Fertile Green

TLDR

The study examined whether perceiving green enhances creativity. Participants were unaware of the study’s purpose, and no mood changes were observed. A brief glimpse of green before a creativity task consistently improved creative performance across four experiments, using both achromatic and chromatic contrasts and picture- and word-based measures, indicating green’s functional impact beyond aesthetics.

Abstract

The present research sought to extend the nascent literature on color and psychological functioning by examining whether perception of the color green facilitates creativity. In four experiments, we demonstrated that a brief glimpse of green prior to a creativity task enhances creative performance. This green effect was observed using both achromatic (white, gray) and chromatic (red, blue) contrast colors that were carefully matched on nonhue properties, and using both picture-based and word-based assessments of creativity. Participants were not aware of the purpose of the experiment, and null effects were obtained on participants' self-reported mood and positive activation. These findings indicate that green has implications beyond aesthetics and suggest the need for sustained empirical work on the functional meaning of green.