In the annals of research into the color preferences of the mentally ill, the year 1931 stands out. That summer, Siegfried E. Katz of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Hospital released a study called "Color Preference in the Insane" in the Journal of Applied Psychology. Katz administered a test of six colors—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet—to 134 hospitalized patients with mental health issues. The colors were rectangular and cut from Bradley colored papers before being pasted in a two-row pattern onto a grey cardboard display. Katz’s subjects were then asked to select their preferred color by placing their fingers on the numbered squares in a specific order.

Matched with the answers from the patients, a number of unique conclusions could be made. Blue turned out to be the most popular color overall, followed by green and then red or violet. Men showed a preference for green, while women were more divided among red and violet as secondary favorites. Patients who had been institutionalized for longer periods of three or more years indicated a decreased preference for blue, with an increase in preferences for green and yellow. Patients with the longest tenures, despite being few in number, showed a small preference for orange.

Katz’s report included a variety of additional insights, such as over 38% of schizophrenics and manic depressives selecting blue as their top choice, followed by 16% of schizophrenics selecting green. Orange and yellow also rose in popularity with manic depressives, while green trended upward for schizophrenics. It’s also worth nothing that Katz anticipated applying his findings to improve the living spaces of patients in the hospital system.

Although unintentional, time has showed that the hospital staff seemingly took some cues resulting from his research to heart. Bragard Medical Uniforms, a New York firm established in 1933, keeps a list of the most popular workplace apparel colors. Royal blue, dark grey, dark green, and red currently top the list, with the second one being the only color excluded from Katz’s original research.

Marc Abrahams, the editor of the bimonthly Annals of Improbable Research and organizer of the Ig Nobel prize, stated this.

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Michael Lang is a 33-year-old professor and blogger who is passionate about writing. He has been blogging for over 7 years and has written for various online publications. Michael is also a seasoned professor who has taught at the college level for over a decade. He is currently a professor of English at a community college in the Midwest.