Oct. 25, 2015 "Colours affect mood, performance": I cut out this article by Carole Kanchier in the 24 News on Sept. 24, 2012. It's a fun job and psychology article:
When I wore black to business meetings in San Francisco I was perceived as sophisticated. However, when I wore black to meetings in certain small school districts, I was considered aloof. A change of wardrobe colour altered perceptions.
Colours you wear may affect your mood as well as how others perceive you. Work environment colours also matter.
At a subconscious level colours affect people in different ways. Using colours effectively to dress, decorate your office or design your web site can put you ahead of the competition.
Research on the psychology of colour consistently demonstrates that colours evoke emotional, behavioural and physical responses. Advertisers know a product can have different impacts if the packaging colours are changed. Psychologists have found certain colours in our environment help or hinder performance of certain tasks.
Generally, warm colours such as red and its neighbouring hues on the colour spectrum are active, exciting. Cool colours such as light green, blue and violet are passive, calming. Reds tend to stimulate the central nervous system, while cool colours release tension. Meanings change with lighter or darker shades of colours.
Select colours that suit you and project your desired image. Surround yourself with favourite colours to lift your spirit.
USING COLOUR POSITIVELY
Red exudes power, energy, excitement and passion. Wear red when you want to be assertive, need an energy boost or exude sexuality. Avoid red when you feel nervous or want to avoid attention.
Orange represents creativity, confidence, joy, sensuality and ambition. It has positive effects on emotional states.Wear orange when you want to have fun, heighten creativity or heal emotions. Avoid it when you want to relax.
Yellow is associated with happiness, freedom, optimism and mental concentration. Wear yellow when you need to attend to details, maintain mental alertness or feel happy. Avoid yellow when you're fearful, want to evade attention, want to relax.
Green suggests security, abundance, love, growth, luck and balance. It's also associated with envy. Wear green when you want to see things from a different perspective, need to feel grounded, calm or generous. Don't wear it when you feel stagnant or want to be alone.
Blue represents authority, structure, communication, dependability, trust and loyalty. Too much blue can project coldness. Wear blue when you want to exude power, have mental control, be conservative, respected or communicate important messages. Don't wear blue when you feel isolated, depressed or critical.
Grey is practical, timeless, cautious, successful and solid. Some shades are associated with aging. Excessive use may lead to feeling invisible, but a touch adds feelings of stability. Wear grey when you want to feel self-sufficient or isolate yourself. Avoid it when feeling lonely or stressed.
Brown is associated with stability, honesty, practicality and commitment. Wear brown when you need to work hard, be a team member or organized. Avoid it when you want to expend energy, play or feel insecure.
Pink represents love, affection and serenity. Wear it when you want to feel feminine, lovable, need to concentrate and listen. Avoid pink when you feel vulnerable, insecure, fragmented or are giving more than receiving.
Purple is associated with prosperity, spirituality and sophistication. Wear purple to project wisdom, trust or release destructive emotions. Don't wear it when you want to evade societal regulations.
Black represents power, elegance, discipline and mystery. Sometimes, it's associated with evil or grieving. Wear black to communicate an authoritative image or protect emotions. Since too much black can overwhelm some, don't wear it to establish rapport.
White symbolizes purity, cleanliness, safety, completion, strength and neutrality. Wear white to feel peaceful, convey a well-balanced, optimistic personality. Too much can project coldness, isolation.
Make a great impression. Create your desired effect. You're that first flash of colour others see.
WHAT COLOURS SAY ABOUT YOU
Personality traits are reflected by your preferred colour.
Extroverts like red, introverts blue.
Yellow is the choice of intellectuals, and well-balanced individuals tend to wear green.
-- Dr. Carole Kanchier is a registered psychologist, coach, speaker and author of Dare to Change Your Job and Your Life. Reach her at carole@daretochange.com or visit Daretochange.com.
