Perhaps it's sociological folklore.


I have no idea how to trace this particular story, though if it rings a bell by someone, I'd be happy to get a lead. My guess is that it's from at least forty years ago, perhaps more.

Workplace productivity specialists decided to paint the walls of a factory (or office, or ...) a shade of light blue. To their immense satisfaction, productivity increased. They decided to experiment, and painted the walls a shade of light green. Productivity increased again. They then tried a shade of yellow, again with the same results. I don't know how many times these changes were tried until these specialists reached the conclusion that it wasn't the particular color, but instead the change itself, that was causing the rise in productivity.

Apocryphal or not, there's a ring of truth to it. And there really is a field called "applied color psychology". On one site we can learn a bit of its history:
Faber Birren was the first professional architectural color consultant. His research on color, and his resulting color specifications for the workplace, helped millions of industrial workers during World War II. The effect of his color design work significantly reduced the high rate of industrial accidents from 46 per 1,000 to six per 1,000. Birren, an American, is considered the father of applied color psychology. His research and experiments on the affects of color on human behavior have formed the foundation for the majority of research in this area.
Many other references to this field, or at least to the influence of color on productivity show up via various searches. Not having read the vast majority of them, it's hard to single any of them out for special attention. Some are clearly academic research, while another tells us just which colors can achieve which results.

Somewhere in cyberspace there's probably also a reference to the story I wanted to find, but who has the time to try and track it down?



Go to: Who has the advantage here?, or
Go to: Making a distinction, or
Go to: Doing things the hard way.