Why Do I Like The Colour Black?

Some people seem to like or even love the colour black, they drive a black car, they often wear black clothing and they even have a black cat. What is the meaning of the colour black, and can a love for black give some insight into a person’s psychology and personality?

Psychologists say the colour black is seen by people as a colour of strength, power, status, seriousness, elegance and even prestige. These are some of the most common meanings.

Colour Black Psychology – Why People Like Black?

Privacy & Secretive

You can’t get a much darker colour than black, so if someone was inclined to, or had the desire to be unseen or to blend in, then black would be a great choice.

Privacy and secrecy would likely be very important to that person. The desire to be unseen could stem from an instinctual and archetypal need to protect themselves, basically a type of survival instinct.

Strength & Power

There is a theory in psychology to do with the basic foundational reasons and motivations behind human behaviour. The theory is, people are either moving away from pain or moving towards pleasure.

The colour black is believed to directly connect with the associations strength and power. So, basically, a reason for someone to wear black or drive a black car could be a subconscious desire to feel powerful.

If someone was, for example, bullied in childhood, causing pain. Understanding the pain, pleasure principle, a desire to wear black could be a subconscious impulse to move away from that pain, resulting in gravitating towards the colour black to regain control and power.

Positive Associations

If someone had a black cat during their childhood, this could result in a positive emotional anchor to black cats. In other words, a black cat may trigger positive feelings and positive sentimental reasons, aka good memories. This could lead to the choice of a black cat, and branch over into clothing, furniture and cars.

Aesthetics

Aesthetically, black is hard to beat; most things in black look good; clothing, cars and furniture. A strong interest in appearances would definitely be up there in priorities for these people.

Introverted people, or those that don’t have much interest in social status, that have a particular interest in aesthetics are also naturally open minded-people. They like new experiences, and are usually creative and artistic. These people have an internal focus.

For everyone else with a love for aesthetics, the reasons are mostly to do with gaining the approval of others, social status or generally looking to impress. These people have an external focus, and they’re the majority.

Status & Respectable

Black is for those who want to be respected, and who are interested in climbing up the social status hierarchical ladder for personal gain.

Serious & Professional

The colour black oozes seriousness and professionalism, which are likely to be characteristics that they wish to portray. Serious and professionally minded people are often high in a trait known as Conscientiousness, so, hard working, organised, pragmatic and likely to be managers. Conscientiousness is one of the big five personality traits.

Not all of these reasons will apply to everyone. However, one or two of them is likely to be a reason for the love or liking of the colour black.