Dec. 24, 2015 "For a happier workplace, get beyond the small talk": I cut out this article by Susan Pinker in the Globe and Mail on Aug. 15, 2011 Here is another good psychology article related to the workplace. I work at my restaurant mostly on the weekends, and I can only see this one co-worker Je at that time. I usually write down a list of things I want to talk to him about during the week and then ask him. It's usually movies coming out that weekend, or if he got a chance to read any of the articles I had cut out for him.
I also cut out a few articles for M. We discuss those articles. This article is about having deep and meaningful conversations:
At a time of economic turmoil and increasing consumer anxiety, workplace colleagues can be forgiven for limiting their social contact to small talk. “What’s up?” or “Did you see the game last night?” is unlikely to unleash an angst-ridden response. Whether people are afraid to upset or provoke others, or think that upbeat chatter creates a positive atmosphere, there’s often a Don’t Worry, Be Happy approach to office banter.
But a recent study shows that this may not be such a good thing. Genuinely satisfied people have deeper, more meaningful conversations more often than unhappy people do. “Our data are pretty clear in that the happiest person had 10 per cent of small talk [in their social interactions],” and had twice as many substantive conversations as unhappy people, said Matthias Mehl, a professor of social psychology at the University of Arizona, and lead author of the study.
In contrast, unhappy folks were three times more likely to engage in small talk, and were also more likely to spend time alone. “I think that there are very strong scripts about what you talk about in business,” Prof. Mehl said, adding that although we generally think of small talk as a social rule in the office, happiness is so strongly linked to health and productivity that it should be considered an important goal. “I’m not denying that small talk is important,” he said. “The question is, how can we get one level deeper, and what are the consequences?”
Prof. Mehl and his three colleagues were ingenious in the way they captured the content of people’s conversations without violating their privacy. Their research subjects wore a small digital recorder called an EAR (electronically activated recorder) clipped to their belts, which was programmed to start and stop automatically, without them being aware of what was being taped. The device recorded 30-second snippets of conversations, every 12 minutes during their waking hours, for four days. The researchers then coded the resulting 23,689 recordings based on how banal or meaningful the content.
A speech sample was rated as small talk when only trivial information was exchanged – if the participants were neither engaged nor truly informed by the discussion. If the participants learned something meaningful, it was rated as a substantive conversation. “It wasn’t necessarily personal disclosure – it could be about the iPad, the financial crisis, or about relationships. It’s a question of the degree of depth, not the actual topic,” Prof. Mehl explained.
For example, the following bits were coded as “meaningful” conversation: “If you educated kids and they actually have a future, they’re not going to cause problems in society.” Or, “People are downloading it from their computers. It’s free, but somehow they make money every time it’s shown.” Examples of small talk included “What’s up with you?” and “What do you have there? Popcorn? Yummy!”
Along with bits of their conversations, the researchers also collected information about the subjects’ levels of life satisfaction and their personality types. These were based on the subjects’ self-ratings, as well as on questionnaires filled out by their friends and acquaintances.
The study’s results linking happiness to more meaningful conversation – and more time spent with other people – held true regardless of the person’s personality. Whether a person was an introvert or an extrovert, whether he or she was open to new experiences or neurotic, those who engaged in more substantive conversations were happier.
The study’s results linking happiness to more meaningful conversation – and more time spent with other people – held true regardless of the person’s personality. Whether a person was an introvert or an extrovert, whether he or she was open to new experiences or neurotic, those who engaged in more substantive conversations were happier.
The question is why, and what should we do with this information? Correlational studies such as this one can’t tell us anything about causes and Prof. Mehl’s view is that happiness and substantive conversation are inextricably linked, in any case. Happy people tend to talk about more meaningful things, and doing so makes them happier still. “People like to hang around others who talk about substantive things. Happy people attract good conversations,” he said, adding that such social contact helps create meaning while also engendering a sense of belonging and connection “in a chaotic, meaningless world.”
Interestingly, the researchers also have some preliminary data showing that prescribing one additional substantive conversation a day can boost people’s moods. “After two weeks we can make them a tiny bit happier,” he said, concluding that “maybe we should make our small talk just a little less small.”
My week:
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