based off of strategy, they’re also psychological. In order for your team to excel against another, they need to psychologically disrupt the other team. Though they may not be able to speak to them, they can use color as a way to give off a specific image and perception. This perception is immediately interpreted by the opponents and can easily take them off their course.
Though as we sit in the stands, we rarely notice these things, however, there are reasons why some specific teams play so well Yes, they may have exceptional players and an amazing coach but there’s more to it than that They have the help of their team colors. Whether it’s an individual sport or team sport, colors are an essential element of the game and can help a team win or lose.